Public Education

Effective public education, in elementary, middle and high school, is essential to preparing our children for success. The schools of the 39th Council District have some of the city's best teachers, principals and parent leaders, and we need to do everything we can to make sure they are supported in the crucial work that they do.

A better middle school admissions process?

Posted on May 22, 2015

As past, present and soon-to-be 5th graders and their parents know, the current “middle school choice” admissions process for District 15 (and more broadly in NYC) can be stressful, frustrating, and feel unfair. Around this time of year, I often hear from parents that the process is confusing, demoralizing, too heavily based on screening, and amplifies the problems of segregation.

Before we start the process again next year, we wanted to work together with some of our partners to have a community conversation about the issue, and what changes you believe are necessary. Read more »

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Schools, Libraries, and Our Charity

Posted on May 13, 2015

As one of the "spirited Brooklynites" who spent last weekend running (and even helping to organize) the Brooklyn PTA 5K Fun Run for Public Schools, and then Biking the Branches in support of the Brooklyn Public Library, I completely agree with Liza Featherstone's critique in this article: that we must not come to view our schools and libraries as "charities," but as fundamental public institutions that we have a duty to robustly (and more equally) support with our tax dollars. AND that we are not doing so. AND especially not in the case of NYC's public libraries. AND that this is a real shortcoming of the budget that Mayor de Blasio put forward this week (which cuts the expense budget of the 3 library systems $10 million from last year, and includes only a scant & largely illusory increase of capital funding).

For what it's worth, though, I do think events like the PTA 5K, and Bike the Branches -- and even more participatory budgeting (PBNYC) -- can be a fundamental part of efforts to "fight privatization, not revel in it," as Featherstone rightly demands. Read more »

More crossing guards, less testing, and hordes of runners!

Posted on April 14, 2015

All year parents at the new pre-K program at Bishop Ford have been concerned about the dangerous intersection at 10th Avenue & 19th Street – where hundreds of 4 year-olds cross every day with no crossing guard. So I’m happy to announce that due to our combined efforts (with help from City Hall and the 72nd Precinct), a crossing guard will be stationed there starting today.

But this is a problem that exists across the city. School crossing guards are some of NYC’s most essential workers – but we don’t have enough to keep all our kids safe, so many dangerous intersections are uncovered.

Read more »

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City Council Hearing: Finding Ways Forward to Confront Segregation and Increase Diversity In NYC’s Schools

Posted on December 22, 2014

Sixty years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education that “separate but equal is inherently unequal,” New York’s public schools are among the most segregated in the country. On December 11, 2014, the New York City Council took a stark look at issues of school segregation and diversity – in a day-long hearing that I worked with Education Committee Chair Danny Dromm to convene. The hearing was contentious at times (you can view the whole 9-hour video here), but pointed to some concrete ways forward.

Public schools are, for me, our most important democratic institutions – the mechanism by which all our children are supposed to receive an opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed.  Segregated schools communicate an enormous amount to our kids about what sort of society we really value. Taking real steps to confront school segregation is necessary if we care about the core democratic principal of equal opportunity. Read more »

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Steps Forward Toward More Diverse Schools

Posted on October 8, 2014

Last spring, our community held a forum at John Jay Educational Campus to address issues of segregation in our public schools – and to look at what steps we can take toward schools that better reflect the diversity of our city. Sixty years after Brown v. Board of Education, we learned that New York’s schools are the most segregated in the country. But we also learned that schools, districts (especially District 1, 3, and 13), and advocates across New York City are working hard to make change.

At that meeting, the District 15 Community Education Council (who co-sponsored the event with Council Member Carlos Menchaca and me) announced its new CEC 15 Resolution on Diversity. That resolution called on the DOE to prioritize diversity, especially when establishing the admissions policy for new schools.

So I’m pleased to report that this week, we made a small but meaningful step forward. The DOE agreed to an admissions plan – suggested by the community – for the new “PS/IS 437” (in Kensington) that will strengthen diversity, include a new middle school, and promote collaboration.

Read more »

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Reflections from a 5th grade graduation

Posted on June 25, 2014

It’s sentimental, and yet deeply true: for me, there is no better celebration of American democracy than a 5th grade public school graduation, rooted in the idea that every single student has the potential to achieve their goals, and the right to get a real opportunity to try.

If we want a democratic society – inspired by the ideals of equality, of opportunity, of fairness, of creativity, of stewardship for future generations, of commitment to the common good – a good starting place is to celebrate and recommit to what can happen in our public schools. Read more »

A Strong Step Forward for Our Kids, Teachers, Parents, Schools ... and City

Posted on May 1, 2014

I’m very enthusiastic about the preliminary contract agreement announced today between the de Blasio Administration and the United Federation of Teachers. I believe it provides a framework to improve our schools, support teachers, encourage innovation, and better include parents.

As a public school parent, I have a deep appreciation for what our teachers do. This contract shows respect for their craft, streamlines an overly cumbersome evaluation process, and treats them fairly – while at the same time achieving savings in health care and attending to the real fiscal constraints our city faces. Read more »

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This Tuesday: Help break down a divide (and watch some great student videos at John Jay HS Campus)

Posted on April 26, 2014

Although it’s located right in the middle of Park Slope, there has too long been a divide between the public schools in the John Jay Educational Campus and the surrounding community.

Next Tuesday, we’ve got a chance to help break down that divide. Read more »

The real champions of change

Posted on July 23, 2013

I’m honored to be in Washington DC today to receive a “Champions of Change” award from the White House for work (along with Alderman Joe Moore from Chicago, and Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito from East Harlem) on participatory budgeting.

I’m excited to meet and learn from other elected officials, not-for-profit leaders, and community organizers who are pioneering new forms of civic engagement and open government (like Jessica Klein, co-founder of Rockaway Help, which created new technology tools to enable people to collaborate for disaster relief). 

But there is something not-quite-right about getting an award for something as inclusive as participatory budgeting (which The New York Times called “revolutionary civics in action”). The whole idea of participatory budgeting is to see elected office not as a vehicle for one person’s leadership, but as a way to bring people together to take shared responsibility.  The best part of participatory budgeting is how people step up together to act as stewards of the shared public realm – our schools, parks, public transportation, streets, libraries – that makes our life together possible, and sometimes even ennobling. Read more »

Petraeus’s Pay for Part-Time CUNY Job, Criticized at $200,000, Drops to $1

NY Times
07/15/2013

It was supposed to be a feather in the cap for the City University of New York’s ambitious honors college. Or perhaps a careful first step back into public life for a leader sidelined by scandal.

One way or another, the news that David H. Petraeus, the former C.I.A. director and commander of the allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, would be a visiting professor at the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY this coming academic year was supposed to be great publicity all around. Read more »

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