We urge the mayoral candidates not to buckle under the pressure of the status quo and listen to the voices of parents calling for teacher quality and school choice.
Flatbush parent Ebony Jackson tells the Democratic mayoral candidates that only one side of the education debate is being discussed and that she wants a mayor who is not going to block her access to choice.
Parents from Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens came together yesterday to urge the Democratic mayoral candidates to stand up to special interest groups and support parents on school choice, teacher quality, and access to high performing charter schools.
The candidates were set to have another education forum hosted by an anti-reform group that refuses to ask questions about what the mayoral candidates plan to do that would improve schools rather than roll back the progress we’ve made over the last decade.
Parents expressed concern that the next mayor will need to give a voice to the thousands of New York City parents who are frustrated by the constant pushback from unions and politicians against what they know is right for their children. So many parents in our chapters are concerned about students in high poverty schools being zoned to schools that have a disproportionate share of unsatisfactory teachers.
One of our parents from our Bedford Stuyvesant chapter expressed concern about her 2nd grader’s future and the fate of the progress being made. She is frustrated about the progress we still need to make. She wanted everyone to know that the candidates were not speaking for her when they talk about restricting choice because many of the Democratic candidates oppose measures that would give more children the opportunity to escape failing schools.
We urge the mayoral candidates not to buckle under the pressure of the status quo and listen to the voices of parents calling for teacher quality and school choice.
East New York parent Michelle Hanley (front) smiles for the camera before she shares her story of the trials she went through to get her fourth-grade daughter into a charter school.
StudentsFirstNY's Director of Advocacy Raysa Rodriguez tells the mayoral candidates that there are thousands of parents in NYC who feel their voices have not been heard in the education debate.
