Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks at "Getting Ready for Pre-k" Summer Professional Development Institute for Pre-k Teachers

August 19, 2014

Video available at: https://youtu.be/mtNNkHfmmok

Mayor: Thank you so much. I want to applaud you back for what you're doing. [Laughs] Thank you.

I've been listening for the last few minutes to our chancellor, and it is a joy to do so, because you can tell when you have a real teacher, someone who's devoted her life to teaching, uplifting our youth, you can hear – not just the sincerity, you can hear the energy, you can hear the sense of purpose, that constant sense of innovating, trying to find a way to the next thing better so we can reach a young person and have that profound impact on their lives. You know, it's extraordinary that we have a chancellor who started out as a New York City public school teacher, and for the first time in a generation, now we have a teacher leading this system, someone who started out at the grassroots, went all the way to the top. Let's thank Carmen Fariña for all she does. 

[Applause]

Carmen is doing an extraordinary job turning this school system in the right direction. We see, over and over again, the response from teachers, the response from principals, the response from school staff, the response from parents and community members – the sense that we are moving, and we're moving together in a new direction. She's doing an extraordinary job. And when it comes to our efforts to start at the beginning with full-day pre-k for all our children, Carmen has a tremendous ally in the man I've tasked with bringing this extraordinary effort to fruition, our Deputy Mayor Richard Buery. Let's give him a round of applause, and thank him.

[Applause]

I said to Richard at the beginning, I've got one number one initiative. It's no surprise to anyone. What is the first, most important initiative of this administration – I said it last year when I was running, I've said it again in office – it's to establish full-day pre-k for every child in this city over the next two years, it's to establish after-school programs available to every middle school child who needs it, over the next two years. I said to Richard, we're going to move mountains here, and I need you to do that. I need you to find a way to move this whole city government in unison, and he's doing that. And he's doing it with extraordinary energy and effectiveness. And on September 4th, you're going to see the start of some profound changes in this city, and you are going to be a part of it. You're going to be history-makers. You're going to be change agents. You're going to be people who show what New York City is capable of, and what our schools are capable of. And we're going to be doing a lot of good – here, right now, for children, for families. We're also going to be sending a message all over this state, all over this nation, that we're serious about education. We're serious about getting it right for every child, including those who are neediest. It begins with full-day high-quality pre-k for all. 

[Applause]

We've got a great example here, of what it means to devote yourself to children, and making a difference in their lives. One of our many passionate and committed pre-k teachers, Phyllis Berk. She is also a Big Apple Award Winner. We want to thank her for sharing her enthusiasm with all of us today.

[Applause]

And I want to thank everyone here at Brooklyn College. It's one of the crown jewels of the CUNY system. You know, for all of you, the work you are doing starting September 4th, is going to mean – I am convinced of this – it means more kids will be able to get to CUNY – to get to Brooklyn College, and other parts of the CUNY system – ready for the college-level. You're going to start them strong. You're going to start them when they're so able to learn, to grow – you're going to get them on track, and they're going to stay on track with all the other changes that we're making with the great leadership of our chancellor. And because of what you do starting September 4th, years later, a lot of kids are going to get to Brooklyn College who wouldn't have otherwise. A lot of kids are going to get to Brooklyn College ready for college, who wouldn't have been able to otherwise. That is going to be one of the many results of your work. And I just want to thank everyone here at this extraordinary campus, especially the president, Karen Gould, and April Bedford, the dean for the Graduate School of Education. I want to thank them for supporting this pre-k effort, and for hosting us. Let's give them a round of applause. 

[Applause] 

Now, you know, a lot of us want to affect the world profoundly. It's part of who we all are, if we're going into one of the – if we go into one of the professions that is meant to uplift other people, to care for them, to support them, to strengthen them – you have that motivation. And I think there's always a good tension between the desire to reach and individual child, or an individual family – which is noble, and correct – and the desire to have a bigger, systemic change. Both are necessary to improve our society. You, in these next days, will do both at once. You undoubtedly will reach many children as individuals, many families, and have a profound impact, because you're going to be reaching children who never would have had this opportunity – but for this profound change we are all making together. You're also going to be changing the rules of the game. You are going to part of the group that says – and creates the notion – that full-day pre-k is now the norm, it's high-quality, it's available to all. It's a game-changer. You're going to make that happen on the ground. Now, that's a blessing and a curse, and we're in this together. The blessing is, we're going to change both those individual lives, and the public debate, and the expectations in our society for the better. The curse is, the eyes of the world are on us. 

The pressure is on us to perform, to get it right. Not to perform in the way that was done in the past, meaning , let’s test you with a high stakes test to make that all about our understanding of who you are – no. We don’t believe in overrating high-stakes testing in this administration. We think there’s a lot more to it than that.

[Applause]

Mayor: The pressure – the pressure is not on you to conform to some artificial standard. The pressure is on you to be all you can be – if I can borrow a phrase from the military – to do what you love to do, to do what you are trained to do as best you can – knowing that you are having an impact on a lot of children who never would have had the opportunity otherwise, and that you’re part of something that is changing the dynamic overall, and that when we succeed, it will only allow us to do even more thereafter. So I feel it every day. I get up every morning and say, we’ve got to make this work, we’ve got to make it fantastic. Not just good – it has to be great. I get up every morning, I say that, I tell my team that, and we’re doing all we can to support you. On September 4th, the ball gets passed to you, all over this city – to be the people who bring to life this good and noble idea. And I know you’re ready for it. You are all here on a beautiful summer day ­. I wish we could have class outside – I’d like to say that for the record – but sadly, we’re inside, but it’s a signal of your commitment ­that you’re here to prepare. You know, I’m going to make an editorial comment as I like to do. In this city in recent years, all over this country, there’s been a propensity in certain quarters to bash teachers, or to bash teacher unions.  I’ve never believed in that. I think it’s wrong. I’ve opposed it. I’ve spoken up for our teachers because you are not a part of the problem, you are a part of the solution. It is 100 percent clear.

[Applause]

I wish every New Yorker could see, on a beautiful August day, so many people here in a room figuring out how to reach our pre-k kids better.  I think it would be an eye-opening moment to realize just how much of yourselves you give to this profession, because you believe in helping others. Now let me put in perspective, this – just for a couple of minutes. Last year in New York City, and for many years, the number of kids who got full-day pre-k topped out at about 20,000. Literally at the end of June ­– June 26th, school ends– 20,000 kids were in full-day pre-k. On September 4th­– just a couple of weeks from now – we will have over 50,000 kids in full-day pre-k.

[Applause]

A 150 percent increase in the course of a summer – a lot of people told us that could not be done. A lot of people told us there wouldn’t be enough space. Well, we found the space. They said, oh there wouldn’t be enough parents who would want to take part in it ­– there are so many parents kicking down the doors to get their kids into full-day pre-k. They said the government couldn’t work together as one – all the agencies to support this effort, come and see these agencies working hand-in-hand, in tremendous cooperation because they know this is Job One and they’re getting it done. And finally they said, well, there won’t be enough talented, capable, available teachers. Let me tell you a hard truth about this country over the last five or six years, since the economic crisis hit us. You know that across all the school systems in America – teachers and other school staff combined – you know, that as a result of the great recession, over a quarter of a million teachers and other school staff were laid off across this country, which is a tragedy for the United States of America. Well, you only need to know that fact to know there’s plenty of capable teachers available. And as we expand this outward, there will be even more. And what we need is to tap those capable teachers, and give them an opportunity, and that’s what we are doing with this pre-k plan – giving great people a chance to do what they love and reach our children.

And someone said to me, you know there’s a way to talk about pre-k that might make it easier for people to understand – they said, think about building a house. If you’re building a house, the most important thing is a strong foundation. And then everything else is possible. You will be the builders of that strong foundation. You will take a lot of kids, who have tremendous potential, if only they could get the right start. And you will be the people who give them that start. Everything that happens thereafter will be because you got them on the right track.

We saw this in my own family. Chirlane and I were blessed to find a great pre-k for Chiara and Dante. They went full day. And we saw how it energized our children, how involved they were, how they loved to participate. We saw the way it opened up their minds – it got them energized for education.

I sat with a group of kindergarten and first-grade teachers out in Ridgewood, Queens, a couple months back. And I said to them, I want you to tell me what the difference is, in your experience, between the kids who have had full-day pre-k and the kids who haven’t. And every hand went up in the room, and they said, look, you can tell immediately. You can tell in just the first few hours of the school year which children have had full-day pre-k, because they participate. They’re confident, they’re involved, they’re comfortable being in a group setting, a lot of them ready with their alphabet, with their numbers. And it takes off from there. And these teachers, who were incredibly energetic, dedicated teachers – they said, you know what we love about it is that we can go farther with them. We’re always read to spend extra time with any child that needs extra help, but there’s a special joy when a child is ready to not only be on grade-level, but go farther. And the ones who have had that grounding are ready.

High-quality, full-day pre-k is that foundation. It’s irreplaceable. And we live in a different time, and this is why it’s so important to understand – we’re not playing by yesterday’s rules. You know, when I was growing up, I went to a public high school. A lot of kids in my high school could have easily gone out with just a high school diploma and found a good-paying job and they could have stayed in that kind of work, and they could have fed a family. But the world is turning rapidly. The level of education you need is greater and greater if you want to succeed economically. And we have to be clear – it puts a special burden on all of you, and it creates a special opportunity for educators. This is the point in human history, more than any point before, where education determines economic destiny. We had a meeting of mayors from around the country, just a short while ago at Gracie Mansion last week, and Rahm Emanuel of Chicago gave a very simple phrase. He said, in today’s society, you earn what you learn – kind of says it all, that what you will be doing is creating the preconditions for economic success, not just for educational success – for economic success.

Because we can’t have a society where a lot of people don’t benefit from a great education, and then on top of that get left behind economically. So, the stakes are very high for today’s teachers, because you hold people’s future in your hand in a different way. And that’s why we insisted on a common core curriculum for pre-k, because we want that high standard. We know you can teach that high standard, with the right support. Again, not based on how we reference high-stakes testing, how we reference the kind of curriculum we believe is right for the twenty-first century, but with the support that teachers deserve, the training, the work with parents – all of the pieces that help us actually reach that curriculum organically. We don’t want to set in place high standards and a tough curriculum, and then walk away. We want to figure out with you what’s going to allow us to teach kids at that high level. And we know we can do it. And we know we have to do it, because we’re not going to leave these kids in a situation that they can’t be a part of the modern economy. The future of the city rests on so much of what you do as well. And I want to emphasize – I don’t mean to put additional burdens on today, I mean to let you know just how important your work is, and just how much I honor it, just how much the chancellor honors it. Because when you succeed – and I am convinced you will succeed this year – when you succeed, the whole school system starts to improve. More kids at grade-level, the next level up at kindergarten, more kids ready, and so on and so on to first grade, second grade, third grade, a school system moving forward. And it does lift all boats. You’ve seen it in classrooms—when you have more and more kids ready, it helps pull along the other kids. The dialogue in the classrooms helps kids who need a little more. It lifts the standard for everyone organically, and that’s what we’re capable of doing. And that means for the future of this city a school system that is getting more done. It makes the city stronger. It makes a place that businesses want to be. It means we’ll have the workforce we need in an ever more competitive world. It all comes back to the foundation that you will lay. That’s how important this work is. You literally will be framing the future of this city.

So, if some people say, why are we moving heaven and earth, why are we doing so much, it’s because we understand that this really is the foundation for so many other changes we have to make. And by the way, something the chancellor just said—you know, we know that we will win the battle to make a stronger school system, to educate more children, to reach more children. We’re going to win that battle with great, committed teachers and by constantly uplifting those teachers and training them and supporting them. We also know we’re going to win the battle by bringing parents in more deeply, by making them strategic partners in the education process.

And you see in the way we structured the teacher contract, we want to allow more time for that collaboration, that strategic collaboration between parents and teachers. Well, the chancellor made the point the other day, if we really want to show parents how important their role is – if we really want to bond them to the educational process, and we really want to create a reality where teachers can say, you need to read a little more to your child, you need to go over the homework, you need to go over the vocabulary words, where the parent knows, that’s their job then – well, that begins at pre-K also. Because there’s never a moment where parents are going to be more attentive to working with a school, and working with the teachers, than at the pre-k level. Parents—and I know it as a parent, and I know it as a public school parent myself—that first connection to the school system, every parent is trying to find their way, they’re trying to figure out what works, they’re trying to be extra-attentive. You will be the trailblazers. You will be the teachers who show parents what they can do to uplift your work. And they’ll listen, particularly at the pre-k age. They’ll listen because they want the best for their children and they’re looking for that guidance from you.

So this is transcendent on so many levels. You know, what you’re doing today, it’s going to change things in this city. I hope it’s going to make you feel stronger as educators, what you learn here today. I hope it’s going to help you to share with each other great ideas, because one of the things I love to watch is teachers collaborating, offering ideas, helping each other out. That teamwork is an incredible thing, and I hope today you’re inspired to go even deeper with that sense of teamwork. You know that incredible people gathered together to make this training a reality. I mentioned the deputy mayor. I mentioned our chancellor. And while the Summer Institute also benefits from the extraordinary partnership we have with Bank Street College, one of the great incubators of quality teachers in this country. I want to thank Virginia Roach, the dean of the Graduate School of Education at Bank Street for the work that she is doing, and everyone at Bank Street. This Summer Institute is going to reach 4,000 teachers – 4,000 teachers making themselves stronger and better. And I know this will change this city. I know it will. I know that what you do today is the beginning of something much bigger. And I want to close by saying, and I may be preaching to the converted here, but I just want to express from my own experience as a parent—I am now, by the way, going into my final year in the first phase of being a parent. Dante is going into senior year at Brooklyn Tech, and the empty nest is looming out there for me.

[Applause]

I don’t know if I want you to clap for the empty nest. I’m – I have mixed feelings about it. But soon Dante will be 18, he’ll be off to college, and that phase will end for Chirlane and I. And we have watched over all these years – and I’m still going to be watching for one more year – the extraordinary work that teachers have done with our children. We can literally go point by point the times a teacher made a difference in our children’s lives. We can think of all the times our children came home excited, energized, focused – the opportunities they had, the topics they learned about that they didn’t know about before, the role models – because I saw in each case our children latch on to certain teachers, see them as role models, see them as examples and get energized by it.

Chiara had a little bit of a habit of being critical of certain teachers at the beginning of the year. I remember one in particular when she was at Beacon High School - and there was one English teacher she was very critical of. She would moan about it all the time. And at the end of the year, we mentioned the teachers name and she says – we mentioned the teachers name to her and said, well, what do you think at the end of the year, Chiara? And she said, I love that gal, Chiara said, she’s such a great teacher, she taught me so much, such great books in our class. And suddenly it was an epiphany from Chiara, that her teacher had done so much for her. So sometimes – as in much of life – the gratification won’t be instant, but it will come. Some children that you have some challenges with - will be the ones, because of your influence, who make a great turn in the right direction.

And what you do is more than just teaching, therefore – your examples, your inspirations. Or, if I could quote the great poet Robert Frost – he said of his own work, “I’m not a teacher but an awakener.” I think you’ll be awakeners. I think you’ll be people who show our children their potential. You’ll be people who show parents how much can be achieved through education. You’ll be people who energize and inspire. A lot’s riding on you – and yes, that can feel like a burden, but in the end, it’s really a privilege. In the next few weeks, you will be on the pathway to making some history. And we’ll be making it with you, and we’ll be honored to make it with you. And I guarantee you – this year starting September 4th – you will change this city for good, and for the better. And for that I say thank you and god bless you all.