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Thousands of voices speak as one
Mar 19, 2009 11:32 AM
Having completed their march over the Brooklyn Bridge, UFT members and students from the HS of Global Citizenship, Brooklyn, are well-armed as they reach City Hall.
A controlled seismic wave of UFT members joined by grassroots New Yorkers took lower Manhattan with a groundswell of solidarity on March 5 that the city hasn’t witnessed in a very long time. Their presence was massive and their message was fervent.
“If there ever was a time when everybody needs to stick together, this is it,” said Nancy Lebovic, a school secretary at JHS 189 in Flushing, Queens. “No matter what the economy does, in the long run society will collapse like a house of cards if we back away from giving kids the full educational services they need for the future.”
George Roesemann, who has been teaching for three years at PS 86, Queens, said that “cutting back on education will not solve current problems. It will only create worse ones in the future.”
Jose Acevedo, a 24-year veteran instructor at Liberty HS in Manhattan, is particularly concerned because the students in his school are “all newly arrived immigrants” and Liberty “is their first school in America. We can’t abandon them.”
Guidance counselor Kendra Lane of Long Island City HS said she sees “some of the wider damage that is done to kids, especially in the inner city,” when there are cuts.
— Ron Isaac
UFT Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Mulgrew gets the chants started from stage, to the delight of UFT President Randi Weingarten (blue jacket).
Fears a crumbling village
“It takes a village to raise a child,” computer technology teacher Erik Jenkins of PS/MS 138 in Rosedale, Queens, noted, “and this rally is about keeping that village intact — for all New Yorkers.”
Paraprofessional Miao Tan worries about losing services for the physically and emotionally handicapped students at PS 289, Brooklyn.
“You can’t manage 12 disabled students in a classroom without enough paras,” she said, with colleagues Viola Pearson and Marlene Jean Noel nodding in agreement.
Liz Smith, co-chapter leader with David Lisnitzer at PS/MS 124 in South Ozone Park, Queens, said, “You can’t put the burden of meeting the demands of test scores on students in classes of 30.”
“No more millions for consultants at the DOE or for ARIS,” said Marilyn Dashman, chapter leader at PS 257, Brooklyn. “Get a fair share of the stimulus package directly to student services and health care needs of city workers. Look what Wall Street has done to us. I agree with Randi: We need to tax the wealthy.” — Dorothy Callaci
Gladys Jones (left) and Lourdes LeBron are two of the 28,000 UFT home day care providers living on a poverty-level pay scale, but denied raises by the city that have been mandated by the state. Jones, a provider for six years, said that “people can’t afford not to have child care. Without that, they’ll be going into the welfare system, and how will that help anything? If children are our future, we really need to allocate that stimulus money wisely.” LeBron, a provider for 20 years, added, “Without our services, parents can’t go to work and can’t contribute to this already troubled economy. The children in our care are better achievers in school.”
What’s left to cut?
Second-grade teacher Kathleen Gittens of PS 56 in St. Albans, Queens, was concerned that future cuts would come from a school “with very little left to cut.” Her class now seats 28 students and the school has lost paraprofessionals.
UFT retiree Eadie Shanker, widow of former AFT/UFT President Al Shanker, said she thought the turnout was terrific. “This shows incredible unity. And in terms of energy, this reminds me of [the fiscal crisis in] 1975, when Al led teachers across the Brooklyn Bridge.”
Watching the stage closely and signing to her three colleagues attending was UFT delegate Rose Werner, a preschool teacher at Manhattan’s PS 347, the American Sign Language and English Lower School in Murray Hill.
Werner and chapter leader Stacey Dorchin told how the school, which serves pre-K children from all five boroughs, had its busing service cut, and how “staff shortages” make it difficult to educate the 200 students at the dual language school.
— Michael Hirsch
The staff from Franklin K. Lane HS in Queens — a school being phased out — arrived early and stood behind the UFT banner. “It’s sad that my school is closing down,” Lane social studies teacher Vincent Zeolla said. “But they can’t close down the dreams of our kids. When the budget comes down in a couple of weeks, I hope it shows that we’ve been listened to for a change.”
Health care concerns
Arriving at the rally from Brooklyn by subway with 62 of her UFT colleagues, PS 214 paraprofessional Michelle Taranto said it was “despicable” that Mayor Bloomberg was asking city workers to pay more for their health care.
She agreed with signs that called for taxing those who are better off.
“If you have lots of money, then share the wealth,” added Taranto, whose school has “trailers that are 12 years old and have holes in the floors.”
Chapter Leader Vikki Buccellatto said it was time for members to “carry the torch” passed on by retirees who built the union.
Regina Olff, a retired teacher, was impressed with the turnout, saying, “We need to get more of that 1930’s fighting spirit.”
Robert McDougal, a teacher at IS 195 in Manhattan, said the school system has “made great strides” but “larger class sizes will mean a bad education for students.”
Kristin Muscatella, a social worker at PS 39 and PS 154 in Brooklyn, said the students are not getting the attention they need and that further cuts would leave students “vulnerable.”
Melissa Ahart, chapter leader and librarian at MS 88, Brooklyn, said her school could barely afford new books now and soon her students would be left with nothing more than test prep papers. “Maybe that is what Mayor Bloomberg wants,” she said.
— Jim Callaghan
David Kilmore of PS 81, Brooklyn, biked it over the Brooklyn Bridge to join the gathering.
Community needs a place to go
A teacher, chapter leader and principal from PS 102 in East Harlem joined forces and went to the rally together.
And it’s not just about saving jobs, physical education teacher Steve Sloan said.
“Our school has activities and afterschool programs, everyone is welcome, we’re open for summer, so the community has a place to go. It’s about not hurting programs that help children and as a result the entire community.”
His principal, Sandra Gittens, was at the rally “to support my staff, my students, my parents.”
Chapter Leader Lisa Ortiz had a simple message for the city: “No cuts, and make sure the stimulus money is dispersed quickly and goes where it needs to go.”
Music teacher Louis Winsberg from PS 377, Brooklyn, worries that his subject is always the first to go during cuts. “We have a lot of instruments that need repairs and now I’m concerned they will never be fixed and never be played.”
Hope Conyers, nurse at PS 226 in Manhattan, said she’s “concerned about services being taken away, which are all legally mandated, but the city seems not to care about those mandates now.”
Vallerie Cleveland, guidance counselor at Passages Academy, had similar fears.
“My concern about cuts is that children in need will not be serviced, and we have a lot of children in need,” said Cleveland, who is already serving 100 students at the District 79 multisited school for incarcerated kids.
Chapter Leader Troy Sill added that the rate of recidivism is already high, and less intervention could mean more kids lost to the street who may eventually serve longer sentences as adults, which apart from the tragedy and the danger to citizens will of course cost the city much more in the long term.
— Ellie Spielberg
Supplies in short supply
Eve Ottavino, a 4th-grade teacher at PS 39 in Park Slope, said, “We’re losing money for supplies already — there’s not enough paper for our copy machines. Each year, the list of supplies we ask parents to bring grows longer, and teachers spend a lot of their money, too. As the economy worsens, the parents can’t keep bringing in supplies.”
John Ressos, a first-year teacher at PS 39, added, “cuts affect all the extras like after-school programs that inner-city kids need.”
Chapter Leader Suzanne Bassil said, “I told everyone they had to be here today —there are no do-overs in education.”
Valerie Lashly, a chapter leader at PS 151 in Brooklyn and 5th-grade teacher, said her school was “having difficulty purchasing materials now; we don’t have paper for photocopies, or ink for our printers — the children work on computers, but we can’t print anything. If we have cuts, we’ll have even less.”
Anne Quinones, a paraprofessional in pre-K for 25 years at the Bushwick school “under five titles and three mayors,” said she’s seen a big reduction in resources in the last four years. “Now we have no social worker and no family worker, who ran the parent component. So we’ve seen parent participation drop.”
Veronica Ryszkiewicz, a French teacher from IS 72 on Staten Island, said she came to ensure that the stimulus money “is dedicated to what our president earmarked it for — education. We understand that our mayor feels that if no one shows up, it means no one cares, so we’re here to show that we care.”
— Cara Metz
One for the history books
A group of teachers from the Leadership Institute in the Bronx carried thoughtful protest banners created from stories in the very social studies books they use in the classroom: “Free public education lifted our nation out of poverty and ignorance. Step forward, not backwards,” read one.
UFTer Bonnie Katz defended the group’s resourcefulness as the kind most valued at the Department of Education: “We’re using data,” she said. “See, at least we used the school books.”
— Natalie Bell
For the contingent from PS 3, Manhattan, it’s all for one and one for all
Paraprofessionals Jacqueline Harewood (left) of the HS for Global Citizenship and Pamela Atwell of PS 771 at 225, Brooklyn, are bundled up but excited.
Hadasa Nagi, secretary at Staten Island’s IS 72, came ready for a fight, wearing boxing gloves made out of UFT caps and rubber bands. “We need to speak up and speak out,” she said, “and make sure the money designated by our president gets to the places it’s intended for — the classroom and not for Department of Education computer tracking or ARIS (Achievement Reporting and Innovative System).”
