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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Esperanza Vazquez, Parent Leader from New Settlement Parent Action Committee
6:37:06
·
4 min
Esperanza Vazquez, a parent leader with the New Settlement Parent Action Committee, advocated for increased investment in healing-centered schools and social-emotional support for students in New York City. She emphasized the need for more counselors and social workers, and less reliance on punitive measures like suspensions and police presence in schools.
- Vazquez highlighted her organization's involvement in various educational coalitions working towards change in the city and state.
- She stressed that the city budget is a moral document and called for fair funding that prioritizes student well-being over punitive measures.
- The testimony underscored the importance of restorative justice techniques and moving away from treating students like criminals, emphasizing "solutions, not suspensions."
Esperanza Vazquez
6:37:06
Good afternoon, city council.
6:37:08
My name is Esperanza Vasquez and I am the mother of two children.
6:37:11
I have been a parent leader with the new settlement parent action committee back since 02/2001.
6:37:17
Although I was born in Mexico, both of my children were born in The Bronx.
6:37:21
And they went to school in District 9.
6:37:24
My oldest son is currently in college and my youngest recently graduated from high school on the New Settlement Community campus.
6:37:52
New settlement parent action committee is a parent led organization that has been working with parents and schools in The Bronx since 1996.
6:37:59
Our guiding or our main guiding principle for PAC is that every child deserves a quality education.
6:38:26
We understand that we cannot work isolated in our communities, in our schools in The Bronx, and that we working for a change, it requires that our communities throughout the whole city of New York and the state of New York get together and demand a change.
6:38:40
That's why I'm here today.
6:39:00
PAC is a member organization in many coalitions.
6:39:03
The Healing Centered Schools Campaign, the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice, the Dignity in Schools Coalition and New Yorkers for Racially Justice Public Schools.
6:39:32
As an organization of immigrants and black and Latinx families, we ask the New York City to do more for our schools and our families and invest in healing and supporting our students and not unjustly punishing them and suspending students who are in crisis.
6:39:58
A budget is a moral document and how we spend our city's funding matters.
6:40:20
We need to employ more student counselors and social workers to support students social emotional health.
6:40:27
And we need to stop deploying policemen in our schools or using metal detectors.
6:40:41
We need to use restorative justice techniques and to stop treating our children like they were criminals.
6:40:47
And we need solutions, not suspensions.
6:40:59
New York City should invest in healing and not invest in more harm.
Rita Joseph
6:41:07
We need
Esperanza Vazquez
6:41:08
a fair budget for New York City.
Joe Alicio
6:41:10
Thank you
Esperanza Vazquez
6:41:10
very much for the opportunity today.