Education In the Time of Crisis

A Zoom Forum Hosted by Peace Action of Staten Island 

Saturday, September 12, 2020, from 2 PM to 4 PM. 

Free and open to the public. 
Peace Action of Staten Island invites parents, grandparents, teachers, students, and everyone who cares about the education of Staten Island’s students to attend a forum “Education In the Time of Crisis” that brings together activists who are committed to an equitable and safe school environment.  

New York City schools have always been underfunded and segregated racially.  On average, NYC schools classes are 15-30% larger than the rest of the state. Most schools in NYC presently have inadequate ventilation and lack air conditioning. There are no working sinks in many rooms (if they even have sinks).

The DOE Chancellor opened a recent meeting with school employees stating that due to cutbacks in state and federal funds layoffs are a probability. If the Chancellor is saying that the schools are underfunded how are they going to pay for working or new sinks, nurses in every school and adequate ventilation? How will this happen in time for the scheduled opening? Without funding for contact tracing, will returning to schools put Black and Latinx at more risk again for Covid?

A solution must take into account that working parents need child care and remote learning doesn’t replace in person learning and socialization. In addition, we need a racially equitable education for all students including a way to deliver therapeutic services.

We hope you will join us on the 12^th to hear the voices of our panelist and to speak about your concerns. We need to organize to ensure that we have a safe and equitable school system.

Our Activist Panel:

Guillermo Grau, United Activites Unlimited

Nailah Bourne, NYCDOE Elementary School Speech Teacher

Yasmine Chokrane, Student Leader at Teens Take Charge

Tammy Greer Brown, NAACP Youth Council, Advisor

Leonie Haimson, founder of  Class Size Matters

Tal Jasmin, Parent and K Woods Foundation

John Lawrence, Professor at the College of Staten Island

Margarita Sanchez, Professor  at Wagner College, La Colmena

Rahsan Williams , NYCDOE High School teacher and parent

CO-HOSTS:
Above Ground Railroad
First Central Baptist Church
La Colmena
Move Forward Staten Island
New York Center for Interpersonal Development 
Staten Island Political Action Club
Staten Island Urban Center
Staten Island Women Who March (SIWWM)
Teens Take Charge NYC
United Activities Unlimited (UAU)
Young Democrats of Richmond County

For more information please visit:

Peace Action of Staten Island webiste http://www.peacesi.org/, 

facebook page https://www.facebook.com/peaceactionstatenisland,

or email pasi.contact@gmail.com. 

As part of a global peace wave of events to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Peace Action of Staten Island and the Unitarian Church of Staten Island are sponsoring a display of photos that depict the devastation by the A-bombing as well as nuclear tests. A timeline of seven and a half decades of nuclear weapons history will also be displayed. Seventy-five years have passed since the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is estimated that the bombs killed 210,000 citizens by the end of 1945 and, over the years, have ruined the health of many of the survivors. The average age of the Hibakusha (the atom bomb survivors) is now over 82 years old, and many of them are still suffering from terrible health issues. This exhibit honors the memory of those who were killed or harmed by the atomic bombings. The photos are a gift from local groups of Gensuikyo, the Japanese Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs. The hope of local Japanese activists is that the photos will help sensitize people to the humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons and mobilize world public opinion in favor of creating a nuclear weapon-free world. It is the conviction of Peace Action and the Unitarian Universalists that nuclear weapons must never be used again against any nation under any circumstances. The message of peace from the survivors to the people of the world is an appeal for all to realize a world free of nuclear weapons. The United Nations adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on July 7, 2017 and the Hibakusha call on all State Governments to join the Treaty and achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons. To sign their appeal, go to https://www.hiroshimanagasaki75.org/hibakusha-appeal.