Parents, teachers, students, advocates and elected officials urge the Mayor, "Cut the Contracts, Save Our Schools"
Here is a recording of the press conference. An article about this is already posted in Bklyner.
Please sign up to speak against these wasteful contracts at the Panel for Educational Policy meeting that will begin at 6 PM on Wed. April 29 clicking here ; speakers will be allowed to sign on until 6:15 PM.
For immediate release: April 27, 2020
Please sign up to speak against these wasteful contracts at the Panel for Educational Policy meeting that will begin at 6 PM on Wed. April 29 clicking here ; speakers will be allowed to sign on until 6:15 PM.
For immediate release: April 27, 2020
Contact: Leonie Haimson: leoniehaimson@gmail.com; 917-435-9329
Kim Watkins: kwatkins@cec3.org; (917) 689-3065
Parents, teachers, students, advocates and elected officials urge the Mayor, "Cut the Contracts, Save Our Schools"
They urge the DOE to save millions on unnecessary contracts and bureaucracy
rather than essential school staffing and services
On Monday afternoon, in an emergency press conference broadcast on Zoom, parent leaders, teachers, students, elected officials and education advocates denounced the Mayor’s proposed education budget cuts of over $800 million, and proposed that cuts be made instead to unnecessary contracts, consultants, the bureaucracy and a freeze on staffing at the NYC Police Department. Among the speakers emphasizing the need to protect students and schools from these unethical cuts were Tom Sheppard of CEC 11, Maria Abacar, a student member of The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, Council Member Helen Rosenthal, Tanesha Grant of Parents Supporting Parents and CEJ, Tajh Sutton of CEC14, as well as those quoted below.
“Our students were short-changed before the pandemic, with large class sizes, too few social workers and guidance counselors, and too few permanent school nurses. Our students will never get back the instructional time they have missed during the pandemic. They will never get back the missed milestones, like graduations, field trips, and proms. They will never get back lost family members, friends, principals, educators, paraprofessionals, counselors, cafeteria workers, and other loved ones. We cannot impose more pain and loss on them by cutting direct services, unless we have turned over every stone to find other areas to cut," said Council Member Mark Treyger, Chair of the Committee on Education.
Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters, said: “The Mayor wants to make egregious cuts to schools instead of eliminating wasteful contracts of over $700 million for busing we’re not using, professional development that’s not happening, and consultants who are doing who knows what. The proposed DOE budget would spend $300 million on the mid-level bureaucracy, CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Parents, teachers, students, advocates and elected officials urge the Mayor, "Cut the Contracts, Save Our Schools"
