Something to print out, sign, and send in

The Senate voted to renew mayoral control for another six years this morning with the addition of four amendments, but the bill they passed won't become law until the Assembly votes on the same four amendments. Presumably that will happen when the legislature comes back into session next month.

Senator Perkins, one of the eight senators who voted against the bill this morning and is working hard against the disparate treatment public schools are getting in his district (30, Harlem), is quoted in NY1 to have said that passing the bill would have given people the chance "to end that kind of dictatorship, to end that wrong political approach that's been taken to the public school education for our children in New York City."

Senators Diaz, Huntley, Parker, Montgomery, Adams, Carl Kruger (unfortunately not Liz, and I know, different spelling), and Duane also voted against the bill; Perkins and Diaz voted against all four amendments. Huntley introduced three of the amendments and Adams one of them, so I'm not sure how they ended up voting against the whole bill.

There's an interesting article about the surprise new panel the senate created to oversee the NYC system over at the Daily News.

By the way, I did what I was told a week or two ago and called the senators to hold firm against mayoral control. In a relatively long conversation with one of Senator Huntley's aides, I learned that they hear from parents a fair amount, but not from teachers. I say let's get to it.

People in the Senator Perkins's offices on 125th St. warned us that freeing this city of mayoral control is not going to be a sprint, but a marathon. To this end, they are still looking for people to make their voices heard on this issue whichever way they can.

Make copies from the 2 pngs on the left (click on them) to form a double-sided letter people can fill out and mail to their own legislators, or to Senator Perkins for forwarding. It's foldable, for easy mailing. Or write to us at gemnyc@gmail.com for a MS Word that you can edit.


If you are collecting signatures and want to save printing costs, click on the 3rd page (right) instead.














Today's vote is not the end. We need to keep being vigilant and stop the lawbreaking and disparity in our school system.