Dear New Yorker,
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to outline a series of proposals for improving New York City's schools.
These proposals, which were presented at an education forum organized by The New School's Center for New York City Affairs, seek to build on positive changes in public education while fixing what isn't currently working in our schools. They include:
- establishing the nation's most intensive literacy support program;
- appointing a Deputy Mayor for Education and Children;
- creating a mentor teacher program;
- extending the school day;
- launching a new online resource to support parents;
- replacing textbooks with tablets;
- eliminating field testing; and
- taking the best practices of successful schools and implementing them system-wide.
If we want to keep NYC a place of opportunity for middle class families – and if we want to make it a place where people can realize the American Dream, moving their family into the middle class – we need a public education system that prepares every student for the jobs of the 21st Century.
These proposals incorporate and build on many of the education initiatives that the City Council and I have made our top priorities over the past seven years, such as our focus on early childhood education and our efforts to put proven reforms into action in our lowest performing middle schools.
They also seek to engage parents as real partners in our education system.
Improving our schools won't be easy – and it won't happen overnight. But I believe that, working together, we will get there. And we will keep New York City a place of opportunity for middle class families, today, tomorrow, and for generations to come.
You can read more about these proposals on the City Council's website at http://www.council.nyc.gov/html/pr/011513schoolspeech.shtml.
Also, I know the school bus strike has had significant implications for many of our families. Hopefully, everyone caught in the middle of this has been able to get their children to and from school. Information about alternative transportation options during the strike can be found on the NYC Department of Education's website at
http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/Transportation/default.htm.
Thanks for letting me share my ideas for improving our city's schools with you! If you have any questions or feedback, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Christine C. Quinn
Speaker
NYC Council