Talk Out of School Leonie Haimson, Daniel Alicea

Leonie shares a news update about the budget negotiations over mayoral control, school funding and compliance with the new class size law.

Daniel shares his interview with educator, motivational speaker and rapper, Brandon Brown, also known as "Griot B", to talk about "School Yard Rap." Brown also discusses his inspiration, the importance of representation, and the impact the program can have on students.

Daniel interviews PEP member Dr. Kaliris Salas-Ramirez and Leonie Haimson, co-host and Executive Director of Class Size Matters about the their takeaways about findings, recommendations, and impact of the newly released NYSED report on mayoral control.

Leonie interviews Carol Burris, executive director of Network for Public Education and Julian Vasquez Heilig, education scholar at Western Michigan University, about the real truth behind on charter schools and the evolution of the Democratic party on this issue.

Daniel shared a news updates in first segment. He also shared his interview with Hanan Harchol.

Hanan Harchol is a New York based filmmaker, animator, artist, classical guitarist, and teacher. Harchol recently released his first dramatic feature film, entitled ABOUT A TEACHER.   It is a semi-autobiographical narrative, which he wrote, directed, and produced, based on his experience teaching filmmaking to inner-city public high school students.

After a brief recap of local education news, NYU researcher Flor Khan, parent Alina Lewis, and teacher Martina Meijer discuss the problems with the most commonly adopted new reading curriculum in NYC schools, called HMH Into Reading.

Daniel shared news and analysis about the recent class size rally and the city council hearing that occurred on February 29th which called for accountability by the city for its implementation of the new class size law.

Hear the rally voices of parents, advocates, public officials and other stakeholders who have concerns about the City not doing everything possible to hit the yearly targets needed to fully comply with the new class size limits.

In the first segment, he shared the voices at the rally led by Rita Joseph, City Council member and head of the Education Committee; and also, Executive Director of Class Size Matters, Leonie Haimson, the United Federation of Teachers and others.

In the second segment, listen to analysis of misleading statements shared by the Mayor’s office and the DOE regarding its proposal to comply with the new law. Also, he also shared three hearing testimonies.