Dear John
Please note! We are in the formal “communications blackout” period, less than 90 days from the November general election. To comply with election law, we are restricted with what we can discuss in mass communications until election day. We will continue to send out a weekly newsletter to keep our community updated, but bear with us as we pare down and change content to comply with election law. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Curbside composting is coming to Brooklyn on 10/2! To get ready, be sure to order your free Brown Bin while supplies last before 10/13.
Back by popular demand is another session of our Community Cannabis Conversations! We’re inviting parents, teachers, and other members of the school community to join us virtually on 9/13 from 6:30-7:30 PM for a parent focused conversation about cannabis. We’ve put together another all-star panel of cannabis experts to answer all of your questions about the legal cannabis industry. Zoom link here!
Our office is excited to host our annual Brooklyn PTA Fun Run on 10/28 at 10 AM (bib pick-up and pre-race activities at 9 AM)! Sign up now or donate if you are unable to attend. We are also recruiting volunteers to join the Host Committee to help raise money and register your school community! If you or someone in your school has financial difficulties in paying for the Fun Run, please contact Mia at my office, [email protected].
As we gear up for back-to-school, we wanted to give a quick education recap of what we’ve been up to this summer and share a few resources to ensure students in District 39 have a successful start to the school year.
Money For Our Schools
This summer, we allocated over $2.8 million to capital projects across a number of schools in our district, including support for playground upgrades, auditorium maintenance, indoor gardens, improving bathroom accessibility, and enhancing technology. You can see the breakdown of where we allocated capital dollars to schools here.
Over the past year, I visited over 20 schools across the district to hear from school leaders and students directly about what makes their learning environment special and what more is needed. These visits have deeply informed my office’s advocacy around education and I am ready to continue fighting for the investments we hear about from schools most, especially long overdue accessibility upgrades. A recent report from Advocates for Children highlighted that as of 2023, only 31.1% of schools in our City are fully accessible to students, parents, educators, and community members with physical disabilities (you can see which schools in our City and District are fully accessible here). In November, the School Construction Authority (SCA) will propose its capital spending plan for the next five years and it will be critical that the dollars to improve schools accessibility are included. Having first-hand experience with a disability, I know how critical it is that New Yorkers of all ages and abilities can navigate our city and I will be fighting in the Council to ensure schools have the capital funding support they need to be accessible to all teachers, students, caregivers, and school community members.
During my visit at the Brooklyn New School, I met with the Disability Awareness Club, a club that encompasses disabled students as well as their their friends. This amazing club is led by the beloved Kristel Kubart, the school’s speech language teacher and disability activist. The club has been advocating for an accessible school building and in our conversation, these students always centered compassion. They reflected on their brilliant classmates who don’t have an opportunity to be at the school simply because of the lack of elevators and other needs that would make the school more welcoming and diverse. I’m inspired by their spirit and excited to join their efforts toward an accessible school!
