NY’s teachers are committed educators who sometimes feel at odds with their leaders and/or the Department of Education. They seek meaningful professional development, a more diverse teaching staff, and adequate support to serve our children.
This is a guest post by Chloe Pashman, an Education Director of a CBO preschool in the Bronx. She has worked in the Early Childhood Education field for over twenty years. On July 9th, 2019, after decades of unjust, racist, and illegal pay disparities between CBO (Community-Based Organizations) PreKs, and DOE (Department of Education) PreKs,… Continue reading “Mayor de Blasio, Clean Up Your Mess!” Non-Union Pre-Kindergarten Staff Speak Out.
Black and Brown children are too often denied their inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by teachers and school officials whose unfulfilled purpose is to support these children, not harm them. All children go through hardships but from my vantage point (the only one I can in fact speak from with… Continue reading Mental Health Awareness and Help for Black and Brown Children Is a Need, Not a Want.
“Mister, can we speak with you?” three young ladies asked as they approached me one day between classes. They were there on behalf of a fourth young lady, their friend Danielle. It was prom season and Danielle wanted to go but didn’t have the funds. From time to time I would anonymously pay for things… Continue reading A Very Special High School Prom Conspiracy Abetted By A Very Special Teacher.
I sent out the following tongue-in-cheek email to my family and a few friends on my last day of teaching: Did you hear about the disturbance that took place in Harlem at 11:45am today? Apparently there was this teacher dancing down the streets in celebration. He walked out of the rear door of his school… Continue reading Why Was This Teacher Doing The Funky Chicken On 116th Street in Harlem?
The New York Times reports that “[a] group of selective schools and programs geared to students labeled gifted and talented is filled mostly with white and Asian children,” even though the vast majority of the 1.1 million students in New York City are Black and Latinx. And so a “high-level panel appointed by Mayor Bill… Continue reading NYC’s Gifted and Talented Programs Need Accessibility, Not Elimination.
Why is it a problem for some when academic spaces are comprised of more Black teachers than White teachers? I continue to be baffled by the resistance to this change, especially from White teachers. The reality is that many Black teachers function in predominantly White academic spaces for the entirety of our careers, often without… Continue reading An Impassioned Plea For The Purposeful Hiring of More Black Teachers
