Learn NY’s grassroots coalition of 78 education programs, community−based organizations and faith−based institutions kicked−off a five−borough bus tour to highlight the overwhelming public support for mayoral control. With the deadline for renewing the mayoral control law just weeks away, parents and educators came together to thank the State Legislature for enacting mayoral control in 2002 and to call on them to renew the law this June.
After stops in Staten Island; Jamaica, Queens; Co−Op City, and Flushing, Queens, the five−borough bus tour came to Canarsie. The bus then made stops in the East New York section of Brooklyn; Washington Heights, Manhattan; and will end with a large celebration at the Harlem Children’s Zone in Harlem. At each stop, parents and community leaders will speak out about improving our schools and call for the renewal of mayoral control.
“Under mayoral control the public schools are making progress and low−income children of color are closing the achievement gap,” said Geoffrey Canada, president & CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone and Learn NY Board Chair. “So we applaud our leaders in Albany — Assembly Speaker Silver, Senate Majority Leader Smith, and Governor Paterson — for supporting renewal of mayoral control with a mayoral majority on the Panel for Education Policy. Only with a majority of appointments can a mayor have the authority to turn around the school system, and only then can we hold a single person accountable for our children’s educational success.”
