New York City Parents Union Statement on School Staff Layoffs
August 25, 2011
Contact:
Mona Davids, NYC Parents Union, (917) 340-8987
New York City Parents Union Statement on School Staff Layoffs
The latest announcement by the New York City Department of Education regarding layoffs of school aide workers, family workers, parent coordinators, health service aides, community assistants and other school workers reflects the distorted priorities of elected officials and their New York State and New York City budgets.
Beyond the thousands of needed teachers lost to attrition who will not be replaced, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg share the blame for additional havoc wreaked upon the lives of our schoolchildren with the greatest needs - students with disabilities, students in our poorest neighborhoods, and students who receive free lunch. These students — most of whom are Black and Latino — are being denied the support of workers who care for them everyday – workers who also happen to be the lowest-paid employees of the New York City Department of Education and who also happen to be mostly Black and Latino.
Contrast these layoffs and those impacted by these layoffs with the highly-paid, non-union educrats