From Our Friends at Class Size Matters:

Welcome back from the Memorial Day weekend; I hope you had a nice break.  In the next few weeks, it will be decided whether NYC will lose 6,000 teaching positions next year, which would cause your child to suffer from huge increases in class size.  This is when the negotiations over the budget get serious. Here are five easy steps to take to fight back against these unconscionable cuts:



1.       Tomorrow, Wed. June 1  at 9 AM at City Hall, Council Member Robert Jackson will be holding a press conference to protest these cuts; please join us, along with the other elected officials, parents and advocates.



2.       Later in the day, at 5 PM, a safety net will be strung across Broadway, near City Hall, and then cut,  to symbolize how the mayor’s budget would eliminate the safety net for millions of New Yorkers.  Please come if you can and show your support.



3.       Our NEW petition opposing these cuts is up and running.  Please sign it, even if you signed an earlier one – it automatically sends a message in your name to Bloomberg, Speaker Quinn and Finance Chair Recchia, saying that we cannot afford to lose a single teacher next year.  This is especially important, as in many districts, our school population is growing fast.  Add your own personal story if you can.



4.       This year, our “Skinny” awards are being given to four teacher-warriors, Jackie Bennett, Julie Cavanagh, James Eterno and Christine Rowland, all fighting to save NYC schools; this is a very hard time for teachers, being constantly attacked by this administration as well as nationally by the corporate reformers who have hijacked education policy.  Check out our Facebook page, and leave a comment in appreciation of one of these teachers, or any other teacher of your choice.



5.       Please come to the Class Size Matters dinner on June 15, co-hosted by Diane Ravitch, Patrick Sullivan, and others,  where we will give out the “Skinny” awards; click here for more information and to buy a ticket.  Or simply consider contributing  a tax-deductible donation  to Class Size Matters; we need all your support to do battle against the damaging tide of budget cuts and the other dangerous policies eroding our children’s schools.



Finally, many petitions have been launched in opposition to the mayor’s budget cuts, but not all of them talk about saving the 6,000 teaching positions that would be lost if his budget is adopted.  Some only talk about preventing 4100 teacher layoffs – while still allowing 2,000 positions to be eliminated through attrition.  But if we lose 2,000 teaching positions, that means hundreds of thousands of children will still be subjected to larger class sizes next year.  That’s why we have to fight to preserve every one of these 6,000 positions.  Make sure that the petition you sign addresses this critical need.



Leonie Haimson

Executive Director

Class Size Matters