Organizing around the budget cuts continues at a frantic pace! No need to remind our community, but our advocacy work stems from the deep cuts we as a school, as well as other schools, faces next year.
Tonight, our very own 1st grade teacher Laurie Ciardi will testify on enrollment projections problems in front of the Boston School Committee (BSC).
The meeting will be at 6pm, tonight, Wednesday, February 26th, in the Winter Chamber of 26 Court Street.
As ever, a group of Curley parents will join her and show their solidarity by standing silently with her as she speaks.
Wear your Curley shirts! Come and join us.
We will do the same for other parents from other schools. Our organizing is gathering pace as we work with now 14 other schools, coordinating our actions, and advocating for all schools in our BPS family. These schools are from all over Boston, from the Winship in Brighton to Youth Achievers in Mattapan, from the Hurley in the South End to the Roosevelt in Hyde Park.
Parent Testifies at the Last BSC Meeting
Parent Carrie Fletcher delivered our testimony at the last BSC meeting, giving a comprehensive overview of the problems schools face as they get larger. She urged the BSC to adopt our scale proposal, and she also outlined again our cuts. We first testified this year at the last January meeting of the BSC.
Carrie’s testimony is here:
Carrie Fletcher’s BSC Statement – 020514
You can also watch the video of the entire meeting here. Public comments began at the 18:30 minute mark.
We were very grateful to be joined by many other parents from other schools who came and stood with us as Carrie delivered her testimony. Many, many thanks to the folks from the Roosevelt, Mendell, and the BTU who joined us that night. We also stood with them as they delivered their speeches. There was also eloquent testimony from parents from the Mary Lyon as well.
We’ve been busy!
We’ve been busy! We have met with City Councilors Matt O’Malley, and Tito Jackson, and Jessica Taubner, Councilor Ayanna Pressley’s Chief of Staff, and were joined at that meeting by parents from 10 other schools.
We met yesterday with George Perry, Mayor Walsh’s Education Advisor, and were joined by parents representatives from 6 other schools. We will be meeting with Superintendent John McDonough a little later today before the BSC meeting.
We are also very grateful that so many parents have also stepped in to speak at the forthcoming school committee meetings too – thank you!
We have several more meetings being planned with members of the City Council, the School Committee, and the Boston State delegation.
Email Campaign Launching This Week!
An email campaign with pre-written emails, one to the Superintendent, School Committee, City Council and the Mayor, and a second for the Boston State Delegation is launching later this week.
Please take part. All you will need to do is click to open the pre-written, pre-addressed email, then fill out your name and neighborhood, and then hit send. Or if you prefer, you can simply copy and paste the pre-written statement, sign it, and mail it.
Keep your eyes open for it over the next couple of days.
Join the Organizing!
For more information or to be involved, again please contact Heshan Berents-Weeramuni, Carrie Fletcher, or Jill Lazer.
