Ask the Report and Advisory Board Review Commission not to eliminate reporting on class size and TCU’s

The DOE’s Report & Advisory Board Review Commission is supposed to decide which legally-mandated reporting requirements should be eliminated.  The Commission has a majority of mayoral appointees and has the authority to override city law. DOE proposed the elimination of the November class size report and the annual report on TCUs or school trailers, earlier this season. The Commission will vote on whether or not to eliminate these reports by November 19. Read more about this reporting and the Commission here.

We are asking parents to write a letter to the Commission, urging the members to retain these two critical reporting requirements, by sending an email toReportsAndBoards@cityhall.nyc.gov

The Chair of the Commission, Elizabeth Weinstein, director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations, is supposed to post her recommendations as to whether to waive or retain each report no later than November 12th.

• Our earlier testimony on the continued need for this reporting is posted here.

• The testimony of CM Jackson, as well as public interest groups, on the continued need for this reporting is posted here.

• The testimony of Michael Mulgrew, President of the UFT, is posted here:

• The DOE’s official response to the public testimony is here:

• Here are our rebuttals to DOE’s inaccurate rationales for eliminating reporting onclass size and TCUs.

A sample message you can send is below.  Thanks!

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ReportsAndBoards@cityhall.nyc.gov

Dear Commission members:

To eliminate the November reporting on class size and the annual report on temporary classroom units (TCUs) would severely undercut transparency, accountability and the public’s right to know the extent to which large classes and substandard facilities continue to undermine the quality of education that NYC public school children receive.  If the Department of Education were allowed to eliminate and/or restrict the reporting on these two critical issues, it would harm our ability to accurately diagnose the extent of these problems and adequately address them.

We now have the largest class sizes in the early grades in 13 years, and the number of children sitting in trailers has not significantly diminished since these laws were passed in 2005,  even though the condition of these trailers has continued to erode.   Instead of attempting to obscure the lack of progress we have made, our public officials should be spurred towards providing  our students with reasonable sized classes, located in adequate and safe structures.

I urge you to retain the mandate for these two reports,  the November class size report and the annual TCU report, which the City Council approved and the Mayor signed into law in seven years ago.  Now is not the time to turn your back on NYC  children.

Yours sincerely,

Name, address, and affiliation if any