Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Save Our Schools Press Release


CARLOS SIERRA HOLDS “SAVE OUR SCHOOLS” MEETING

    One week before the Panel for Educational Policy votes on the closure of P. S. 64 and other schools across New York City, Carlos Sierra and other community advocates gathered at Latino Pastoral Action Center (LPAC) Monday evening to voice their concerns towards what lies ahead for students in the affected schools. For Sierra, the fight is personal. “I attended Taft High School (in which one of the small schools, Jonathan Levin High School, also faces closure) and eventually dropped out due to the lack of resources,” Sierra said. “Although I made it to college, it took me three extra years to graduate because of all of the remedial classes I had to take [in reading, writing and math].” Sierra adds that he does not want students at P. S. 64, a school that has been graded “D” over the last two years, to suffer a similar fate.
    Carmen Rojas, an advocate who helped save P. S. 132 in Washington Heights from a similar fate, told organizers how to get attention from the decision-makers. “After emergency meetings like this one, we must set up a defense committee, who will frequently outreach the chancellor and the media,” Rojas said in Spanish. “But before all of this can happen, we must first mobilize titirimundati (the whole world) – the parents.”
    At the meeting, Sierra announced two events in which parents would be able to voice their concerns to the powers that be. The first is a mayoral forum featuring the candidates for the 2013 mayoral election. It will take place this Saturday, March 9 at 2 p.m., at La Resurrection Church, located on East 158th Street and Elton Avenue in the Bronx. The second is the Panel for Educational Policy's vote on the school closures, which will take place in a public hearing on Monday, March 11, at Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn, beginning at 6 p.m.
    For the March 11 hearing, Sierra will be meeting anyone willing to join him in voicing his/her mind to the panel at Wendy's, at West 170th Street and Jerome Avenue, at 3:30 p.m.

Panel for Educational Policy Vote on School Closures
Monday March 11 at 6 p.m.
Brooklyn Technical High School
29 Fort Greene Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Meet Carlos Sierra at Wendy's on Jerome Av and West 170th Street at 3:30 p.m.
For More Information, Please Contact the Sierra HELPLINE at (347)-913-6050

Our Children, Our Future. Join Our Efforts
Sierra 2013: Family – Community – Progress


No comments:

Post a Comment