With two weeks until expanded after-school launch, de Blasio emphasizes the stakes
Mayor Bill de Blasio knows what will happen if middle schoolers don’t find after-school programs worthwhile. They’ll vote with their feet, and stop showing up.
The mayor issued this friendly warning to new after-school employees on Monday. The group was smaller and quieter than the crowd of pre-K teachers he rallied last week, but the message was the same: We’re counting on you.
“It’s my job to get you the support, but then you go in. You’re the boots on the ground,” de Blasio said, after recapping his efforts to secure funding for the largest expansion of after-school offerings in the city’s history.
The 130 teachers and site directors gathered at the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Queens this week are all new employees of the Sports & Arts in Schools Foundation, one of 108 organizations receiving city funds to oversee after-school programming in middle schools when classes begin next week.