Parents Rally Against Proposed Teacher Layoffs
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Opposition is growing to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to lay off more than 4,000 teachers to help close the city's budget gap.
Parents joined elected officials and Teachers Union President Michael Mulgrew for a rally at P.S. 199 on Manhattan's West Side Friday.
More than a dozen teachers from P.S. 199 are on the chopping block.
"They've had it with the mayor," Mulgrew said Friday. "They feel completely disrespected, and what they really say to me is, 'Why doesn't he come to our school and actually stay a whole day and actually teach a class with us?'" Because he doesn't understand what we do. We've dedicated our lives to our children and we've dedicated our lives to make a difference in their lives. And this man, all he talks about is about what he thinks from his perch up on high – and they've had it with him.
On Thursday, Governor Andrew Cuomo decided against repealing the requirement that the layoffs are to be done by reverse seniority.