Tuesday, parents and city councilmembers released a letter signed by 20 members of the New York City Council in support of culturally responsive education. They will call on Mayor Bill de Blasio to charge the new schools chancellor, Richard Carranza, to implement the change.
Members who signed the letter include Education Chair Mark Treyger, Finance Chair Daniel Dromm and Progressive Caucus co-chairs Diana Ayala and Ben Kallos, as well as the entire NYC Progressive Caucus.
Parents and the City Council members want the mayor and new chancellor to include several changes to the public schools system, such as expanding anti-bias training for teachers, developing curriculum across all disciplines and grades that focus on histories and cultures that include African and Latino, and creating and staffing an Office of Culturally Responsive Education within the Department of Education.
The demands come in the wake of string of racial incidents in public schools at the hands of white teachers, including one in which a white teacher placed a foot on the backs of Black students during a lesson about slavery, and another in which a white principal told a Black teacher not to teach Black history.
