Sign up today for our June 7 Parent Action Conference; Jamaal Bowman will speak on fighting the Trump education agenda!

 

Please register today for our June 7 Parent Action Conference, co-sponsored with NYC Kids PAC, from 10 AM to 12:45 PM, via Zoom.  Jamaal Bowman, former NYC principal and Congressman, will speak about how we can fight the Trump education agenda.

Plus there will be workshops on numerous topics important to parents & teachers - listed above, including How to Run for Office, Class Size --What Happens Now?, How to Defend Your Family vs AC, The Need to Strengthen Student Privacy against Data Breaches, Exploitation & AI, Fighting Charter School Abuse, How Parents & Teachers can have a Voice through their SLTs and DLTs, and Defending the Rights of Students with Special Needs.  

Again, please register today!  

Victories in Tuesday’s primaries, upcoming elections and save the date for our Parent Action Conference!

We at NYC Kids PAC are thrilled with the primary results from Tuesday night.  Seven of our endorsed candidates as pictured above won their primaries and will likely go on to win in November.

All of them have exceptional records and stances on supporting our public schools, keeping the cap on charters, putting checks and balances on Mayoral control, and taking progressive positions on the other issues that matter.

Public school parents and advocates will have new, energetic and influential friends in Albany who will help lead to real change.

We understand that there are many who were disappointed that Zephyr Teachout wasn’t elected Attorney General.  Both Zephyr and Tish James were terrific candidates, and both deserved to win, but  only one could.  Kids PAC is the only NYC-based PAC that focuses solely on education, and our executive board is made up of  parent activists who make endorsements through consensus.

As a NYC Councilmember and Public Advocate, Tish earned our endorsement because of her exceptional record in fighting to keep the public in our public schools, whether it be for budget transparency, the rights of kids with special needs, suing the DOE to prevent school closures and charter co-locations, and ensuring that School Leadership team meetings remain open to the public.

Given Tish’s record, we are confident that she will continue to battle against corruption and the private interests that would like to undermine our public schools and for the right of parents to be full partners in improving them.  We also hope and expect that Zephyr will remain involved in public life, because hers is a voice that needs to be heard.

But the election season is far from over.  We will soon announce endorsements for the November general elections,  which are right around the corner.  We’ll also reach out to the candidates running for Public Advocate to replace Tish James as soon as they are announced, to urge them to complete our survey.  As usual, we will then decide through consensus who to endorse, after evaluating their responses and their records on public education. Keep tuned.

Finally, we are now planning our fourth annual Parent Action Conference to be held on January 19, co-sponsored with Class Size Matters; please save the date!  If you have ideas for workshops or speakers, please send them to us at info@nyckidspac.org with your thoughts.  We will  update you with more information soon.

Yours sincerely,

Shino, Isaac, Gloria, Fatima, Leonie, Eduardo, Margaret, Andy, Brooke, Jiin, Naila, Karen and Tesa

Please sign up for our Jan. 27 Parent Action Conference now!

Happy New Year and I have exciting news to report!  Our annual Parent Action Conference (flyer here and below), co-sponsored by Class Size Matters, NYC Kids PAC and CEC2,  will be held Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018 at the Peck Slip School in downtown Manhattan (Take the A,C, 2, 3, 4, 5, J, or Z trains to Fulton Street; map here.)

After a rousing call to action by Bronx principal Jamaal Bowman, morning workshops will address important topics including: Parent Organizing 101, Legal challenges to overcrowding and large classes, Advocating for your child with special needs, Opting out of testing, Integrating our schools, Preventing bullying, Fighting charter expansion, and Promoting Restorative Justice to end the School to Prison Pipeline.


In the afternoon, we will show the acclaimed documentary on school privatization,  "Backpack Full of Cash" narrated by Matt Damon.  After the film, we will hold a panel discussion with special guest NY Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa.  At some point during the day, we also plan to solicit the views of those attending the conference about what sort of Chancellor they would like to see to replace retiring Carmen Farina.

Please sign up now at Eventbrite.  We are asking for a donation of $10 to cover the cost of lunch and the film, but you can contribute any amount you like.  If you need a scholarship to attend, just email us at info@classsizematters.org.   Hope to see you there!  Leonie

PS  Check out this week's The Nation, in which the editors urge Mayor de Blasio to focus on integrating our public schools and reducing class size during his second term.

Please join us at our Parent Action Conference on Nov. 5!

We are holding our second annual Parent Action Conference, co-sponsored by NYC KidsPAC and the Community Education Council in District 2.  

Where: Spruce St. School, 12 Spruce St., downtown Manhattan (near City Hall and a huge number of subway lines.  Map here.)

When: Saturday, November 5, from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM.  

A link to the flyer to post in your schools is here; please reserve your tickets at Eventbrite now.   

Topics covered will include:  

--Standards and testing; good, bad or neutral? Where are we now and where are we going?

--Reforming Mayoral control; Sharing power with parents and educators

--Fighting for more funding, school space and smaller classes

--Empowering parents: How to become an advocate

--Resisting privatization: Put the Public back in Public Education and protecting student privacy

--Advocating for Your Child with Special Needs 

 

And more…Free lunch provided!

 

Most parents who attended last year's conference in Brooklyn said it was a great success; please come if you can!  More info, including speakers and panelists, will be updated here soon.