Parents Spoke Out Against Afterschool Being Canceled at Some Schools in Bay Ridge/Dyker
Community Education Council (CEC) 20 held a meeting this evening.
Goals for the new school year were shared by Superintendent, Dr. David Pretto:
Dr. Pretto introduced Ryan Li, the first high school student who was added to the CEC to give student input.
This year students will be given an Omnicard for transportation on the train or bus, instead of a Metrocard.
Then school representatives and parents spoke out against afterschool being cancelled at these six schools: PS 104, PS 112, IS 30, PS 185, PS 247 and PS 939.
Elected state representatives, such as Senator Andrew Gounardes and Iwen Chu knew that these afterschool programs were cut by New York State in June!
Why didn’t Senators Gournardes and Chu share that information with the community and city representatives in June? Justin Brannan had extra money to have parties in the park that could have been used for afterschool.
What’s worse is that these state representatives were not able to explain why some schools programs were cut!
Assemblyman Lester Chang was the only elected representative present at the CEC 20 Meeting.
Every CEC meeting is shared on Zoom, so elected leaders could have attended remotely and spoke to families. The CEC meetings are scheduled for the year and the schedule can be seen here: https://www.cec20.org/meeting-schedule
Every leader who cares about education should be at the CEC meetings – even if they are just there listening!
Two politicians sent someone from their office to attend and speak. A representative from Senator Iwen Chu’s office and Assemblyman Michael Tannousis’ office were present. Both said that letters were sent to a state office, but neither receive a response. That’s a long time to wait for a response and not take action!
Neither Senator Andrew Gounardes or Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny sent a representative. Elect people who want to attend CEC and community meetings!
Parents who attended the CEC meeting and the CEC leaders called on politicians to work together and get the funding restored for the afterschool programs and families.
Afterschool programs at schools provide children with tutoring, as well as fun activities they like to do.
One parent, who had four children, spoke said that none of her children have ever been picked for the afterschool lottery. She said that she and other parents are prepared to do whatever they need to do to get the afterschool program reinstated.
CEC 20 made a Resolution about the Afterschool program funding. Read the resolution:
Resolution 1 – After-school funding.docx
Hugs,
marlene
Topics: Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights | No Comments »