No common sense

To the Editor:

Mayor Bloomberg’s statement about getting rid of half the current teaching staff is not only outrageous, but it comes from a mayor who gave us Cathie Black and others to lead the school system despite the fact that they have never taught for even one day themselves. After the Black debacle, you would think that the mayor would keep quiet.

Doesn’t the mayor realize that there are limits spelled out in the contract regarding class size? I guess he feels that he can violate these as he has attempted to do with so many other educational matters.

Our union must start showing true leadership by interviewing prospective mayoral candidates now. Unfortunately, in the last election, we failed to endorse Mr. Thompson and we’ve been paying for that faux pas ever since.

We must petition the state Legislature to revoke mayoral control. It has been a disaster beyond belief. We cannot give an inch further on contract negotiations. This mayor sees giving up items as weakness and things will only continue to deteriorate.

We must ask the legislature to create a system where active and retired teachers and supervisors run our schools. Having served in the trenches, they know first-hand what students and teachers need in order to succeed. Of course, such a system would involve strong parental input.

Ed Greenspan, retired