August 9, 2007
Commissioner Richard P. Mills
New York State Education Department
Education Building
Albany, NY 12234
fax (518) 474-1983/473-4909
To Commissioner Mills:
NYC’s contract for excellence is severely deficient in several areas, especially when it comes to class size. Despite the fact that the city is required to submit a five year plan showing continuous reductions in class size in all grades, and a capital plan for school construction aligned with this plan, there is nothing in the city’s submission that projects smaller classes beyond next year’s horizon. There are no goals, no benchmarks, no timetables, not enough resources and insufficient space to achieve significantly smaller classes in all grades.
Moreover, even as a one year plan, the city’s proposal falls far short. It projects a mere .3-.8 of a student reduction in class size, which is so small it will be difficult to measure, given the unreliability of the Department of Education’s class size data. There is no specificity about how any of the additional teachers will be deployed, aside from those who will teach CTT classes, which will not lead to smaller classes. There is no mention of how many new general education classes will be created and in what schools.
Half of all schools will receive no extra funding through the "fair student funding” allocations for the next two years–those funds the city claims under the contracts that will be used to reduce class size. This includes 47% of the schools that are currently on the state’s failing list.
Many other low-performing schools do not have any room to reduce class size – and will not in the future, given the city’s current inadequate capital plan. According to DOE’s own data, half of our failing schools with very large class sizes are severely overcrowded, at 100% capacity or more. And yet the city has no intention of addressing this situation, as the capital plan creates room only for smaller classes in grades K-3, rather than in all grades, as the law requires.
The Mayor was given enhanced accountability for running our schools, and the DOE under his direction must be required to start the process now of making the substantial and continuous reductions in class size that are mandated by state law, and planning for the future so that schools citywide can achieve smaller classes someday soon. Instead, the administration is attempting to shift this critical responsibility onto the shoulders of principals, without providing them with either the resources or the capacity to make smaller classes a reality.
We urge you to require the city to amend its proposal, and submit an actual plan that will deliver the smaller classes to our children that are required by law – and that the state’s highest court concluded would be necessary to receive their constitutional right to an adequate education.
Yours,
- Leonie Haimson, Executive Director, Class Size Matters and District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Robert Jackson, Councilmember, 7th District, Chair of New York City Council's Education Committee and Lead Plaintiff of CFE lawsuit
- Hazel N. Dukes, President, NAACP New York State Conference of Branches
- Tim Johnson, Chair, Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council
- David C. Bloomfield, Citywide Council on High Schools
- Lisa Donlan, Community Education Council District 1, Lower East Side, Manhattan
- Eugenia Simmons-Taylor, President of Presidents Council, District 4, East Harlem, Manhattan
- Joann Wojcik , President of District 31 President's Council, PTA President IS 51, PTA Co-President PRHS Staten Island
- Josh Karan, Community Education Council District 6, Washington Heights and Inwood, Manhattan
- Maria Dapontes-Dougherty, President, Presidents' Council, District 30, Astoria, Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, Long Is. City , Sunnyside and Woodside, Queens
- Larry Wood, Vice-President, District 3 Presidents Council, Upper Westside/Harlem, Manhattan, and Second-Vice-President, Stuyvesant High School, AQE board member
- Robert S Johnson, Citizen, Morningside Heights, and former Co-President, President's Council, District 2
- Diane Saccone Allison, P.A. President, LICHS, President, President's Council (former) Region 4 High Schools
- Anthony F. Allia, Region 5 Representative, Citywide Council on High Schools
- David M. Quintana, District 27 Presidents Council, Recording Secretary; District 27 Representative to Chancellors Parents Advisory Council; Queens Community Board 10, Education Committee; and Queens Borough President's Parents Advisory Council member, Ozone Park, Howard Beach, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven and Kew Gardens
- John Elfrank-Dana, UFT Chapter Leader and Social Studies Teacher, Murry Bergtraum High School, Manhattan
- John M. Beam, Executive Director, National Center for Schools and Communities, Fordham University
- Jane Hirschmann, Co-Chair, Time Out From Testing
- Sandra Trujillo, Senior Special Advisor, Children's Defense Fund-New York and former District 15 parent, Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies (BCS), Park Slope, Brooklyn
- Ronald Meltzer, President, Roosevelt Island Jewish Congregation (organization given for identification only)
- JoAnne Scichilone, Special Education Advocacy Consultant, Special Education Parent Panel, VP
- John Englert, President, Citywide Council on Special Education (CCSE)
- Terri Cadet-Donald, District 22 Parent and President's Council Executive Board member
- Lisa Pressley, Associate District Leader, 68th Assembly District; Vice President, CPEHS PTA, District 4
- Dorothy Giglio, Former Region 6 High School Presidents Council, Manhattan
- Robert Caloras, Community Education Council District 26, Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Floral Park, Bellerose, Jamaica Estates, Bayside, Littleneck, and Douglaston, Queens
- Michael Markowitz, Community Education Council District 2, Greenwich Village
- Mary-Powel Thomas, President, Community Education Council District 15, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Carroll, Gardens, Red Hook, and Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
- Emily Horowitz, parent and Community Education Council District 6 member, Manhattan
- Rebecca Daniels, Community Education Council District 2 member, parent, LAB and School of the Future, Manhattan
- Dionne Grayman-Burch, PS 282 parent; Community Education Council District 13 member; President, Mocha Moms Brooklyn
- Jody Seki, Community Education Council District 2, Midtown East, Manhattan
- Dr. Danielle Moss-Lee, Community Education Council District 3, and Mott Hall II parent, Upper West Side
- Elizabeth Langwith, Community Education Council District 1 member, Manhattan
- Jeannette Segal, parent, PS 98, PS 133 and MS 67, Community Education Council District 26, representing Queens schools in Bayside, Bellerose, Douglaston, Floral Park, Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Jamaica Estates and Little Neck
- Dr. Lana Zinger, Community Education Council District 26, Queens, NY
- Jim Devor, Treasurer, Community Education Council District 15, Brooklyn
- Mary D. Silver, District 2 parent, Community Education Council District 2 member, Midtown Manhattan
- M. Pegye Johnson, PTA President, P.S.5, Dr. Ronald McNair School, 820 Hancock Street, Brooklyn
- Lynn Kaplan, District 15, PS39 PTA Co-President, Park Slope, Brooklyn
- Jondi Whitis, MS 443 PTA Co-President, Brooklyn
- Juliet Campbell, PS 198K PTA President, District 22, Brooklyn
- Emily Armstrong, Past PTA President, The Neighborhood School, Young Women's Leadership School, and NEST+m, Manhattan
- Catherine Teegarden, PS 107 PTA Past President, District 15, Park Slope, Brooklyn
- Barbara Barbaria, PS 60 PTA,, Staten Island
- Beth Servetar, District 3 parent and PA Board co-Secretary, Upper West Side, Manhattan
- Victoria Street-Sando, PS41 PTA Co-President, Manhattan
- Susanna Moraldi, PS41 parent and PTA Board Member
- Sherri Donders, Staten Island Technical HS PTA and SLT member, Past President of Staten Island Federation of PTAs, Staten Island
- Alfredo Guirola, I. S. 381 PA Co- President, Brooklyn; President NYCDOT Hispanic Association
- Karen Klein, PTA Treasurer, Academy of American Studies
- Annie Titus, former PA President, School Leadership Team Member, District 17, Brooklyn
- Teresa DeMeo, Parent and P.S. 56 SLT Member, PTA Executive Board Member, Past PTA Co-President, Treasurer, SIFPTA Executive Board Member, Rossville, Staten Island
- Barbara Scott, District 2 parent and PS 290 past PTA president, Manhattan
- Lauren Halky, District 3 parent and Beacon School PTA Co-Vice-President, Manhattan
- Katherine Thompson, District 2 parent, PS116 PTA, NYC Lab School Class Rep, Hunter College High School parent
- Deborah Moore, District 1 parent and former District 2 PTA executive board member, Stuyvesant Town
- Tamara Rowe, PTA president District 2, Manhattan
- Wanda Desin, PTA Recording Secretary, P.S 207/Fillmore Academy, District 22, Brooklyn
- Lori Pandolfo, Past President, Stuyvesant High School PA
- Mary van Valkenburg, PTA of Bard HS Early College, Manhattan
- Jennifer Mahaffey-Dowd, parent and PS 107 PTA Secretary, District 15, Brooklyn; Master's student Bank Street College of Education
- Jennifer Jacobs, parent and PS 39 PTA Co-President, Brooklyn
- Mark Diller, parent and MS 54 PTA Co-President, Manhattan
- Amy Plattsmier, District 15 parent and preschool teacher; Kensington, Brooklyn, resident
- Joan Seedorff, Teacher and UFT Chapter Leader, PS 63 Manhattan
- Elisabeth Ellor, parent and teacher, Region 8, Brooklyn, and High Schools Region 9, Upper East Side, Manhattan
- Jaime Dubei, parent and teacher, District 27, Far Rockaway
- Heather Blau, District 2 parent, East Side Middle School Leadership Team, and Manhattan New School Classroom Teacher, Greenwich Village
- Emily W. Tetzlaff, parent, and teacher at I. S. 220, Brooklyn
- J. Lanzetta, teacher, District 30, Region 4, Brooklyn
- Michael Gatton, parent, District 6, Manhattan, and teacher, District 2, Manhattan
- Debbie Fine, parent and teacher, PS 79Q, District 25, Flushing, NY
- Julie Woodward, high school teacher, District 11, Bronx
- Victoria Dallas Stephenson, District 6 Manhattan teacher, District 2 Manhattan grandparent, District 9 Bronx resident
- Ann Chitwood, former teacher
- Marilyn Balassi, parent and teacher, District 2, Manhattan
- Yvonne Spivack, parent, I.C.E. High School Manhattan, and teacher, PS 24 Brooklyn
- Jeannie Maldonado, District 10, parent and school counselor, Bronx
- Peter Lamphere, teacher & UFT Delegate, Bronx HS of Science, member of Teachers for a Just Contract
- Sandra Stratton-Gonzalez, District 15 parent and teacher, Brooklyn; Bay Ridge resident
- Carol Kennedy, science teacher, Satellie Academy HS, Bronx
- Denice Gamper, Bard High School Early College, UFT Chapter Leader, Manhattan
- Linda Silverman, teacher, Francis Lewis HS, Queens
- Debra Rymer, teacher, PS 64, Bronx
- Claudia Coia, District 2 teacher, SLT Member, and UFT Chapter Leader, PS 77
- Todd Feltman, Mentor, Region 10.
- Beth Bernett, District 2 parent, SLT middle school parent representative, and Co-Chair, Multiple Assessment Committee, School of the Future, Manhattan; Murray Hill resident
- Jim Corona, parent and SLT member, P. S. 187, and parent, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and the Performing Arts, Washington Heights, Manhattan
- Jennifer L. Johnson, District 15 parent and PS 154 SLT member, Brooklyn, Windsor Terrace
- Jan Carr, parent and SLT member, District 2, Manhattan
- Lorraine Levey, SLT member, PS 183, District 2
- Deborah Thomas, District 2 parent, PA, 11th Grade Class Rep, School of the Future, Manhattan
- Gary Babad, District 26 parent (Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Floral Park, Bellerose, Jamaica Estates, Bayside, Littleneck, and Douglaston, Queens)
- Alyssa Abeyta, DIstrict 1 parent, Childrens Workshop School, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
- Ann Kjellberg, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Manuel Wally, PhD, District 2 parent, MS 260, Manhattan
- Carmen Kordas, District 2 parent, MS 260, Manhattan
- Walter Goodman, District 3 parent, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and the Performing Arts; Fort Greene, Brooklyn, resident
- Robert Schwartz, District 3 parent, PS 75, Upper West Side, Manhattan
- Bonnie Steinsnyder, District 15 parent, PS 29, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
- Shelley Grant, teacher and parent, District 2, Hell's Kitchen and Tribeca, Manhattan
- Eugene Falik, District 3 parent, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts; Far Rockaway resident
- Sophia Wood, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Jane Ludlam, parent, Tribeca Learning Center (PS 150) and Delta Honors Program (MS 54), Manhattan
- Mary Ann Toman, District 1 parent, East Village, Manhattan
- Lee Levin, District 2, Manhattan, Stuyvesant Town
- Gail Murray, District 29, Queens Village
- Jennifer Sirey, District 15 parent, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
- Mary McGregor, parent, KAPPA V Middle School, Brownsville, Brooklyn
- Victoria Franzese, P.S. 77 and P.S. 334, Manhattan
- Amy F. Ogata, District 6 parent, Washington Heights
- Alex Davis, District 2 parent, Soho
- Catherine Marino-Thomas, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Anthony Filanowski, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Susan Gregory Thomas, District 15 parent, PS 321, Park Slope, Brooklyn
- Deborah Levine, PS 58, The Carroll School, Brooklyn
- Jennifer Krueger, parent, PS 290 MNS and Salk School of Science, Manhattan
- Amy Silverman, District 15 parent, Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies (BCS), Park Slope, Brooklyn
- Laura Williams, District 2 parent, Chelsea, Manhattan
- Penelope Hort, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Choling (Annie) Wong, Region 3, District 26 parent, MS158, Queens
- A. S. Evans, parent, NYC Lab Middle School, Manhattan
- Joan O'Mahoney, Marine Park Intermediate School and P.S.194, Brooklyn
- Beth Forrest, parent, HSAS, MS 172, and PS/IS 266, Holliswood, Queens
- Sandra Blackwood, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Alice Jankell, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Dalinda and Jacob Fondie, parents, PS 41, Greenwich Village
- Lisa Salzman, District 2 parent, Union Square
- Stephanie Basch, District 2 parent, Manhattan
- Ginene Hoffman, PS 77, Manhattan
- Jennifer Sirey, District 15 parent , Brooklyn
- Kate Harrison and Frank Capalbo, PS 3 parents, Manhattan
- Brenna Beirne, District 15 parent, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
- Marie Pollicino, District 26 parent, Benjamin Cardozo High School (P.S. 98), Queens
- Elise L. Cagan, District 6 parent, PS/IS 187, Washington Heights
- Jerry & Grace Anzalone, parents, PS 226, Brooklyn, NY
- Miles Chapin, District 2 parent, Long Island City resident
- John Braunstein, parent, PS 3, Greenwich Village
- Gerry Griffin, District 1 parent, TSMS & LaGuardia High School, East Village
- Geri Chadick, PS116 parent, Manhattan
- David Demnitz, District 2 parent, Manhattan
- Lola Franco, PS 116 parent
- Kevin Seaman, PS116 parent
- Michele Herman, District 2 parent, Stuyvesant and IS 89, Manhattan
- Emily and Scott Santoro, District 2 parents, Greenwich Village
- Angelica Rosa, District 24 parent, Francis Lewis High School, Fresh Meadows, NY
- Daniel Millstone, parent, Bronx High School of Science; resident, Lower East Side, Manhattan
- Emma-Kate Croghan, District 2 parent, Manhattan
- Julie Woodward, Bronx
- Nina Birnbaum, District 2 parent, Manhattan
- Madeleine Sinor PS 41 parent, Manhattan
- Deirdre Cipolla, PS 187 parent, Manhattan
- Mary McAveney, parent, PS 58, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
- Catherine & Graham Short, District 2 parents, Greenwich Village
- Rhonda Brauer, District 2 parent, Manhattan
- Deborah Kaufmann, parent, Institute for Collaborative Education in Manhattan; Brooklyn resident
- Melanie Nelson, Acadamy American Studies, PS 11 Q
- Gina de la Chesnaye, District 15 parent, Brooklyn
- Marian Marinovich, District 39 parent, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
- Jessica Ciosek, District 2 parent, Manhattan
- Diana Plunkett, PS 154 parent, Brooklyn
- Patrick Colimon, PS 154 parent, Brooklyn
- Melanie Nelson, PS11 parent, Queens
- Veda Bell, grandparent, retired NJ first grade teacher, Manhattan
- Dezorrie Reyes, PS 171 parent , Long Island City
- Tara Foster, District 15 parent, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
- Mark Celentano, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Lisa Jassey, District 2 parent, Manhattan
- Susan Levee-Berger, PS 77, District 2, Manhattan
- Ariel Mazer, District 2 and 3 parent, PS 290 and Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts, Manhattan
- Christina Heath, MPA
- Aileen Belcastro, District 22 parent
- Joseph Belcastro, District 22 parent
- Joanne Cirincione, District 25 JHS 194 parent, Queens
- Cathy Einhorn, IS 187 parent, Brooklyn
- Shaan Naimoli, PS 54 and PS 230, Brooklyn
- Margaret Perry, Jackie Robinson High School, District 4, Manhattan
- Kiki Panos-Sperazza, PS 122 parent, District 30, Queens
- Deborah Halperin, District 2 parent, Midtown, Manhattan
- Nancy Weiss, PS 41 parent, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
- Joan Petrere, PS 144 parent, District 24, Region 3, Queens
- Christina Wentzel, PS 58, Brooklyn, NY
- Lisa Handorff, NYC Lab School, Manhattan
- Rachel Kaplan, parent, PS 315/East Village Community School
- Victoria Barroso, parent, MS 54 (Delta Honors Program)
- Marian Trupiano, District 20 parent, Fort Hamilton High School, Brooklyn
- Natalie Spinnell, PS 290 parent, District 2, Manhattan
- Zinovia Abatzis, District 30, PS 2 and IS 141, Queens
- Lewis Friedman, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village, member Ad Hoc Committee (AHC)
- Natalie Spinnell, District 2 parent, PS 290, Manhattan
- Julie Woodward, District 11, Bronx
- David Bloom, District 3 parent, Delta (MS 54) and Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts, Manhattan
- Lavinia Galatis, District 30, Queens
- Rita Ashdale, District 2 parent, Manhattan, Upper East Side
- Alan Pudding, District 2 parent, PS 150
- Laura Tietjen, District 3 parent, PS 163, and District 6 parent, PS 187, Washington Heights, Manhattan
- Janet Buck, District 2 Parent, NYC Lab Middle School, Chelsea
- David Rogow, District 1 parent, Manhattan
- Barbara Silverstein, parent, PS 116, Manhattan
- John Wetherhold
- Mellen O'Keefe, parent, District 15 MS 51/Park Slope, Brooklyn, and Beacon School, Manhattan
- Simone Weissman and Peter Levitt, parents, PS 41 and Salk School of Science (MS 255), District 2, Manhattan
- Robert Levy, Parent, PS 41, District 2
- Patricia Fondrie, parent, PS 75, MS 54, and Stuyvesant High School, Manhattan
- Janet Unger-Perez, PS 116, Murray Hill
- Natalie Spinnell, District 2 parent, PS 290, Manhattan
- Claire Bienen, District 2 parent, PS 290, Manhattan
- Veronica Braun, parent, PS 41, Manhattan
- Amy K. Adelman, District 2
- Maria Loizi, District 30, Region 4, parent, PS 84Q, IS141Q and Bryant High School
- Cari Fershing, District 6 parent, Washington Heights/Inwood
- Shino Tanikawa, parent, PS 3 and Clinton School, District 2, Manhattan
- Linda L. Phillips, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Heleen Adam and Allen Sack, parents, PS 89, District 2
- Lucia Stern, parent, Bronx High School of Science; resident, District 3 Manhattan
- Marnie Tetzlaff, PS 154, District 15, Brooklyn
- Frank Haberle, District 15 parent, PS 321, Park Slope, Brooklyn
-Timothy Bascom, District 2 parent, PS 41
- Christine Liebertz, District 2 parent, PS 77
- Melissa Robbins, District 2 Parent, PS41, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
- Cathlyn Cantone, District 2 parent, PS 77, Manhattan
- Sari Granat, Parent, District 2 parent, PS 41
- Lori A. Bores, District 2 parent, former PS 6 and Hunter College High School Board member, Manhattan
- Hobby Coudert, parent, PS 77
- Jeremy Cash, Community Education Council District 1 member, Children's Workshop parent, Brooklyn Resident
- Cynthia Neuman, District 3 parent, PS 87, Upper West Side
- Dolores Schaefer, Former President, Community School Board One, Manhattan
- Robert Schoenbohm, parent, Humanities Prep HS, Manhattan
- Karri Lucas, PS 77, PS 217, District 2 Parent, Roosevelt Island
- Maggi Simpson, PS 77/Lower Lab, Harlem
- Skuta Helgason, District 2 parent, PS 41
- Susan Danielson, parent, PS 77, Carnegie Hill
- Elyse Staff, parent, PS 77, Manhattan
- Rebecca Tayne, parent, PS 77/Lower Lab, Upper East Side, Manhattan
- Yvette Moustaffa, District 21 (PS 329), District 2, Region 9 (Art & Design HS/ Vanguard HS)
- Risa Fisher and Josh Stern, parents, PS 41, Greenwich Village
- Ellen Bilofsky, parent, Stuyvesant High School, Manhattan
- Josephine Wan, District 2 parent, Lab High School
- Dina Colombo Alessi, PS 77, Manhattan
- Claire Terraciano/Jennifer Stott, parents, PS41 Greenwich Village School
- Daniel and Rachel Rocker, District 2 parents, PS 41, Manhattan
- Joan Barnett, PS148Q, Jackson Heights, Queens
- Debra Ann Freeman, PS 77, District 2, Manhattan
- John and Judy Bresnahan, District 2 parents, PS 41 and Salk School of Science (MS 255), Manhattan
- Jacqueline Brachman, District 2 parent
- Joan P Craffey, NTHS, Murray Hill
- Cindy Rothborth, PS 77, District 2, Upper East Side, Manhattan
- Noreen Shevlin McManus, District 2 parent, PS 77
- Joan McKeever-Thomas, parent and student advocate for Staten Island, Past President SI Federation of PTAs, UFT Parent Liaison for Staten Island
- Holly Simonds, PS 234, IS 126
- Sherri Sklar, District 2 parent, PS77 Lower Lab School, Upper East Side, Manhattan
- Paul Gong, Community Education Council District 2 Community Representative, Chinatown, Manhattan
- Margaret Gabay, District 2 parent, Greenwich Village
- Colleen Van Ness, District 2 parent, PS 116, Manhattan
