On Friday, March 1 in the main auditorium of George Washington High school a “Legislator Breakfast” with Manuel Ramirez (Superintendent), Carmen De La Rosa (Council Member D10), Robert Jackson (State Senator), Manny De Los Santos (NY state Assembly Member D10) and Adriano Espaillat (US Congressman) was convened. These politicians and educational leaders from District 6 and came to discuss current and future educational policy.
The meeting’s purpose was to integrate parents more into the school system to be an open space for parents because parents play a very important role in the education of children and being more integrated into the school system to work closely to their children. Another of its purposes is to discuss legislation that would improve the quality of students so that they can improve their academic performance. They gave many opportunities to students for scholarships to help students meet their goals. They want to create a commitment to the education of young people so that parents have a voice too.
The speakers want to help immigrants monetarily so that they too have the opportunity for a good education. Proposed state legislation was discussed which seeks to have more teachers and smaller class sizes in the district. To date there have been 14 new schools built in the district. They want to include more books that children identify with, which is a great help for students. After all, then they will have more desire to read because they find books that they identify with very interesting and these will help them with their education as well.
All of district 6 partnered together and elected officials are proud of how the district has developed over the past few years. But, an ongoing situation is that more than 2,000 immigrant children are arriving at District 6 schools that are overwhelming the available resources at the schools. Many of the legislators are working to assist every school district and to repair the schools and buildings to make sure students coming into the districts would feel safer. The legislators are also focused on the post-secondary goals by ensuring $1,000,000 dollars to provide financial aid for students going to college.
Congressman Adriano Espalliat pointed out that all schools from District 6 have increased to 30,000 students and 13,000 of them had to leave their schools because of the space. As well, 60% of the teachers in district 6 were not dual language certified which can make it difficult for all students who are bilingual or only speak one language be able to gain the proper education. During Robert Jackson’s years as being state senator, he has strongly worked on filing a lawsuit to have every child graduate and be able to write and read in the levels they are required for.
Mr. Espiallat also stated that every school in district 6 should have counselors and psychiatrists in order to support student mental health. The Congressman also spoke out against proposed cuts to the educational budget. To support this idea all districts will encourage parents and teachers to to attend an event on March 18, 2024, to encourage people to what will happen to stop the budget cuts and ensure students be treaty fairly and gain the proper financial and educational necessities.
