Their message at PS 45 and 17 other rally sites: Governor's cuts will doom art, swell class sizes
Emil PietromonacoSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As far as Emil Pietromonaco's concerned, if the state's budget proposal passes, officials may as well give public schools a new name. "They'll be Test Prep Academies," said Pietromonaco, the Staten Island representative for the United Federation of Teachers.
With $40 million slashed from Staten Island schools, he said students will have to say goodbye to art labs, music lessons and dance classes -- anything that doesn't involve state tests.
STATEWIDE RALLIES
Pietromonaco was among a group of impassioned parents and teachers rallying against the proposed cuts in front of PS 45, West Brighton, yesterday. Simultaneously, hundreds protested the cuts at 17 similar rallies held across the state, including a demonstration outside the Manhattan office of Gov. David Paterson.
The governor has put forth a budget plan that includes a $1.4 billion cut to schools, of which $466 million would impact the city. Education advocates said that means the first resource to go will be the arts. Teachers would be next, leading to larger class sizes.
"We'll have to keep it going by cutting everything back to the basics," Pietromonaco said. "The children didn't start or create this economic disaster we have in front of us. It's not fair."
He said the cuts to individual Island schools could range from $350,000 for small elementary schools to well over a million dollars for large high schools.
At PS 45, the children could lose their partnership with Marquis Studios, which provides several art programs to children of all ages. Last year, the school paid $30,000 toward the classes and Marquis Studios matched the funding with an additional $30,000.
This year, however, the school was only able to spend $18,000, but Marquis Studios still contributed $30,000.
Next year, if the budget is passed, the school will have to end its relationship with Marquis Studios all together.
One parent, Louis Gallonty, said his son was among the last students to take a pre-kindergarten class at the school, which has since been cut because of budget reductions.
"If our future is our children, then why are we basically throwing it away?" he said. "You can't put a price tag on it."
ONE CHANCE TO LEARN
Jeanne Johnson, the co-president of the Staten Island Federation of PTAs, said students have but one chance to learn, and that opportunity shouldn't be taken from them.
"You cannot ask a 16-year-old to repeat third grade because you didn't teach him to read and write and add and subtract -- it has to be done right the first time," she said. "There's enough bureaucracy in this city that can be taken away without cutting fundamental services to our children."
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