Black Friday in Brooklyn

Dave Sanders

Teachers Deanna Gunderson (left) and Rebecca Keene tell the story of program cuts loud and clear. More photos >>

Dave Sanders

Black Friday demonstrators let the community know what will happen to programs and class sizes if the budget cuts are OK’d.

Scores of Brooklyn parents, concerned about all their children stand to lose if the mayor’s threatened budget cuts and layoffs go through, joined the staffs of PS 503 and 506 in a Black Friday demonstration at their schools on June 10. Teachers dressed in black to symbolize the loss of 14 teachers and the death of programs important to the academic success of the schools’ large English langugage learner populations that would result from the threatened cuts — a price they say is too high to pay. Not only will intervention services, a successful art program and morning and afternoon programs disappear, they said, but class sizes will balloon, which would be an educational disaster for the large number of Hispanic and Chinese students. The number of demonstrators swelled to more than a hundred as community members and passersby offered support and approval.