My visit to Arts and Letters 305 United in Brooklyn on the first day of school

Dear New Yorkers,

Nearly one million New York City public school students entered classrooms today, kicking off a school year of learning, opportunity, and healing.

The unprecedented disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic showed just how much our children, and our society, depend on our public schools. Not only are they places for books and learning, but also where our children begin to better understand themselves and each other. It’s where they first exercise the muscles of citizenship and learn about different cultures, all while aided by public support and resources to help navigate life’s challenges, from hot meals to mental health care.

If you have a child starting in NYC public schools today, check out DOE’s updated Covid guidance and other resources.
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This morning, I visited Arts and Letters 305 United in Brooklyn on the first day of school to meet with teachers and students as we embark on a new—and still challenging—school year.

Photo courtesy of the NYC Comptroller's Office

As our communities still work to recover from the pandemic, we need our public schools more than ever to be spaces of support, enrichment, and community-building.

Yet this year, many of our schools are opening with larger class sizes, fewer arts and music programs, and less resources due to cuts imposed by projected enrollment declines. As I’ve said for months, those cuts are both unnecessary and unwise. We do indeed need a plan to address enrollment declines, but it must be one that that balances City and State resources, students’ needs, and educational goals so that our public schools can continue to serve all our young people. Arts and Letters 305 United, which I visited today, is one of the few schools to see their budget *increase*. This extra funding has empowered administrators to not only keep COVID era programs, but to *expand* the services available to these young scholars.

I sat down with Principal Pilar Ramos after our tour to ask her about some of the challenges and triumphs over the last few years. She told me about how her school has successfully merged two neighboring schools, providing an integration model to create an environment where everyone thrives. It’s been going so well that they are now drawing students back from charter and private schools. Her passion for the students and her school is so inspiring.

Over the coming days and into the fall I’ll be visiting schools to thank teachers and administrators for their hard work, and to witness some of the amazing work that our schools are doing to support students with special needs, those experiencing homelessness, English-language learners, and so many other critical programs.

There’s no doubt that the challenges facing our teachers, parents, and students are significant, and that this new school year will still grapple with the ongoing impacts of COVID-19. But every time I step foot inside a New York City public school I’m reminded of the endless potential of each student.

Schools are a fundamentally optimistic space. Where the future can be whatever you want it to be, and no dream is too big for a New Yorker to attain. It’s on us—as parents, teachers, activists, and elected officials—to make sure those possibilities remain open and attainable for today’s students.

We have work to do to ensure our public schools remain the laboratories of democracy that we hope they can be. But today, I’m reminded of the bright future that the young people walking through those classroom doors will help deliver.

With faith in our future,

Brad

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