Nov 21, 2016

Dozens of public school parents, school staff across NYC call for the city to mandate school equity, defend against Trump.

Mayor Bill de Blasio
City Hall, New York City

Via web contact form

Chancellor Carmen Fariña
NYC Department of Education
Tweed Hall, New York City 10007
Via email: CGFarina@schools.nyc.gov

CC:
New York City Panel for Education Policy members

New York City Council Education Committee members

November 21, 2016

Dear Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña,

For the past few years, the parents and communities of Harlem and the Upper West Side have been pleading with DOE and CEC3 to notice, care about, and address the crisis levels of racial and income inequality. DOE has been silent, and the CEC has refused. This week – on top of the shocking election to the presidency of a man who has promoted violence, racism, and misogyny and has targeted Muslims, immigrants, and LGBTQ people – we’re offered yet another D3 rezoning proposal from DOE that cements the practice of filling some schools with wealthy families who fund massive PTA budgets, and segregating out low-income students whose families rely, at their great peril, on public funding for education.

There are many ways that New York City schools are unequal, and we have been begging DOE to address them by creating a fair admissions policy that mandates and creates diversity in each school.
But the crisis of segregation is now an emergency that threatens the destruction of public schools across the board. Donald Trump has indicated that he may gut Title 1 funding to schools serving low-income kids and use those funds for school vouchers that suck funding out of public schools. He has also said that he’ll support the replacement of public schools with charters and private school seats – a policy that has literally ended public school systems in other cities – and vastly expand the version of “school choice” that is largely responsible for New York City’s school equity crisis.

In Trump’s future, public schools will rely even more heavily on parent contributions to make up their basic budgets. Schools that can’t raise the funds to support good teaching and good learning environments will be abandoned, along with the students in them. We need strong DOE policy
RIGHT NOW that gets in front of the coming catastrophe by making schools equitable – and through equity, makes them strong enough to withstand Trump’s attacks.

Please, please, instruct the DOE to immediately mandate equitable admissions (including Community-Controlled Choice in D3) that distribute rich and poor families evenly among our schools. Half-measures like rezonings and voluntary, piecemeal set-asides of seats for low-income students are meaningless as “diversity measures.” They tinker with a few wealthy schools while leaving out most of the rest. As Trump proposes stripping public schools, they amount to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic instead of turning the ship to avoid the crash.

You have pledged to confront any actions from the President-elect that threaten New Yorkers. We will be with you. We just need you to give us an avenue through which to collectively protect public schools.

We await your reply at nycpsped@gmail.com. 

Sincerely,
Yassiel Nieves, Parent, PS145M
Toni Smith-Thompson, Parent, Mott Hall 2 Emmaia Gelman, Parent, P.S. 75

Lisa Walters-Valera, Parent, PS75 Emily Dickinson School
Thomas Gray, Parent, PS 75
Landon Westbrook, Parent, Central Park East I
Megan Benett, Parent, PS75
Gerson R, Parent, Board Member, Ps 75 Emily Dickinson
Carl Riehl, Parent, Community member, P.S. 75
Miriam Nunberg, Parent, Park Slope Collegiate
Elyssa Gersen-Thurman, Parent, MS 88
Eevin Hartsough, Parent, Community member, PS 75
Chris Parkman, Parent, PS75
Janet Paskin, Parent, P.S. 241 (Brooklyn)
Hannah Gersen, Parent, P.S. 15
Reyhan Mehran, Parent, PS 146 - Brooklyn New School
Amelia Costigan, Parent, MS447
Nora Painten, Parent, PS 29
Anna Siegal, Community member, PS 506 

David Ratzan, Parent, PTA member, PS75
Caroline Falzone, Parent, Teacher/staff, Community member, Preschool teacher, PS 124
Lindsay Manley, Parent, PS8
Francis Colon, Parent, P.S 96
Melissa Moskowitz, Parent, Teacher/staff, 15K464/01332
Lisa Guido, Community member, PS 282
Oona Adams, Parent, Ps154
Rose Saxe, Parent, PS 130
Hannah Mermelstein, Parent, PS 185

Emily Winkelstein, Parent, PS 375
Nancy Workman, Mother of two public school graduates, P.S. 9
Kavita Singh, Parent, Community member, PS333-Manhattan School for Children
Pamela L., Teacher/staff, NYC
Jonathan Lessuck, Community member, ELLIS PREPARATORY ACADEMY
Mitra Rastegar, Parent, Manhattan Country School (UWS Independent School)
Rebecca Vilkomerson, Parent, Ps 154/MS 51
Corinne Locke, Parent, PS163/PS75/Computer school
Sunaura Taylor, Parent
Elizabeth Roy, Parent of preschooler, District 3
Meredith Slopen , Parent, Future PS9 
Anita Schmid-Frey, Parent, PS 185
Kelly Bare, Parent, PS 705
Susan Rubin, Parent, CPE1
Eustacia Smith, Parent, PS 75
John Andrews, Parent, PS 185
Miriam Meir , Parent, CPE1
Tanya Barrett, Teacher/staff, PS 130
Mariana Kovel, Parent, Hamilton Heights School
Matthew Campbell, Student, Ps145M 
Amanda Vender, Parent, PS149 Q 
Mayra Campbell , Parent, Ps145M Vennie Perez, Parent, Ps145M 
Felicity Griswold, Student, Ps145
The P.S.75 PTA (Emily Dickinson School)
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