On Oct. 5, 2021, the NY State Senate Standing Education Committee and the State Senate Standing Committee on NYC Education will hold joint hearings on the city’s use of the additional state and federal education funds at 250 Broadway downtown. More about these hearings here. A video of my oral testimony is posted above; the […]
Testimony on Mayoral control before the Assembly Education Committee. Most large districts whose schools suffered under Mayoral control including Detroit, Newark, and now Chicago have gone back to elected school boards. Why shouldn’t NYC voters have the same rights?
The following letter was sent on July 29, 2021 to the NY State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa and the Regents Chancellor Lester Young concerning the many problems with NYC’s Contract for Excellence proposed plan.
Sept. 30, 2021 I was asked to provide a brief summary of de Blasio’s educational record for a forum sponsored by CUNY’s School of Labor and Urban Studies today, with other presenters on other issues listed to the left. My presentation was limited to five minutes so I couldn’t present the entire power point, and […]
Sept. 1, 2021 City Council hearings on DOE’s school reopening plan are being held today. Here and embedded below is the testimony that Class Size Matters will give.
The DOE has proposed a Contracts for Excellence spending plan that is completely inadequate to provide an equitable or adequate education to NYC kids — contrary to the intent of the law, which was passed to fulfill the goals of the CFE lawsuit. The DOE claims that the state has allocated no more funding to […]
August 9, 2021 Below and attached are talking points in English and in Spanish on how parents and teachers directly or through your School Leadership Teams should urge your principal to use available funds to lower class size and to help ensure social distancing next year, for the sake of stronger academic support and health […]
July 29, 2021 The DOE is holding borough hearings on their proposed Contracts for Excellence plan from Aug. 2-Aug. 5 at 6:30 PM. The location of these hearings and the proposed plan are posted here. You can also send your comments on the plan by emailing [email protected] Below are some questions you can ask and […]
See our letter written with the Education Law Center to the DOE Chancellor about the need to hold prompt hearings to gain input from parents and others on how the C4E funding will be spent next year. This public input is legally required and is especially critical now, given that our schools are finally getting […]
Updated June 14, 2021. Below is our summary of the positions of the leading candidates for NYC Mayor on a range of critical education issues. For maximum readability, download it and read at 100% of its size. Please share with others!
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 .
