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Unable to reach an agreement between City officials and union leaders, over 700 school aides, parent coordinators, and public support staffers lost their jobs this past Fri. Oct 7th, despite ongoing protests at City Hall and in the Northern Manhattan area.
The layoffs are one of the largest single-agency layoffs since Bloomberg took office.
Dozens of school aides, staff, students, and community leaders gathered in front of I.S. 52 in Inwood this past Thurs., Oct. 7th to protest the impending city-wide layoffs within the school system.
Protestors have argued the looming cuts would adversely affect the students of northern Manhattan.
It is estimated that approximately 50 staff members have lost their jobs in District 6.
Joining in the protest were members of Local 372, the Board of Education Employees Union.
Doreen Testa, a lifelong resident of Northern Manhattan who works at P.S. 132 as a school aide and shop steward, said she chose to speak out against the cuts, specifically because they would target some of the lowest paid employees in the system.
“I am here to support every member of our union. How does Mayor Bloomberg expect us to feed our children?” said Testa. She argued for the importance of school aides particularly in overcrowded northern Manhattan schools, where they often serve as lifelines between students, parents, and teachers.
“We need every parent coordinator, every aide, to fulfill an important job,” said Testa, who has been a school aide for over thirteen years.
Most of the job losses in East New York, Brownsville, Williamsburg, Northern Manhattan, Rockaway, South Jamaica, and the South Bronx. Advocates for the school workers argue that these communities are precisely where the need is greatest for enhanced social services, as residents suffer with high unemployment rates and large ESL (English as a Second Language) student populations.
“Our children deserve the best education possible. Laying off over 700 aides and assistants who are key to student success is a recipe for disaster,” said New York State Senator Espaillat during the protest on Thursday.
"We need progressive solutions to New York's challenges like a millionaire's tax and investment in our workforce, so we can avoid these painful and senseless cuts that harm our communities," said Espaillat.
Community Education Council for District 6 (CEC6) President Judith Amaro said that if the Bloomberg administration continues to elevate the standards by which student achievement is measured, then it must also expand upon, not reduce, the resources that are given to schools to meet those standards.
That, she argued, includes keeping crucial staff such as school aides.
“Our community has lost millions of dollars in funding for our schools over the last eight years. Bloomberg is supposed to be the education mayor and he hasn’t fulfilled that promise,” said Amaro, who has a son in the eighth grade at P.S. 187 in Washington Heights.
Altough none of PS 187’s school aides were laid off, Amaro said she attended a goodbye party for two school aides who were laid off from P.S. 48.
“This is wrong and ridiculous. For us to be loosing these workers is unacceptable, and detrimental to our community,” said Amaro.
According to Amaro, the principals in Northern Manhattan are in talks to come up with a plan to reinstate the jobs. “We don’t know what will happen yet, but we need these jobs back.”
“As a mother, the school aides for me have been invaluable,” she said.
“The economic sense in laying off city workers does not add up,” said Local 372 President Santos Crespo. “Our children, teachers, and our communities deserve better.”
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