MEDIA CONTACTS:
Lorey A. Zaman, President
Kyle McCauley Belokopitsky, Esq., Executive Director
518-817-3017 (cell) execdirector@nyspta.org (email)
NYS PTA on today’s “Reimagine Education” announcement
May 5, 2020 (Albany) – This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Especially in these times, parents and families across New York State have never appreciated teachers more. We have witnessed the extraordinary measures undertaken by teachers, educators, school leaders, and school-related professional in the past weeks, and on behalf of our 2.6 million school children and families, we truly thank them.
We hope that any committee whose charge is to “reimagine education” will be lead by actual stakeholders in our educational system; parents, families, teachers, principals, superintendents, school board members, school counselors, and related support and professional staff.
While we have seen gaps in technology that need to be addressed during this crisis, we know our State Education Department and stakeholders will work together to expand support for students and see that learning in the classroom will continue in a safe and meaningful way in the fall. While technology is an important component in our 21st Century classrooms, in-person classroom learning and the student-teacher relationship is critical to our children’s success.
We look forward to working with our educational stakeholder partners and our State Education Department on a meaningful and collaborative re-opening plan for schools.
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