Dec. 31, 2021 Just a short email to wish you a wonderful New Year and to thank you for your support over the past months. I also thought you might be interested in checking out my most read blog posts and most-listened to Talk out of School podcasts from 2021. And if you haven’t yet, […]
Jan. 13, 2022 DOE has proposed a totally inadequate Contracts for Excellence plan that will not provide NYC students with their right to a sound basic education. Class Size Matters, the Alliance for Quality Education and the Education Law Center just sent a letter to DOE and the NY State Education Department strongly opposing this […]
December 23, 2021 Though it was disappointing that the City Council was blocked from passing the class size bill Int. 2374, despite 41 co-sponsors, we did prove that there is a tremendous consensus and a growing impetus to finally provide NYC kids with the smaller classes they need and deserve. We will work to see […]
December 29, 2021 Dear friend – As a historian, I have studied reform in NYC and in cities across the nation. Reform usually means shaking up the system. Centralize, decentralize, recentralize. Reorganize the bureaucracy, put the mayor in control, change the decision-making structure. Hire consultants, hire data analysts, hire coaches. Or reform means outsource the […]
December 14, 2021 Despite the crying need for smaller classes in NYC public schools, and the fact that Int. 2374 had 41 co-sponsors, the class size bill is still being blocked by Speaker Johnson and will not come to a vote this session. When asked about this last week by NY1 reporter Jill Jorgensen, the […]
November 29, 2021 1. Only about two weeks remain before the Council adjourns and a new City Council takes office. Please send a letter TODAY to Council Speaker Corey Johnson by clicking here— demanding that he schedule a vote for the class size reduction bill, Int 2347. When Johnson was running for Speaker, he […]
Este mensaje es in Español aqui. November 12, 2021 Support is growing for Intro 2367, the bill that would require smaller classes be phased in over three years. It now has 38 out of 49 Council Members as co-sponsors. (Two Council seats are empty.) We hope this bill will come to a vote in the […]
November 17, 2021 Este mensaje está en español aquí. The good news is that with your help, 39 Council Members out of 49 have now signed onto Int. 2374, the bill that would require class sizes be reduced in NYC schools. This is a veto-proof majority, so that if passed, the Mayor could not block […]
Este mensaje es in Espanol aqui. Nov. 11, 2021 Intro 2367, the bill that would require smaller classes be phased in over three years, now has 36 out of 50 Council Members as co-sponsors. We hope this bill will come to a vote in the next ten days or so. 14 Council Members have not […]
Oct. 28, 2021 1. Check out the compelling testimony including videos from yesterday’s hearings on Intro 2374 and the importance of lowering class size, from Regent Kathy Cashin, Diane Ravitch, Elsie McCabe Thompson and others. Diane Ravitch testified that lowering class size would be the most powerful education reform the Council could enact. My written […]
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 .
