Issue Position: EDUCATION

Issue Position

Maintaining the quality of our public school education system is critical. As a community activist, Jerry lobbied and fought against the abolishment of our local School Districts here in Northeast Queens, because Jerry knew our schools were already some of the best in the city. Jerry fought to get school governance right. The record shows that Jerry has been very vocal in insisting that:

The Chancellor must be an educator.
Parents MUST be re-injected into the school governance system.
The Department of Education MUST be made accountable by establishing checks and balances and empowering the Panel for Education Policy (PEP) to have authority over school budgets and policy.
PEP's MUST be chosen democratically, with a majority being chosen by entities other than the mayor.
ALL NO-Bid contracts MUST be eliminated to establish transparency, and
Our old School Districts MUST be re-established with adequate staffing to serve the students and parents.
DOE must stop closing down our schools, carving them up and replacing them with several smaller schools in the same school building.
And the DOE MUST stop teaching to the test and get back to expanding our children's minds and really teaching them.

In addition, Jerry has spearheaded an effort to reduce overcrowding by converting recently closed Parochial Schools for public use. Jerry promises he will fight to make sure that our teachers receive the salaries they deserve so that we can retain quality teachers, and avoid losing them to more competitive wage structures elsewhere.

As a Parent who truly understands the value of a good education, Jerry promises to carry his commitment to our kids and local schools up to Albany and be an outspoken advocate for better schools. Jerry will also work hard to obtain funding for art, music, and sports programs as well as after-school programs for neighborhood youth groups and make sure that our local Beacon programs are not cut.

That's why the United Federation of Teachers endorsed Jerry Iannece when he ran for City Council in 2009. They knew that Jerry was the most qualified to deal with education issues for our district and was best able to provide for our children and give them the best possible education.

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