An urgent conversation is happening nationwide on how to reopen schools in the fall, but lost entirely from this conversation is the most important question: how we are going to educate our children? The Governor’s official advisory council has fallen short on community representation, lacking transparency or voices of parents and young people. That makes it all the more essential that the voices of parents, students and families — those whose futures are being decided — are at the forefront of this process.
To that end, on Friday AQE released a “roadmap” for reopening New York’s public schools in September. The Roadmap provides the recommendations from the parents, education professionals, young people and students, that we heard from during a series of 10 virtual community conversations that took place across the state over the month of June. Every community conversation raised up the fact that schools cannot re-open safely and continue to operate without full funding of Foundation Aid, pre-K and funding for the safety measures that need to be taken to meet the school community’s needs. You can see all our findings in the complete Roadmap here.
Community Forum on Reopening Schools
We invite you to join us for a community forum to discuss the Roadmap's findings this Thursday, July 16 from 4 to 6 PM. We will be joined by panelists Jamaal Bowman, candidate for U.S. Congress; actor and activist Cynthia Nixon; and AQE Advocacy Director Zakiyah Ansari, as well as many of those who participated and contributed to the community conversations.
We know too well that if we fail to develop a comprehensive plan to address the educational, emotional and social needs of students, Black, Brown and low income children will be the ones harmed the most. The governor has wasted enough time waiting for federal funding, when he could implement revenue raising measures to stave off cuts that not only gut our education system but jeopardize the health and safety of our youngest New Yorkers. We must listen to the ideas from parents, students and educators to create a path to a just 2020-2021 school year.
In solidarity,
Jasmine Gripper
Alliance for Quality Education
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