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Bronx marks Green Solidarity Day

Apr 10, 2008 10:38 AM

In the Bronx, teachers and administrators celebrated “Bronx Green Solidarity Day” on April 1 by dressing in green

In the Bronx, teachers and administrators celebrated “Bronx Green Solidarity Day” on April 1 by dressing in green and wearing the same Keep the Promises green hats that were so ubiquitous at the March 19 City Hall rally.

The entire staff of the Bronx School of Law and Finance, including the principal, plus many students dressed in green; the school held a contest to see which student had the best green outfit.

UFT District 12 Representative Steven Goldberg described the support he saw at CS 300 as “awesome.” Participants received a button specially made for the event, a “Keep the Promises” sticker and a choice of various other green delights.

Other schools involved included MS 101, where the whole staff and all the children wore green, while the chapter leader used the event as a backdrop for a lesson on school finance and budgeting. At MS 399, which had a large turnout at the City Hall rally, staff again showed their solidarity by wearing green, while at PS 307, staff, parents and students all dressed in green and signed petitions opposing the cuts. At PS 121, there was a solid green turnout and a chagrined principal who apologized for not coming dressed in green.

The scene was the same at dozens of other Bronx schools.

The city budget, which is due on June 30, must be negotiated between the mayor and the City Council.

In early April, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn responded to the mayor’s preliminary budget by identifying more than $1.37 billion in added revenues that could close the city budget gap.

Notably, Quinn also pinpointed $136 million that could be trimmed from the central DOE budget rather than taking that money from schools. That included $127 million in outsourced contracts for work that could be better and more cheaply done in-house.

Quinn also pinpointed some $500,000 that could be sliced from the DOE’s press office.

A musical slideshow of photographs from the Bronx Green Solidarity Day can be viewed online at www.youtube.com. Just type “Bronx Green Day” in the Web site’s search engine.