Hundreds of Learn NY supporters – parents, community and faith leaders, principals, teachers and students went to Bronx Community College for a State Senate hearing on mayoral control. These supporters have witnessed first-hand the dramatic gains in our schools since mayoral control was enacted and wanted to thank their legislators for passing mayoral control in 2002 and urge them to renew it this June.
Specifically, we are urging legislators to leave in place the single point of decision-making, established by the mayor’s majority on the Panel for Education Policy and the lack of fixed terms for its members.
Many of the hearing attendees were representatives from the growing coalition of education, community, and faith-based organizations that are teaming up with Learn NY to push for the renewal of mayoral control, which has now reached 74 members. These allies represent thousands of parents, hundreds of faith leaders, and dozens of teachers and principals who are speaking out in public meetings, attending rallies, and contacting legislators to make their voices heard.
Sister Paulette LoMonaco, a Learn NY Board Member and Executive Director of Good Shepherd Services, testified before the Committee and told them, “In 2002, you in the state legislature designed a system of school governance that cities across the country – including Washington, Detroit, Nashville and Newark – seek to replicate. You designed a system that President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan point to as a model for education reform. Most importantly, you designed a system that has given each of our 1.1 million public school students the opportunity for a better, brighter future. I encourage you to use this opportunity to improve the law, but I beseech you to beware of changes that would undermine the accountability that made it all possible.”
Hector Gesualdo, executive director of ASPIRA of New York, submitted written testimony that said, “That [the] bad old days are now just a painful memory is reason enough to extend mayoral control. More important, however, is the fact that we’re seeing meaningful improvements across the system in everything from test scores, to graduation rates, to school safety.”
Learn NY’s coalition includes:
Abyssinian Baptist Church
Achievement First
Alliance for the Arts
ASPIRA
Association of Malians NY – AMANY
Audubon Partnership
Beginning with Children Foundation
Bronx Clergy Task Force
Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Caribbean American Weekly
Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education
Center for Educational Innovation – Public Education Association (CEI-PEA)
Centro Civico Cultural Dominicano
Children for Children
Children’s Museum of Manhattan
Citizen Schools
City Year New York
Civic Builders
Common Good
Community Association of Progressive Dominicans (ACDP)
Computers for Youth
Council of African Imams
Crown Heights Youth Collective
East Harlem Tutorial Program
Explore Charter Schools
Exploring the Arts
Fordham University
Ghetto Film School
Girls Preparatory Charter Schools
Good Shepherd Services
Groundwork Inc.
Harlem Children’s Zone
Harlem RBI
Hellenic-American Neighborhood Action Committee (HANAC)
“I Have a Dream” Foundation / ”I Have a Dream” Foundation NY-Metro
IMPACT Coalition
Islamic Circle of North America
Juan Pablo Duarte Foundation
Learning Leaders
Lincoln Center Institute
Malcolm Shabazz Mosque
MOUSE
Muslim Center of New York (led by same as Islamic Circle)
My Time Inc.
National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship
New York City Outward Bound
New York Foundling
NYC Charter School Center
Orthodox Union
Padres Abogando Por Los Ninos
Partnership for After School Education (PASE)
Partnership with Children
Pastor Demetrius Carolina, First Central Baptist Church
Publicolor
Rev. Keith Bolden, First Calvary Baptist Church
Rev. Victor Brown, Mt. Sinai United Christian Church
Rev. Norman Coleman, Burke Avenue Baptist Church
Rev. Jeffery Crenshaw, Greater Tabernacle Church
Rev. Washington Lundy, Evening Star Baptist Church
Rev. Carl Washington, Sr., New Mt. Zion Baptist Church
Rev Curtis Whitney, Mt. Sinai Baptist Church
Ridgewood Bushwick Youth Center
The After School Corporation (TASC)
The Immigrant’s Journal, Legal, and Educational Fund Inc
Turkish American Multicultural Educational Foundation
Turnaround
Uncommon Schools
United African Congress
United Malian Women Association
Urban Assembly
Woodhaven Residents Block Association
Year Up NYC
YMCA of Greater New York
Young Women’s Leadership Network