20 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 17, 2022 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Adams calls for extension of mayoral control of public schools
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
CMOHAMED@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Schools
Chancellor David Banks joined parents
and education advocates outside of Bayside
High School on Tuesday, March 8, calling
for a four-year extension of mayoral accountability
in the state budget in order
to ensure stability in the nation’s largest
public school system.
Adams applauded Governor Kathy Hochul
for sending a “loud and clear message”
that mayoral accountability is needed for
four years, and that it should be included
in the budget.
“Every agency in our city, the mayor
is responsible, you want to point to your
mayor. So if the mayor’s responsible for
every agency that handles adults’ problems,
why shouldn’t the mayor be responsible for
the agency that handles the problems of
our children?” Adams said during a press
conference outside of his alma mater, Bayside
High School. “We should be in control
of the public school system, so if we fail,
vote us out.”
Adams refl ected on his time at Bayside
High School while noting the lack of services
and funding at outer borough schools
that have been impacted by the failure of
not having mayoral accountability.
“Right here in Bayside because of mayoral
accountability and funding, they’re receiving
$1.6 million in additional funding for
Bayside High School that has been denied
them for so many years, and not having
the right control, we are unable to fi x those
inequities in real time,” Adams said.
During the last two years amid the COVID
19 pandemic, according to Adams,
children have suff ered a severe learning
loss in math, reading and developed mental
health issues aft er transitioning from
in-person learning to online instruction.
“When you think about the fact that the
session ends in June that the same time
mayoral accountability ends, how can we
even think that our children should have
to deal with the uncertainty of what the
next school year is going to be, particularly
aft er coming through two years of having
COVID bring uncertainty in their lives, we
can not do that again,” Adams said. “What
COVID traumatized our students with, we
should not traumatize them.”
Under mayoral accountability, Adams
noted that they were able to bring certainty
and clarity amid the pandemic when
schools were reopened in January.
Now, more than ever, Banks said, the
importance of mayoral accountability is
clear, as a result of the pandemic.
“Our schools became meal hubs serving
over 140 million meals to New Yorkers of
all ages. We got hundreds of thousands of
devices into the hands of our students. We
kept our schools open and safe throughout
the winter,” Banks said. “While other
school boards around the country fought
amongst themselves, we delivered.”
According to Banks, prior to the pandemic,
mayoral accountability moved
the graduation rates to nearly 80% aft er
decades of languishing at around 50%.
“It increased because the public can fi -
nally hold someone accountable for results,”
Banks said. “I lived in the old system where
we did not have accountability, and no one
was held accountable. So, we’re not blind to
the problems that exist. We are two leaders
that came up through these schools. We
know these schools.”
Banks added, “We have to remove our
schools and our children’s futures from
the political horse trading that happens in
Albany. We hear from our parents that this
system betrayed them, but more politics
will not solve the systemic problems that
our system faces. It isn’t fair to our families,
educators, or students, that time and
political capital is spent every single year
begging to do what is right for our kids.”
Vijah Ramjattan, president of CEC 28
and a parent of three children that attend
Photos by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
public schools, praised Adams and Banks
for their commitment and devotion to
understanding parents’ concerns.
“We know that not only will we have
leaders that will hear us but also encourage
us to speak up and have our voices to be
heard,” Ramjattan said. “We want to know
that we will have people who we can go to —
not in Albany, not where it’s not accessible,
and those who don’t know who we are and
what our concerns are. We want leaders
who understand who we are as parents.”
In order to provide “real time transparency”
to parents regarding their children’s
progress in school, Adams is proposing the
use of EduStat, a statistical tracking system
for city schools similar to the NYPD’s
Compstat program.
“Th e former chancellor started a version
of EduStat and we need to get that in place,
you should be able to gauge how your child
is trending when they’re struggling, so you
can get the resources immediately there,”
Adams said.
Mayor Eric Adams returned to Bayside High School in Queens to call for continued mayoral control of New York City’s public schools.
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