We Love NYC Teachers!

This video was made by a friend of mine...Watch it..!

A short video put together by NYC public school students and parents opposed to the planned layoff of over 4,100 teachers

NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio Mobilizes Parents Citywide Against Teacher Layoffs

PARENTS HIT THE STREETS TO DEMAND MAYOR BLOOMBERG KEEP TEACHERS IN THE CLASSROOM

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio today mobilized over 100 parent volunteers at 30 locations across the city for the Public Advocate’s “Parent Day of Action” against teacher layoffs. Parents and organizers urged New Yorkers to record audio and videos testimonials which are being uploaded to www.parentsforteachers.com in real time.

In just two hours on Thursday morning the Public Advocate’s parent volunteers and organizers collected over 1000 petition signatures and dozens of audio and video testimonials that have been posted online.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said, “Today, New York City parents hit the streets to take action against a budget that jeopardizes their children’s future. As a public school parent, I will not let us get shut out of the budget process, especially when Mayor’s Bloomberg’s proposed teacher layoffs would send class sizes through the roof.  

My office will continue to organize parents across New York until City Hall finally hears our voices.”

Councilmember Margaret Chin said, “The teacher layoffs threatened by Mayor Bloomberg are unacceptable. There are billions of dollars in the DOE budget this year for outside contracts, IT consultants, and even teacher recruitment. How can we legitimately threaten to lay off thousands of teachers while we are spending that kind of money hiring additional central staff, at the cost of increased class sizes? I applaud Public Advocate de Blasio and education advocates for their efforts today in highlighting the impact of these cuts. I and my colleagues in the City Council will be working hard with our Speaker, Christine Quinn, to push back on the Mayor’s proposed education cuts and to find alternative ways to fund the most important item in the DOE budget, our teachers.”

Councilmember Debi Rose said, “Laying-off teachers and cutting day care is unnecessary and wrong! There’s no way that we could lose 4,000 or more teachers and it not have a devastating impact on our youth and our communities. The future of our city depends on a well-educated work force. Less teachers in our schools means more students will be squeezed into classrooms that are already bulging at the seams. This will certainly have a negative effect on the quality of education in our schools. We must tell Mayor Bloomberg that we demand that our teachers and students come first in the budget-making decision.”

State Senator Shirley L. Huntley said, “Education is the key to success and can unlock unlimited doors of opportunity. Yet, to ensure our children attain a proper and sound education and can achieve success, we need teachers to help them along the way. Due to the regressive economic climate the New York City Department of Education is threatening to lay off 4,100 teachers. That is 4,100 less teachers that are children will have to educate them, 4,100 less teachers our children can go to for help and guidance, and 4,100 less teachers to make our schools tolerant, safe, and productive. Parents and community advocates all across the five boroughs must take a stand against any action that threatens our children’s education.”

State Senator Adriano Espaillat said, “We need our teachers in the classroom, not the unemployment line. New York's fiscal challenges should be addressed through common-sense progressive measures like the ‘millionaire's tax’ instead of teacher layoffs that place our children's education in jeopardy.”

Earlier this month, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio launched a series of online forums for parents where they can voice their objections to Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed cuts and also submit written and video testimonials in support of their child’s teachers. The websitewww.parentsforteachers.com contains testimonials from parents in all five boroughs, including dozens of messages from parents recorded today. Video testimonials are designed to be viewed, embedded and distributed online.

Parent Day of Action for NYC Schools and Teachers - Thursday, May 26

This Thursday, May 26th, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and hundreds of parents will be flyering, petitioning and talking to New Yorkers at dozens of locations across the city as part of a citywide Parent Day of Action. I hope you can join us. To volunteer or learn more send us an email at organize@pubadvocate.nyc.gov or visit:
http://advocate.nyc.gov/parent-day-action

Merryl Tisch - Chancellor of the NYS Board of Regents on Teacher Layoffs - State of Politics

City Prepares to Spend Nearly $1 Billion on Education Consultants as it Fires 4,100 Teachers by Rachel Monahan - NY Daily News

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As the city prepares to lay off 4,100 teachers, the Department of Education is planning to spend nearly $1 billion on consultants next school year, a new analysis shows.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer blasted the agency's budget as a "black hole" and took issue with the 6% increase on consultants, after his office pored over the latest budget documents.

"There are a whole lot of troubling increases that have nothing to do with spending money in the classrooms," said Stringer, noting the city's plans to lay off teachers was "political gamesmanship" and the "solution" may lie in the $20 billion Education Department budget.

"This is a black hole that gets darker and deeper as time goes on," he added.

"It's time to shine some light on what these services really are."

Stringer's analysis, which agency officials dismissed, found the agency is increasing its spending on consultants under the central administration budget by $25 million - with $23 million of the increase spent on computer services.

The analysis also found increased spending on consultants to recruit teachers by nearly $1 million - while the city is cutting teachers.

Education Department officials have said that it's necessary to continue recruiting teachers to shortage areas like special education even during cuts.

City Education Department officials rejected the analysis, saying that most of the consulting budget is for required services and directly goes to serving students with disabilities.

"The Borough President either fails to recognize an important fact about these consultant costs or he is intentionally misleading people," Chancellor Dennis Walcott said. "The truth is that over $840 million of the $981 million he cites are dedicated to direct services for our students with the vast majority going towards our students with disabilities which are services that are required under the law."%A0

Agency officials also disputed that the computer contracts are increasing so steeply, saying instead that they underestimated expenses last year.

Jose Gonzalez, whose sons Alvaro, 10, and Allan, 9, attend Public School 73 in the Bronx joined a protest against budget cuts held yesterday at City Hall.

"We want a better education for our children. How are we going to do that?...They're really wasting money on consultants and contracts," said Gonzalez, a member of the Coalition for Educational Justice.

An Open Letter on Behalf of Public School Parents to Chancellor Dennis Walcott by Bill de Blasio - Huffington Post

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To Chancellor Walcott:

For the past nine years our schools have been run by a top-down bureaucracy that too often alienates public school parents. To your great credit, you have said that you want to engage parents and communities more than in the past. But you have also said that you plan to stay the course on the Bloomberg administration's education policies and practices. I believe you have the background and experience to finally bring parents into our school system, but I know you will not be able to do it by maintaining the status quo.

I am a public school parent and I have talked with parents all over our city who are tired of the Department of Education treating them like problems instead of partners. They are looking for a chancellor who has the independence to bring real change to our school system. To accomplish this goal, I believe you must immediately take on three pressing issues facing our schools today: reforming the DOE's closed off, bureaucratic process for closing and co-locating schools; fully supporting the parents of students with disabilities; and most importantly, saving the over 4,600 teachers who will be fired under Mayor Bloomberg's budget.

As our growing student population has required more and more schools to share space through co-locations, the DOE has resisted listening to parents' concerns and suggestions at every turn. Last year my office produced a report exposing how the DOE's top-down policies completely left parents out of the process, an approach that can result in critical school spaces being lost and students being squeezed into disjointed schedules. The DOE initially agreed to adopt several of our recommended reforms, including engaging more thoroughly with parents and community members when a school is being considered for co-location or closure, but so far they have not fully followed through. The Brandeis complex on the Upper West Side houses four schools, including the Frank McCourt high school, which was brought in by the community this past September. Now the DOE is threatening this progress by forcing a new schoolinto the building, a decision that could cost Frank McCourt students their science labs, classroom space and music programs. Going forward, you should be willing to adjust the DOE plans based on legitimate concerns on the ground, including finding alternate locations when a co-location simply does not work.

Every year the DOE closes and co-locates dozens of schools, upending educational environments for thousands of students. Far too often these major decisions are conducted in a vacuum, where the views of parents are treated as an obstacle to implementing policy decisions, instead of important feedback worth serious consideration. The DOE nearly shut down P.S. 114 in Brooklyn after failing to remove its principal, Maria Peñaherrera, who had driven the school into debt and reduced its academic performance. Led by PTA President Crystal King, the parents fought back, joining local elected officials and my office, which produced a report tracing the DOE's history of ignoring concerns from parents about Principal Peñaherrera for years. At the eleventh hour the school was saved, but this last-minute reversal would never have been necessary if the DOE had just been willing to listen to the P.S. 114 community from the start. Continuing a policy of closing schools first and asking questions later will only widen the gap between your agency and parents. Instead, I urge you as chancellor to use closure as a last resort, following a real effort to give struggling schools support, including teacher training.

There are over 165,000 students with disabilities in public schools. Their parents face greater challenges than many others, but instead of being helped by the DOE they too are often forced to fight against its bureaucracy. Elisa Gravitch from Staten Island has a ten year-old son named Kyle who is on the autism spectrum. At his elementary school, Kyle was in an Autism Spectrum Disorder NEST program, which creates a balanced and supportive learning environment. As his elementary education came to an end, Elisa wanted the DOE to put Kyle in a middle school that would provide the same educational and social supports. But for over a year the DOE repeatedly ignored or dismissed requests from Elisa and other parents with children in the program. It took public intervention by local officials and my office for the DOE to finally hear these parents out and put their children in the school that best fit their needs. With everything parents of students with disabilities already have to deal with, it should not take a year-long lobbying campaign for their voices to be heard. Under your leadership, the DOE will be implementing an important reform effort to make all community schools more inclusive to students with disabilities. In order to make these reforms work, you must be more supportive than your predecessor of parents of students with disabilities and willing to take their input.

Finally, the most immediate issue facing our school system today is the mayor's proposal to fire over 4,600 teachers. This threat is not a new one; this is the second budget cycle that the mayor has threatened to eliminate thousands of teachers, and then changed his mind seconds before the clock ran out. But while this year's budget dynamics make the prospect of serious layoffs far more real, the mayor has made it abundantly clear that his agenda puts the repeal of Last In/First Out before everything else. I believe we need a new system for evaluating teachers that accounts for student performance, but prioritizing this political fight over keeping teachers in the classroom is too great a risk to take. You need to show independence from City Hall by working first to stop thousands of teachers from being laid off instead of pursuing the mayor's political agenda.

You will most likely be the last DOE Chancellor of this administration. This is a real opportunity to improve upon Mayor Bloomberg's education legacy and to finally end the history of tension between parents and our school system. Giving parents a real voice in policy decisions, providing them with the support they need and asking them to contribute to their children's education will make our schools better. I hope you will join me in working with parents and all education stakeholders to make this vision a reality.

Bill de Blasio is Public Advocate for the City of New York.

Mayor Bloomberg to Unveil Massive Layoff Plan Today for City Workers by Sally Goldenberg - NYPOST.com

CROWLEY CONCERNED OVER PLAN FOR NIGHTIME FIREHOUSE CLOSURES
 

"I am deeply troubled by the Mayor’s proposed nighttime closures because they will put our public safety at risk," said City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley (D-30, Queens), Chair of the Fire & Criminal Justice Committee. "Only five months ago the Mayor made an agreement with the City Council to keep all fire companies open and fully operational.  We go through the budget process to lay out our priorities for the entire fiscal year-- that included the $37 million allocated from the City Council to avoid closing fire companies.” 

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Mayor Bloomberg today is expected to order thousands of layoffs next year in bruising budget cuts intended to close a massive gap, sources told The Post last night.

Bloomberg will announce the widespread job reductions and service cuts as he tries to close the nearly $3.3 billion budget deficit the city is facing next year.

In September he directed all agency heads to cut 5.4 percent from their current budgets and 8 percent from their spending plans for next year.

The cuts were lower -- 2.7 percent this year and 4 percent next year -- for the Department of Education and the four uniformed agencies, the NYPD, FDNY, Sanitation and Correction.

The total cuts over the next 18 months will total at least $1.5 billion.

The Department of Finance is expected to take a steep hit of about 100 layoffs, several sources said.

The mayor will also announce reductions in staff through attrition.

When asked about layoffs yesterday the mayor replied, "Doing more with less always means fewer people because 80 percent of your budget is spent on salaries and benefits."

One source familiar with what the mayor will announce today said Hizzoner will drop the budget ax hard on services for seniors, libraries and cultural centers, while trying to spare the NYPD and Department of Education.

The mayor also is expected to propose closing 20 fire companies at night -- a tempered plan after his suggestion to completely shutter 20 fire companies last year faced resistance.

The City Council ultimately restored funding for those companies.

Additional reporting by David Seifman

Mayor Bloomberg "Screws" Up On Radio by Frank Lombardi - The Daily Politics - NY Daily News

Bloomberg once again shows how out of touch he is with average middle class voters....He defends the rich corrupt Wall Street gang who nearly bankrupted our country and shattered the economy while he trashes municipal workers who he plans to lay off despite a $3 Billion dollar surplus...There's not a rich person alive that he won't doesn't like or defend...Nor is there a union man that he likes and wouldn't slander...I think only him and his privileged class really think that anyone would leave Wall Street or NYC if derivatives were highly regulated, as they should be...

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Mayor Bloomberg is normally guarded about using profanity in public, so his use of the salty phrase “screw them” on his radio appearance this morning

should be forgiven as an innocent slip of the tongue.

Here’s the context: While discussing the proposed tightening of regulation of Wall Street, the mayor noted that some of the union protesters who staged a rally against budget cuts this week outside City Hall had railed about “getting even with bankers.”

The mayor suggested that since taxes from Wall Street earnings and bonuses pay for their salaries, “our cops and firefighters and teachers they should be out there defending the bankers.”

Bloomberg noted one of the protesters had said, “Oh, you know, a lot of these [bankers] were in favor of charter schools… so we’re going to go screw them.”

He quickly corrected himself: “Hurt them -- pardon my language.”

Going on, the mayor said it’s a popular sentiment among the “political chatter class” to be down on bankers and Wall Street financiers and to push for over-stringent regulations, such as banning derivatives.

Such overzealous regulations would merely drive business out of the city or out of the country, damaging the city’s ability to pay its workforce, argued Bloomberg, who nonetheless asserted, “I’m not here to defend bankers, I’m here to defend New York City business.”

Klein Celebrates No Layoffs, Hits the Bar with Young Teachers by Anna Phillips - GothamSchools

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Question: If you’re Chancellor Joel Klein, how do you celebrate not having to lay off your newest 4,400 public school teachers?

Answer: By partying with a few dozen of those rookie teachers, of course.

Chancellor Klein spoke to public school teachers, most of them recent hires, hours after Mayor Bloomberg announced there would be no teacher layoffs.

By “partying” I mean sipping what looked to be Coke while addressing a small crowd of young teachers at a Hell’s Kitchen bar. The teachers were a sympathetic crowd: Brought together by Educators 4 Excellence — a group created by teachers who hope to influence the public debate over seniority and teacher evaluations — the teachers gathered Wednesday evening to hear Klein speak.

While some of the teachers in attendance hailed from the Bronx’s P.S. 86, where E4E’s co-founders teach, others came from schools all over the city. Many were in Teach for America and in their first few years of working in the city’s public schools.

Educators 4 Excellence’s founders, Evan Stone and Syndey Morris, see their organization as a way for these teachers to be heard outside of the city’s teachers union, which does not share many of their views. Newly incorporated as a non-profit, they’re beginning to look for funders while also trying to keep their independence from all of the education reform groups already in existence. Stone said this will likely mean having a board of directors composed of current and former teachers and a separate group of funders that doesn’t control the organization.

I’d tell you about the chancellor’s remarks, but Klein’s staff and the event’s hosts decided his comments should be off the record, so this photo of the chancellor bathed in the light of a Jack Daniels sign will have to suffice.

When it came time to ask Klein questions, several teachers raised their hands and said they were concerned about administrative incompetence and the mistreatment of students at their schools, but said they didn’t know where to report the problems. Others wondered what would be done to prevent seniority-based layoffs from happening next year, when the federal stimulus funds that have been cushioning the city’s budget expire.

After taking their questions, Klein walked through the bar shaking hands and accepting thanks from gratefully employed teachers.

A point of clarification: A story I wrote earlier this year described Educators 4 Excellence as “entirely unfunded.” In fact, the development costs for the group’s website were paid for by Education Reform Now, an advocacy group that recently waged a campaign for more charter schools and an end to seniority-based layoffs. Stone and Morris pay for the website’s upkeep on their own.

Stone told me today that he and Morris have only begun to look for outside funding for the group. He wrote in an email:

We will be looking for funding very soon as we currently don’t have any money. Even the event last night was paid for out of my teaching salary. Hopefully any Gotham School readers and or reporters who share our views will help us to continue to build an authentic voice for teachers by donating to our organization.

M.T.A. Broke Law With Layoffs, Judge Rules by Emily B. Hager - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

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In the latest back-and-forth over the legality of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s layoffs of hundreds of subway station agents, a judge ruled Friday that the authority violated the law when it closed booths and laid off about 260 agents last month without holding public hearings.

But the judge, Saliann Scarpulla of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, did not rule on whether the authority must reopen closed booths or rehire laid-off workers, and the authority itself would not comment on whether it would, saying only that it intended to appeal the ruling and to immediately start the public-hearing process.

The authority plans to lay off more than 200 more station agents in July, as part of the effort to close a budget gap of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Justice Scarpulla ruled Friday that the authority had not followed New York Public Authorities Law 1205, which states that a “complete or partial closing of a passenger station” can occur “only after a public hearing,” provided it is not for emergency reasons or repairs.

The union representing station agents, Transit Workers Union Local 100, called the judge’s decision “a major victory for safety and security in our subways.”

The union and Acorn, a community organizing group, had sued to block the layoffs, arguing that eliminating station agents put the public at risk to acts of crime, terrorism and not having help in place in the case of a medical emergency.

“This a safety issue for us,” said Bertha Lewis, Acorn’s chief executive.

A spokesman for the authority, Aaron Donovan, said in a statement, “The M.T.A. is disappointed in today’s ruling that we cannot proceed with slated subway booth and kiosk closures without repeating the public hearing process.”

Last month, when the authority was about to lay off nearly 500 agents, another State Supreme Court justice issued a last-minute stay blocking the layoffs. A few days afterward, the authority moved ahead and laid off 260 agents who worked in customer-assistance booths rather than sales booths, saying that the customer-assistance agents were not covered by the stay.