{"id":300041,"date":"2026-07-19T16:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T16:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/300041\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T16:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T16:32:13","slug":"nycs-mayor-asked-for-parents-opinions-on-schools-heres-what-some-have-to-say-the-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/300041\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC\u2019s Mayor Asked for Parents\u2019 Opinions on Schools. Here\u2019s What Some Have to Say \u2013 The 74"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York City, he vowed to gather community feedback on how the public schools are working. His chancellor, Kamar Samuels, has assembled working groups<\/a> \u201ctasked with creating customized proposals to accelerate the work of building a stronger school system, rooted in academically rigorous, safe and integrated schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I asked the members of my 4,200-subscriber mailing list<\/a> what they wanted to say to this administration. They responded with recommendations for curriculum, discipline, technology, afterschool programming and teacher quality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maria K. spoke for hundreds when she wrote, \u201cI\u2019d strongly urge to reconsider eliminating G&T programs for grades K-2<\/a>. \u2026 If the objective is equality, then programs should be expanded, and underprivileged groups should be given wider access.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCreate more of what is in demand rather than redistributing what already exists among different socioeconomic and ethnic groups,\u201d Adam C. concurred. \u201cReinvest resources in schools that provide what families are specifically looking for: specialized high schools, academically screened middle and high schools, and high-performing zoned middle and high schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone should have a default, large zoned high school that provides tracking by academic subject,\u201d former Citywide Council on High Schools member Rachel Fremmer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regarding the quality of educators, one parent wished, \u201cI would LOVE for all teachers to have education on how to recognize when a child is bored or struggling in school.\u201d S. Meng from Queens suggested, \u201cSurvey which districts have higher percentages of lower-level students and employ better teachers with higher pay for that district to bring up the overall level average.\u201d<\/p>\n

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RelatedIn Arguing Over the Right Age for Gifted Testing, G&T Gatekeepers Miss the Point<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe need highly qualified teachers who hold themselves to the same academic standards we expect our children to meet,\u201d agreed Natalie Iarko. \u201cTeachers should model strong writing, communication and subject knowledge. My son\u2019s pre-K teacher wrote in all lowercase with no punctuation. We need higher expectations for those entrusted with educating our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers have given up on chaotic classrooms,\u201d lamented CN. \u201cKids do whatever they want while the teacher attempts to teach until they all give up and watch cartoons together. I\u2019ve spoken to many parents, and we are uniformly disappointed in the lack of discipline in school. It is basically low-value childcare. I went to low-ranking public schools in Queens, and even we got yelled at for clowning around in the classroom. Why won\u2019t teachers discipline anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cParents should be given the ability to formally evaluate teacher and administrator performance annually,\u201d a Manhattan mom proposed. \u201cThese evaluations should be part of broader performance evaluations for school faculty and officials, tied to compensation and career advancement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStrengthen discipline for both teachers and students,\u201d Acel M. contributed. \u201cIf a teacher is not performing, make it easier to replace or downgrade or terminate them. Bad behaving kids should be disciplined and be expelled as a last measure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSafety is important,\u201d J.C. stressed. \u201cIn my son\u2019s elementary school, there were children who were violent (repeatedly starting fights, etc.) and were simply moved to another classroom instead of detention or expulsion. As my son was the victim of this, I would like to see safety\/protection measures for the victims of school violence, especially at the middle and high school levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

But families weren\u2019t merely concerned with what happens during the school day.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery elementary school should offer afterschool programs such that parents don\u2019t have to pay extra for childcare coverage until 5 p.m. every day,\u201d one mom chimed in. \u201cWorking parents need this essential support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur kids need to have opportunities to be creative, work with adults and other kids and heck \u2014 PLAY,\u201d Helen K., Queens mom of two, insisted. \u201cNYC schools need to admit that the adoption of individual devices and online learning platforms for students is a failed experiment. In our middle school, there is rampant non-educational use of their devices. Let parents opt out of devices<\/a> and online platforms!\u201d<\/p>\n

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RelatedFrom \u2018Bring It On\u2019 to \u2018This Policy Is Crazy,\u2019 NYC Parents React to Cellphone Ban<\/p>\n

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H.D. suggested: \u201cBring back pen and paper coursework and tests!\u201d Then, on another note, offered, \u201cShare resources among neighborhood schools such as for music. Third Street Music School has partnerships with some schools. A more citywide effort would be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, \u201cA Black mother from District 9, Bronx,\u201d summarized, \u201cSchools don\u2019t need blame \u2014 they need thoughtful, targeted investment. If children face more obstacles outside the classroom, then inside the classroom they should have the city\u2019s strongest teachers, experienced principals, enrichment programs, arts, music, science, tutoring, counseling and the resources that help children thrive. Retain experienced teachers, support school leaders, expand tutoring and enrichment, and focus on long-term student success.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parents have spoken. The mayor and chancellor have promised to listen. Will they follow through?<\/p>\n

Mom Carin Rosenfeld already has concerns. \u201cI would like transparency regarding the process itself. How were [working group] participants selected? How were families and educators notified? What efforts were made to ensure broad representation rather than participation by only those already connected to political or educational networks? If City Hall and the chancellor truly want to hear from constituents, the process must be open, widely publicized, accessible and transparent from the beginning, not limited to a select group of stakeholders whose identities and selection criteria are unknown to the broader public. Public engagement in NYC education feels performative rather than substantive. If more parents truly knew what was happening in our schools, there might be a full-scale parent uprising!\u201d<\/p>\n

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We\u2019d love to hear how The 74\u2019s reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers. Tell us how<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter When Zohran Mamdani…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64763,18281,41579,3632,9,24,12,56,63,65,64,299,233,82],"class_list":["post-300041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-4fams","tag-commentary","tag-kamar-samuels","tag-local-schools","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-opinion","tag-parenting","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}