Teachers and students at last week’s massive rally against budget cuts said they were braving the cold out of fear that they could lose their jobs, have their after-school program closed, or miss out on the chance to help decide how the city’s stimulus funds are spent.
Here’s a sampling of what students and teachers from across the city told me last week when I asked them why they had come to the rally:
- Meredith Jacks, a middle school teacher at PS/MS 126 in Chinatown: “We just want to have a say in how this [stimulus] money gets used. It could do nothing or it could do a lot.”
- Sharon Stolberg, a retired teacher from Queens who in the 1970s was bumped from school to school because of budget cuts: “I had kids sitting on radiators, 38 kids in a first-grade class. We cannot afford that again.”
- Josh, a second-year teacher at a Bronx school: “Teachers in their first three years could be laid off. But that’s less likely than cuts to programs that benefit our neediest kids.”
- Gabriel Saez, a sixth grader at IS 171 in Brooklyn who came with dozens of his classmates: “We are here so that they won’t shut down our after school. We heard that might happen.”
- Chris, a ninth grader at Manhattan/Hunter Science High School: “We came here because we don’t want anyone to lose their jobs.”
- Joanie Terrizzi, the librarian at Manhattan’s PS/MS 126: “If there’s no money I’m not a required position.”
- Hannah Lee, a ninth grader at Manhattan/Hunter Science High School: “The teachers were recommending us to come — the more the merrier. Plus, we can really make the change.”
- Dara Sullivan, a teacher at PS 877 in Queens: “We want to make sure if there are budget cuts, that they come out of the classroom less.”
Julissa Morban, a senior at University Heights High School in the Bronx: “We could lose teachers, counselors, social workers, books and materials. … We already get left behind a lot.” - Griselda Burgos, a teacher at PS 98 in Manhattan: “We want to fight for our children. They could increase the size of children in the classroom.”
- Beth Levy, a social worker for the pre-kindergarten program at PS 133 in Queens: “I’m worried that the program might be cut.”
- Elizabeth Shanken, the UFT chapter leader at Jane Addams High School: “There is enough money in the stimulus package to stop school cuts. There’s now no justifiable reason why there should be such tremendous cuts.”
- Jessica Jolly, a teacher at Arts and Media Prep in Brooklyn: “The small schools will suffer.”