Oct. 15, 2021 Thanks to all of you who called the Speaker’s office, urging him to schedule hearings on the classroom capacity bill that would phase in smaller classes, Intro 2374, introduced by the Speaker Corey Johnson and Council Education Chair Mark Treyger. Yesterday it was announced that Council hearings would be held on this […]
Oct. 14 Update: The City Council Education Committee hearings for Intro 2374 are now scheduled for Oct. 27, 2021, starting at 10 AM. You can sign up to speak remotely here or submit testimony. Please do! Oct. 13, 2021 Dear all: 1. Exciting news! More than half of all City Council members have now signed […]
Sept. 2, 2021 1. Tomorrow, Friday Sept. 3 is the last day to submit your comments on DOE’s Contract for Excellence proposal, which allocates not a single cent towards lowering class size — even though this was a central issue that led the court to decide in the CFE case that NYC children were denied […]
Sept. 8, 2021 Schools reopen next Monday, Sept. 13, only five days away. Meanwhile, over the weekend I had an oped in Gotham Gazette pointing out the many serious weaknesses in NYC’s school reopening plan. Please check it out. Here it is in Spanish. Please also read this terrific oped in today’s NY Daily News […]
Sept. 28, 2021 This Thursday Sept. 30 at noon, I will be speaking on de Blasio’s education record and legacy at a CUNY forum entitled A ‘Tale of Two Cities’ Revisited: The Social Democracy Experiments of the de Blasio Years. To check out the other speakers and issues to be discussed and to RSVP, please […]
Aug. 25, 2021 Dear all – I hope you and your family are enjoying the last few weeks of summer. 1. The bill that would require smaller classes that was introduced by CM Mark Treyger nearly a month ago. Int 2374-2021, has 15 co-sponsors: Corey D. Johnson, Robert E. Cornegy, Jr., Eric Dinowitz, Selvena N. […]
Aug. 9, 2021 Dear all — 1. At this point it is uncertain as to whether Congress will include funds for school construction, repair and upgrades in their infrastructure reconciliation package, even though the need for ventilation and social distancing in our classrooms is more critical than ever. The American Society of […]
July 29, 2021 7:04 PM Exciting news! This morning, the City Council announced a new bill that would require radically smaller class sizes starting in the fall of 2022, by amending the NYC administrative code to allow only one student per 35 square feet of classroom space, on health and safety grounds. This would only […]
Earlier today, City Council Education Committee Chair Mark Treyger and Council Speaker Corey Johnson announced and introduced legislation which would effectively reduce class sizes by updating NYC’s Administrative Code. The bill (Int. No. 2374) will raise the minimum per person classroom space to 35 square feet per student from the current 20 square feet for grades […]
July 8, 2021 Instead of the $250 million the City Council proposed should be invested in lowering class size, Mayor de Blasio would agree to only $18 million, for a “pilot” project in a few schools. This despite the fact that there will be a crying need for smaller classes next year, both for social […]
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 .
