(photos by Adam Schultz)
Crown Heights Assemblyman Karim Camara and Bedford-Stuyvesant City Councilman Robert Cornegy yesterday addressed several hundred parents and students in support of Governor Cuomo’s Opportunity Agenda that calls for reforms in public education including in teacher evaluations, private takeovers of failing schools and allowing for more charter schools.
The parents and students attending the event at Medgar Evers College came from the mainly African-American Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, East New York, Brownsville, Cypress Hills and Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Event sponsors StudentsFirstNY noted that:
- 250,000 kids have attended a failing school in the past 10 years.
- Of those kids, 93% are black or Latino.
- A black or Latino student is four times more likely to have a poorly rated teacher.
- Less than 20% of black students read and do math at grade level.
- Less than 15% of black students graduate from high school ready for college.
“The Governor is fighting to close the achievement gap for all children throughout the state,” said Camara, who is stepping down from his assembly seat tomorrow to join the Cuomo administration. “That includes our kids — in this neighborhood right here. It’s simply unacceptable that so many of our kids are falling behind in school simply because of their zip code.”
“My six kids are why I do this job — to get them the education that they deserve,” said Cornegy. “But kids in neighborhoods like mine aren’t getting what they deserve. We’re here to say: Enough is enough. Our kids deserve a chance. Our kids deserve the kind of opportunity we support.”
