EDUCATION

Due to poor planning during the pandemic by our elected officials and the New York City Department of Education, public school children lost an entire academic year. Our most vulnerable students—those living in shelters who lack access to computers and to the Internet, and special education students who didn’t get the supportive services to which they’re entitled by law—may never regain the ground they lost.

All students will suffer negative impact on their job prospects and earning power for the rest of their lives as a result of rampant incompetence and indifference on the part of those to whom we entrusted our children’s futures. If elected to the City Council, I'd join the Committee on Education so I can work to make it easier for parents in District 15 to ensure their children get a good education in a safe school that is close to home—regardless of what language is spoken at home, the family’s socioeconomic status, or whether that child has learning disabilities, or physical and/or cognitive challenges.

Require public school officials to develop curricula and programs that enable students to catch up on the reading, writing, math and science education they lost during the pandemic, and to prepare for the next pandemic or other systemic disruption of public education.

Restore zone schooling for grades K-8 so that public school students can be enrolled in schools close to home.

Ensure there are enough classrooms and teachers to accommodate children moving into areas where new high-density affordable and/or market rate housing has been built.

For parents who do not want to send their children to public school, I'd do away with the lottery so students can attend private charter schools in their neighborhoods, and will make private or religious school tuition more affordable with vouchers and with a refundable tax credit for each child in a family who is not using public school facilities or resources.

Make sure kids who need physical, occupational and speech therapy get these services, which are mandated by law, without parents having to fight for them every year.

Require the public school system to give special needs students the job and life skills they need so they can become as independent as possible when they age out of the system.