Skeptics aside, mayor paints rosy look for new school year
BY BILL PARRY
Mayor Bill de Blasio and
Schools Chancellor Richard
Carranza visited schools in all
five boroughs on the first day
of the 2019-20 school year welcoming
youngsters and their
parents enrolled in 3-K for All
which is now available across
the city.
As of Sept. 5, nearly 17,700
students were enrolled in
3-K with total enrollment
projected to reach 22,000
this fall.
The Mayor spotlighted all
that is going well in the nation’s
largest public school
system including the Excellence
for All agenda, now in its
fourth year, which continues
to lead students to academic
success such as graduation
rates that are higher than
ever and a dropout rate that
is lower than ever, according
to City Hall.
“There is nothing like the
promise of the first day of
school. With four-times more
kids getting 3K, more AP
classes than ever before, and
dedicated in districts facing
some of the greatest challenges,
this year is guaranteed to
be transformative,” de Blasio
said. “Our Equity and Excellence
agenda is working. Pre-K
is helping close the achievement
gap, graduation rates
are up, and more students are
college ready. I am so proud of
our students and educators. I
can’t wait to see what they’ll
accomplish this year.”
The Equity and Excellence
for All agenda is expanding
to include work to address
systemic obstacles faced by
underserved students, school
and communities, including
innovative school governance
models to promote teacher recruitment
and retention, improvements
to instruction and
school support and diversity
grants to school districts to
foster integration.
In Queens, City Councilman
Daniel Dromm, the
Chairman of the Finance
Committee, touted 3-K, the
nation’s most ambitious effort
to provide universal free,
full-day, high-quality early
childhood education for every
three-year-old.
“The expansion of 3-K for
All is a major win for New
Mayor Bill de Blasio greets students and parents on a back to
school tour of the five boroughs. Courtesy of the Mayor’s offi ce
York City families,” Dromm
said. “Now all NYC students
have access to the foundational
education they need to
thrive in higher grades. I commend
the administration for
prioritizing this program.”
Meanwhile, the Mayor
was getting low grades from
parents in Southeast Queens
who will rally at Roy Wilkins
Park on Sept. 26 to protest
their two-year wait for
classrooms promised by the
administration in 2017.
Without a middle school
location, up to 200 fifth graders
will be forced to leave Success
Academy next year and
return to zoned schools where
less than half the students
are able to read or do math,
they claim.
“I cannot believe Mayor
de Blasio would force my
child out of the best school
he’s ever known,” Dr. Keisha
Phillips-Kong, a Success
Academy Rosedale parent,
said. “That’s why my family
will rally. My son loves this
school. The mayor should support
great schools, not throw
up roadblocks.”
There are at least five public
schools in Southeast Queens
with 450 to 725 empty seats
each that could be used for Success
Academy space. Parents
have been trying to get de Blasio’s
attention since July, making
more than 350 phone calls
to his office and meeting with
local officials for support and
last month a Success Academy
Rosedale parent launched a petition
that now has more than
10,000 signatures.
“The Mayor is abandoning
children just as they
are reaching critical middle
school years,” Success Academy
Founder and CEO Eva
Moskowitz said. “This mayor
talks about being a public
school parent, yet he is utterly
indifferent to these families.”
There are 2,000 Success
Academy Queens students
with another 3,000 on this
year’s waiting list. Nearly 87%
of the students are children
of color.
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