WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 17, 2022 7
NYC’s #1 Source for Political & Election News
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,
Mayor Eric Adams returned to Bayside High School in Queens to call for continued mayoral control of New York
City’s public schools. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
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 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.
“The 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.
PoliticsNY.com PoliticsNYnews PoliticsNYnews PoliticsNYnews
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
/PoliticsNY.com
link
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
/PoliticsNY.com
link
