April 19, 2017 Chronic failures with school planning and siting have resulted in overcrowding citywide. These power points listed below reveal how that latest data from the School Construction Authority’s 2015-2016 “Blue Book” indicate that more than half (56%) of NYC schools are overcrowded (at or over 100% of target utilization). Over half a million […]
1. I will be speaking on the national and state push to privatize public education tomorrow Saturday, March 4, 2017 at the Westchester-East Putnam PTA Advocacy Breakfast. The event is free; just RSVP to [email protected] What: Westchester-East Putnam PTA Advocacy Breakfast Where: The Education House, 5 Homeside Lane, White Plains, NY When: Saturday, […]
On Tuesday, Feb. 28, the NYC Council held joint hearings of the Education and Finance Committees on the myriad problems with the city’s dysfunctional process of school planning and siting. Many parents, students and advocates pointed out how the capital plan is underfunded, the enrollment projections inaccurate, school siting too slow — all resulting in […]
February 8, 2017 Yesterday, the US Senate approved Betsy DeVos to be the US Secretary of Education as we had feared, with Mike Pence casting the tie-breaking vote. Though disappointing it was in its way historic: the only time in US history that a Cabinet secretary has needed the vote of the Vice President to […]
January 6, 2017 1. Senate hearings on the nomination of Betsy DeVos to become Secretary of Education will be held Wednesday, January 11. As I explain in this month’s Indypendent, she is the most unqualified person every to be nominated to this position and is out to wreck our public schools. Please call your […]
December 31, 2016 1. It’s your last chance to give a tax-deductible donation to Class Size Matters in 2016. You can also check out what Diane Ravitch wrote about our efforts to improve schools and protect student privacy. If you would like to support our work going forward, please send a check to the address […]
February 21, 2017 A week from today, the City Council will hold hearings on the need to improve school planning and siting process. When: Tues. Feb. 28 starting at 10 AM Where: Council Chambers, City Hall What: City Council joint hearings of the Education and Finance committees on the school siting and planning process As […]
Cross-posted on NYSAPE’s website. Below is a memo that Class Size Matters and NY State Allies for Public Education sent to Commissioner Elia and the NY Board of Regents last week, on what may seem like an arcane and technical subject but is actually critical to ensure that opt-out students aren’t counted as failing in […]
On Thursday night, I gave a presentation on the capital plan to District 6 CEC. Since many of the parents in the district at the meeting were understandably concerned about the high levels of lead reported in the water of some of their schools — including a finding of 6,620 parts per billion (ppb) […]
Trend in NYC class sizes, including very large classes of 30 or more and long-term trend through Nov. 2016. NYC public school K-3 and 4-8 grade class size trends citywide including each district 2007- 2016. Below are the individual power points for each school district. District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 […]
Sign here to urge NYC to implement a real, multi-year strategy to lower class size, as the law intends, without exempting up to half or more of all students.
Talk out of School radio show and podcast airs Sunday night at 7 PM on WBAI 99.5 FM or online at www.wbai.org when Leonie Haimson and Daniel Alicea interview guests and discuss issues affecting public schools in NYC, the state level and nationally. You can stream or subscribe to the podcast here; or at iTunes, Spotify or Google.
We held our annual Skinny award dinner Wed. June 28, 2023, honoring Rep. Jamaal Bowman, former Bronx principal and now a progressive trailblazer who is fighting in Congress to protect and improve our public schools. More photos on Facebook .
