Something to crow about

Educators and parent leaders from Brooklyn’s PS/IS 180 and PS 231, the District 75 school with which it shares space, held an early-morning “Black Friday” protest against budget cuts and layoffs on June 17 as part of the ongoing series of “Fight Back Friday” demonstrations at schools around the city. Dressed in black and equipped with black crow puppets with Mayor Bloomberg’s face on them, the protesters chanted “they say cut back, we say fight back” as they picketed outside their Borough Park school building before the beginning of classes. PS/IS 180 Chapter Leader Lynette Azar said the uncertainty of the situation is unsettling for her and her colleagues. “There’s less than a week left of school and we still don’t have a budget. How can we organize the school for next year without a budget?” Azar asked. Azar also pointed out that the mayor has a $3.2 billion budget surplus that he is refusing to use to prevent budget cuts and teacher layoffs. “There’s money in the budget, but he wants to go down in history as the mayor who destroyed the union,” Azar said of Bloomberg.

Miller PhotographyNewer members (from left) Roseanna Giannuzzi, Bradley Klein, Andra Shelfo, Alan Moskowitz and Michael Heron, with some feathered friends.