Education has not substantially changed in 100 years, except to become increasingly regimented along a factory production model. This needs to change.
With COVID, every student has a different learning challenge, in addition to the 30% of students with a learning disability and the over 30,000 homeless students. It’s probable that the majority of students are currently struggling with learning.
Immediate Priorities
COVID Recovery
While the next Mayor won’t take office till halfway through the next school year, it’s impossible to ignore the massive impact the last year’s crisis has had on our public school system, its teachers, and its students. In collaboration with the UFT and other relevant unions, the City’s first priority should be to safely re-open the school system after teachers and administrators have been vaccinated. This includes CUNY.
We must have Universal Broadband and wi-fi equipped devices for every student.
We must restart extra-curricular activities, including sports, with built-in safety measures like frequent COVID testing and having students pledge to not interact with other kids outside of their “pod”.
We must protect and expand the Summer Youth Employment Program.
We must fund a substantial increase in mental health and guidance counselors in all schools. Then, we must destigmatize mental illness through the same lens as physical illness. Too often, especially for BIPOC students, the response to mental illness is punitive, rather than looking at the whole student holistically with compassion, understanding, and treatment.
Digital School
With so many students experiencing housing insecurity, homelessness, and other issues, I propose creating an optional, primarily online school in which classmates, faculty, and staff, especially counselors, remain a constant in students’ changing life circumstances.
Student Loans
We can partner with the private sector to create a vehicle to refinance student loans held by NYC residents.
NEAR-TERM PRIORITIES
School Funding
Work with our allies in the Legislature to increase NYC school funding to Constitutionally-required levels.
I pledge my endorsement to the the Marshall Plan for Moms, which includes funding for Universal Childcare, and will use the power of the Mayor’s office to advocate for its passage in Washington.
Distribute funding based on equity and need.
Universal Childcare
We know the most important years of child development start with healthy pregnancies, followed by healthy early childhood care. I will use the savings from cutting the NYPD budget to launch universal childcare for all kids, starting at age 1. See my Universal Childcare plan.
Integrating Workforce Development to Expand Opportunities for High School and Beyond
Introduce career readiness, including financial literacy starting at 9th grade.
Create a program for working high school students, to enable students to both work and finish high school.
Enable any student who would ordinarily take Advanced Placement courses the option to take college courses online or in-person at a NYC-based college and receive dual high school and college credit.
Bridge the gap between school and work with a deep collaboration between the private sector and government that leads to jobs and careers, starting in high school, and continuing to a far deeper collaboration in CUNY to include industry training and certification for high school graduates.
Urban Youth Corps: Expand the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) into an Urban Youth Corps to include year-round internship and work opportunities in government and the private sector, from high school through CUNY.
CUNY
Make community colleges free.
Invest in deferred maintenance for CUNY facilities.
Rehire laid off adjunct faculty.
Arts Education
Restore & protect funding for arts education.
Fund artist residencies at every school.
I believe the ultimate goal of education is to equip students with the confidence, skills, and knowledge needed to handle the challenges they will confront in a rapidly changing world.
To do this, we need to cultivate students who:
Know their roles and responsibilities in our civic society,
Will make a positive contribution to our economy,
Have the capabilities needed to support and care for their families, and
Understand how to take care of themselves.
To prepare people to thrive in a rapidly changing future, we must invite their curiosity to acquire not only knowledge in core subjects, but in digital literacy, freedom to express and invent, and the ability to work as a team member. Students should leave high school being able to think strategically and understand what it means when a fact is known to be true through the scientific method.
Education is a lifelong process.
We must support parents, especially mothers, starting at pregnancy
Success in education means a focus on families, not just students
Universal Childcare will level the playing for all children starting at infancy
Not every student develops or experiences life in the same way at the same time (see next)
Individual education plans for every student
Today, NYC public schools are still failing our 1.1 million students and their families, especially BIPOC students and students with special needs. Our school system sadly remains the most racially segregated in the nation, and it is a system of educational disparities in many ways. We must change this now.
Our schools should meet every student where they are, with individualized learning plans. Children are not all identical drones to be forced through a uniform mold we call “graduating.” And if we expect graduates to make a positive contribution to their families and communities, we should also include within their IEP career counseling and workforce development options.
NYC’s public schools and CUNY should be the vehicle to unlock human potential for every New Yorker. So, how will a system as large as New York City’s be capable of meeting students where they’re at?
Pioneer and scale online learning, especially in the high schools and CUNY. This can also be utilized in our effort to desegregate our school system, by allowing students to attend specialized classes at schools across the city.
For the most advanced students, enable a fluid transition from high school to college, leveraging online resources and CUNY. Why shouldn’t qualified high school students to be able to take college courses at CUNY, for college credit that can ultimately go toward completing their degrees?
Successfully educating at-risk and special needs students requires the successful integration of multiple city agencies: education, housing, health, probation, and more. These students are often failed by poor coordination within the City government. I will invest heavily in integrated government services to keep these students from falling through the cracks.
Beyond Public School
And education shouldn’t be limited to just children. We can vastly expand adult education to transition to the future of work. When a city makes education a top priority, all aspects of city life improve. We can think about school buildings as community centers:
Food distribution
Continuing education for parents starting at GED and extending to professional development
After-school and weekend programs