Transcript: Mayor de Blasio And First Lady Mccray Deliver Remarks At The National Action Network’s Saturday Action Rally With Reverend Al Sharpton, Hold Press Availability

March 8, 2014

First Lady Chirlane McCray: Thank you, Reverend Sharpton. Thank you for your kindness, the work you do to fight for justice and equality. I love the way you break it all down.

[Laughter]

Good morning.

Audience: Good morning.

First Lady: I'm here this morning because I did not go door to door to door to hand out leaflets in subways, go to bed late, get up early, campaign side-by-side with my husband so that I could sit back and put up my feet and retire.

[Applause]

I'm here because I want universal pre-kindergarten. Universal pre-kindergarten – that means for all our children. And after–school programs for our middle school students – not for a few, not for a few that get in a program because they live in a certain neighborhood, or by happenstance, by chance, by lottery – for all of them. They're my people.

[Applause]

I'm talking about our children in the Bronx, our children in Brooklyn, our children in Queens, Staten Island – our children right here in Harlem – throughout the whole city. We have the studies. We know that most of the brain develops in the years before kindergarten. We know that, right? We know our four-year-olds can't wait. Every single day, they're not learning, they're another step behind, and getting left behind.

We've got to take care of our middle school children. We can't be worrying about them. We've got to provide safe havens so they can continue to learn and develop their minds, so parents aren’t worrying everyday between 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm about where they are, and what they're doing. Our children, who do not have access to high quality programs like this, are 25 percent more likely to drop out of school, 40 percent more likely to become a teen parent, 60 percent more likely never to attend a college, 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime.

You know, last year, only 11 percent of students of color left high school with the skills they need to succeed at the next level. Now, add it all up, right? Add those numbers up and it's pretty clear to me these programs aren’t a luxury, they're a lifeline.

[Applause]

This isn’t just an education issue, as Reverend Sharpton will tell you, it's a civil rights issue. I don’t know about you, but I cannot stand to see this opportunity for our children – our children – to have this opportunity ripped away from them.

Our little girls and boys – they’ll be only four once, they're only three once. I'm not ready to settle for crumbs, or table scraps, or band aids.

[Applause]

I'm here today because I'm ready to fight. I told my husband, I'm ready to go to Albany. I'm ready to make sure they see me. I'm ready to make sure they see us, and hear us. I'm ready to get loud.

Let’s make UPKNYC a reality for all our children. Our kids need these programs. We've got a program. Let’s get with the program. Thank you.

[Applause]

Now, I'd like to introduce the man who’s got the nerve – he’s got the nerve to say, all our children deserve better educational opportunity. That's why he’s leading the UPKNYC movement. I know firsthand how relentless he can be when he knows he’s right.

[Laughter]

I do. Yes I do. He’s not going to rest until all our children have access to these programs – so, ladies and gentlemen, Mayor Bill de Blasio.

[Applause]

Mayor Bill de Blasio: You can see why I was relentless in pursuing her.

[Laughter]

I said that's my soul mate. I don’t care what anyone else says, and it turned out I was right.

[Applause]

Chirlane is doing extraordinary things for this city. I couldn't be more proud of her. Wherever we go, people are proud to have a first lady who stands up for them. Let’s thank her again.

[Applause]

I want to say that I've been here many times, and when you hear Rev talk about the realities of the public debate, sometimes it's so refreshingly clear and powerful. I have to say, I always say he’s a conscience – a conscience is someone who makes us think about things we should be thinking about, but sometimes things we lose in the day-to-day madness of our lives, and the day-to-day mundane realities. Rev always brings it back to the larger things we're supposed to be fighting for and he is an inspiration. Let’s thank him for all he does.

[Applause]

Thank you to all my colleagues, all the leaders here, and thank you to NAN, because National Action Network – you're here today with energy and passion because you're about changing this city for the better.

[Applause]

Thank you for doing what you do best – for organizing people for change because that's the only way it happens.

Look, I'll be very quick and very simple. We can't accept the notion of a school system that lets so many kids down. Let’s just look at it for what it is. Chirlane referenced the statistics. Only one in four of our high school graduates – of the kids who even graduate – we have to separately talk about the kids who don’t even get to graduation and what we have to do to help them, but let’s look at just the ones who graduate – only one in four is college ready. As Chirlane said, when it comes to African-American and Latino students, only 11 percent are college ready – in a society in which education is more important than it has ever been in human history.

Education determines economic destiny. You are not cut into this society economically if you don’t have education. A system that allows so many of our children to not be effectively educated perpetrates – continues inequalities that were long ago unacceptable. We have to look that in the eye and say, Okay, now, we won't accept this reality. We have to do things differently, but we are not going to do them differently just for the few. We're not going to feel good if a few more kids make it. We want every single child to make it.

[Applause]

So, when we talk about pre-k and afterschool – Chirlane is right – we didn’t say,  let’s start slow, let’s do this over ten or twenty years. We've been waiting too long for that. We said, this is our number one priority, because if we get full-day pre-k for every child – if we get that right, everything else becomes possible. If we start to get afterschool for every child who needs it, everything else becomes possible.

[Applause]

If we extend the learning day – remember, afterschool is about the safety and security of our children. It's about keeping them away from bad influences. It's about extending their learning day and embracing them and educating them and uplifting them.

[Applause]

This is how you change the whole system. Now I'll say this very simply, there are many pieces of this puzzle and we're going to work on all of them. To my brothers and sisters who are part of the charter movement, we will work with you too, because charters can do good work also. But we need to look at the totality of our school system.

[Applause]

And if you're looking at the totality, you say something simple, begin at the beginning.

If you're not getting early childhood education right, then don’t be surprised when things don’t work out at the back end. Okay? We have learned – we have learned what it takes for children to learn and grow. We know this. We know if we don’t reach them when they're four – and even better when they're three – if we don’t reach them then, then they're just, in so many cases, going to be falling backwards. We know if they're not on grade level by third grade, the chance of every getting to grade level greatly diminishes.

So, when we talk about solutions – not band aids, not finding ways to help a few of our kids, but solutions – we start with early childhood education because it is the foundation for everything else.

[Applause]

We start with extending the school day through afterschool, because it allows us to consolidate the gains we make each day with our children. A child learns during the school day, then they go to afterschool. They get that tutoring. They get that homework help. They get a little more attention from a trained adult who’s there to help them. They get a little more engaged. They do a little more homework each day and soon that child gets it and they're on path, and they're on grade level, and it’s working and they have hope that they can make it.

[Applause]

So, we know that we're going to address all of the challenges afflicting our schools, and not for some neighborhoods, but for all neighborhoods; not for one borough or another borough, for all boroughs. And that's the way we change New York City for the future.

[Applause]

But this is where you come in and I will conclude with this. To everyone who is a part of NAN, for everyone who’s listening today and believes that full day pre-k would be transcendent for this city, transcendent for our children – for everyone who believes that afterschool is a parent’s best dream, that they know their kids can go so much farther – they know they'll be safe, and what is more important than the safety of our children? If you believe, you can do something about it now.

This is an issue whose time has come – right now in this moment. This is a decisive moment. You can make the difference. Everyone in Albany – there's plenty of good people in Albany. They need to hear your voices now. They need to hear your urgency. They need to know that you need this. You don’t just like it. You don’t just want it. You need it for our children, and when they hear your voice, we will win this victory and we will change this city. Thank you and God bless you, brothers and sisters.

[…]

Mayor: As my host, would you like to begin?

Reverend Al Sharpton: Let me just say that the mayor had lunch in my office with several of our clergy leaders. We are very happy that he came, and that we rallied around this issue of UPK. We're also happy that he has said that we are going to work together with those that are doing the charter movement. But we've made it clear to him, what I said publicly, that any arrangement that is made around the charter school students we support, but not at the expense of children with special needs who have been left out of the equation. And we would hope, as the charter leaders and the school chancellor meet, that they also understand that any deal that does not include the placement of children with special needs that would displace, would be a deal that we would not agree with in our community. We want all children to be placed, not just some. We don't want any children considered above others in placement. And he gave us his word that he would make sure he would continue to represent that. So, we think this has been a great morning, Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Thank you for everything. Thank you very, very much.

I have to say, I know Reverend Sharpton is late. He's been very kind with his time today. I just want to say before he leaves – thank you for engaging the National Action Network so intensely in support of our plan for pre-k and afterschool. Thank you for convening an extraordinary group of clergy leaders, who are absolutely 100 percent behind making sure we get full day pre-k for every child in this city, and afterschool for every middle school student that needs it. There was extraordinary solidarity in the room and Rev, thank you for making that possible. Thank you to all the public school parents who have joined us too. And Rev, we heard from these clergy leaders the extraordinary needs in each community. We've said we are here to fight in equality. We are here to take transcendent actions for our city. That's a promise we intend to keep. Working shoulder to shoulder with our clergy leaders, we're going to achieve, first, this victory on UPK, and then go forward. So, thank you.

Reverend Al Sharpton: Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very, very much for everything.

Reverend Al Sharpton: Thank you, all right. [Inaudible] Reverend Young, Reverend Green, Bishop Taylor – all that were in the meeting – Reverend Akers from Brooklyn.

Unknown: Reverend Youngblood.

Reverend Al Sharpton: Reverend Youngblood.

Mayor: Reverend Youngblood was here, Reverend Walrond – it was an all-star team –Bishop Taylor. We had, literally, some of the greatest clergy leaders from all over this city, and, again, tremendous sense of solidarity and purposefulness. A lot of members of the administration are going to churches tomorrow to speak. I'll be speaking myself in the Bronx, and it's something we're going to continue to do as we build this effort. So, Rev, thank you. I know you have to go, but thank you very, very much. And we welcome your questions.

Question: Mayor de Blasio, regarding the charter schools, can you tell us your plan for the Success Academies, in terms of – I know you guys changed your mind on this – are you planning on splitting up the students, or is there a plan for keeping them all together?

Mayor: We're committed to making sure that those – I think it's 196 students – are accommodated. That's something we're going to work out in the coming days. We believe that they – like every child in the city – have a right to a good education, and we want to help make sure that happens. I want to amplify what Reverend Sharpton said. You know, in the co-locations that were proposed by the previous administration, there were 45 total. 36 we agreed to continue, because we thought they did not have negative educational impact. Nine we thought did have a negative educational impact on other children, meaning special ed kids were going to be displaced, or we were going to take elementary school kids and put them in a high school building, which we did not think was secure. So, for those nine, we obviously want to try and work with those families, those children. Specifically, in this case with the 196 kids, there had already been a lottery. That was the only one of these nine schools where there had already been a lottery and the kids were already assigned. So, we do think it's our obligation to find a good solution for them. We're working on that right away.

Question: At those schools, though, will the kids who were selected to be in those schools – will they be kept together, or will they be split?

Mayor: We're starting this week to figure out a positive solution, and a workable solution. I don't want to comment on the details yet, because we have professionals working to make that happen. We'll have more to say in the coming days.

Question: How do you move your initiative to Long Island, because there's a breach in that area in regards to moving people –

Mayor: I wish – I'm going to politely say, I wish the best for the people in Long Island. They are our friends. They are our fellow New York state residents. Our focus, obviously, is to achieve full day pre-k for every child in New York City. We think, by the way, that this is a good example across the state, across the country – that the biggest city in the country would go to full day pre-k for every child. We think that will have a good impact for everyone. Okay, media questions. Yes, Grace. Sorry, Grace, you look smaller than usual.

[Laughter]

Question: [Inaudible] on the ground. When you're talking at events like this, the emphasis is on convincing Albany to get on board with your plan. But you're not calling out the specific lawmakers that really are key to accomplishing that, people like Governor Cuomo or Senator Dean Skelos. Why not be more targeted in your public approach and campaign and call them out by name?

Mayor: I think we've gotten our point across, and I think we've shown that there's tremendous public support for full day pre-k and for afterschool. That's the name of the game – is building public support. It's a democracy, and the more public support you have for an idea, the more likelihood it's going to pass. It's never been about individuals and personalities, it's been about achieving the goal. We think that our voices are being heard in Albany. You see a room like today, with hundreds people, and these great parent leaders here all coming together in common cause for pre-k and afterschool. That's going to be felt.

Question: Mayor de Blasio, about the charter schools –

Mayor: Hold on just a minute, Cheryl. We’ve got – I don't know who is media and who isn't. Media questions only right now.

Question: I'm just wondering, the poll that came out last week showing a 39 percent [inaudible] how does that impact your claim of a mandate?

Mayor: I said all through last year, we don't worry about polls. We don't comment on polls. We don't make our decisions based on polls. Last year, I had days when the polls went up, and days when the polls went down. I was the same person throughout it. I ended up wining the election with 73 percent of the vote. The one mandate that counts is the one that happens in November of an election year. That happened overwhelmingly, and that's the mandate we're working from. Yes sir, go ahead.

Question: Mayor de Blasio, I'm working on a story about NYU's expansion in the Village, and I'm curious, what's your opinion  –

Mayor: We're staying on this topic. I'm sorry, I didn't say it. Hold on, we're coming to you. My apology, I didn't clarify. On topic, media questions, on topic. Then we'll take some off topic, and you will be first. Media questions, on topic.

Question: The governor said he's looking into a legislative fix to help out charter schools – reaction to that possibility?

Mayor: Look, we think we can work well with the charter school community. I said that in my remarks today. We think that there's a lot of charter schools doing good work in this town. We're happy to work with them. I've been clear, throughout the last year, that the decision making process around co-locations was not democratic enough, did not include parents enough. We aim to fix that. I said throughout last year that we know there's a lot of charters doing great work. We know there's some others that have to do a better job of including English language learners and special ed kids. We have to fix that. But I think within the approach we have here in New York City, that there's plenty of room to work with everyone, and we intend to do that.

Question: Council Member King said – it might have been before you arrived – he posed the question, is it more important to get re-elected than it is to get dedicated funds for universal pre-k? That was the basic sentiment of what he said. It seems to be directed at –

Mayor: I'm sorry, I didn't hear his quote.

Question: It was something along the lines of, it is it more important to get re-elected than it is to get dedicated funds for universal pre-k? And it seems to be directed at Governor Cuomo in particular, who's balked at supporting your plan. I'm wondering if you agree with that sentiment, and if that's the question –

Mayor: I don't want to comment on something I haven't seen. I didn't talk to Council Member King. I'd like to see what he said specifically before I comment. I do think there's extraordinary support for pre-k and afterschool, and I think, again, that has been deeply felt in all the meetings.

Question: What are the reasons as to why you changed your mind –

Mayor: Okay. Another thing I do, just ground rules – I try and get everyone their first question first from the media.

Question: I'm from the media.

Mayor: I know, I'm saying, but you had one already. I'm trying to get –go ahead.

Question: You said the other say, when you were with Cardinal Dolan, that you were in constant dialogue with the governor. Do you sense any movement at all on his part?

Mayor: Again, I said the other day, it's an eternal truth, and I've said it for a long time, when you've known someone for 20 years, and been a friend, as I have been with Governor Cuomo, I always expect the best, because I've had that experience with him. The dialogue's been very good and very healthy. He understands my view – that a tax on the wealthiest is the best way to get this done. I understand some of his concerns. I think what's clear in the dialogue is we both feel urgency about getting pre-k and afterschool to move forward. And the budget – look, we all are dealing with the budget deadline, and I'm still very hopeful that by that deadline, something good is going to happen.

Unknown:  Let's move to off topic.

Mayor: On or off?

Unknown: Last question please.

Mayor: Last one.

Question: I have a question regarding your change on this. Is there something that prompted it?

Mayor: We felt, throughout this process, that our goal was, our requirement was, to help every child. The co-location dynamic is old business. It was unfortunately on a legal timeline that we had to deal with, meaning these were co-locations rushed by the Bloomberg administration as it got to the end of their administration. We had to deal with it on a very tight timeline. We said repeatedly, we will look at this as an independent review, based on what we think is educationally sound. By the way, there were many people who probably presumed we were going a very different direction and turn down a lot more. No, we said, actually, we thought 36 of the 45 were soun,and we moved forward with them. On the remaining nine, the message we tried to give, and obviously didn't give effectively enough, was that we were going to work with every family, every child. We don't want to create a situation where, for example, a co-location is approved that then displaces special ed kids. We don't want to create a situation where a co-location is approved and puts elementary school kids in a high school building where they may not be safe. That's what's part of our process. Okay, off topic. You get the first.

Question: Yes. What's your opinion of NYU's plan to situate an addition 2 million square feet in the village? Do you plan to continue your administration's appeal to the judge's ruling which invalidated much of that?

Mayor: I want to make sure we're speaking the same language. You mean the original NYU proposal from a couple of years ago?

Question: The proposal that was passed through the city council in 2010.

Mayor: Right. The original plan, as a public advocate, I was opposed to, because I thought it was too expansive. The City Council passed a much smaller plan, which I felt much better about. The lawsuit is a different matter. The lawsuit involves issues that go far beyond the question of NYU, and from the city's perspective, sets precedents that actually are very problematic for the city. That is a legal matter. Thinking as mayor for the whole city and the future of the city, we have problems with what that lawsuit implies.

Question: Can you specify what specifically you have a problem with?

Mayor: I'll let our corporations counsel, Zach Carter, talk about that. Okay, anyone not been up yet? Okay, FOX 5, go ahead.

Question: Liam Neeson wants you to look at carriage horses tomorrow. Any plans to do that? Why or why not?

Mayor: Not tomorrow, but I've said repeatedly I will go to the stables. I do want to see the situation. Most importantly, I want to talk to the carriage operators about where we go forward. I respect Liam Neeson a lot. I'm a big fan of his work. The fact is, I put forward a plan and a vision, and the people ratified it in an election. That's what matters most. We're going to be talking about a lot of issues in the coming days and weeks. I'm going to remind people that elections matter. And I made this point very clearly last year about where I thought we needed to go on the carriages. By the way, I know that our City Council speaker feels the same way. What we do want to do, and we've said this repeatedly, is work with the carriage operators to find a good path for them, individually, going forward. We think there are other job opportunities for them. They will get first dibs for those job opportunities. We have to put together all the pieces. So, I will visit the stables, but I know what I believe on the issue.

Question: Mayor, you made a point early on in your campaign that you would not keep David Yassky as your TLC commissioner. Today, you appointed his general counsel. Why are you keeping someone [inaudible] that you previously said you wanted out?

Mayor: Exceedingly logical question. You know, Meera Joshi did a lot of things before she went to work at the TLC. She was there the last couple of years, but she has a very extensive career before that. As I got to know her – and I talked to people of a wide range of views in the various parts of the industry – what was striking to me is everyone thought she was an honest broker. Everyone thought, regardless of their philosophy, that she was fair, she was open, she was smart, she was resourceful. I've got to tell you, you don't always hear that when you're talking about a leader in an area where there's been a certain amount of controversy. So, I was convinced that she was the right person to move us forward, in terms of the TLC issues.

Unknown: Last question guys.

Question: Our students are dropping out of college, especially two-year colleges, at an alarming rate. LaGuardia is having a lot of problems retaining their students. They're not working with the students to keep them there. What do we do in regards to, administration-wise, to keep them there, because they're not working with them –

Mayor: I don't know the specifics, but what I can tell you – well, thank you.

Question: Sorry, you're doing a better job.

Mayor: First of all, you were right on. You're my new press secretary. Sorry, Phil. She was right. Let me clarify, because this is a powerful question – not so much just what's happened at LaGuardia, which I don't know all the specifics about. Let me talk about the broader situation. One of the things I said in there – remember where we stand right now as a city. If we have put this effort in, and yet, only one in four of our graduating seniors is college ready – approximately 11 percent of our children of color are college ready. Something is profoundly wrong that we need to go at the root causes of. And what I was trying to say in the remarks earlier is, the root causes mean – first things first– early childhood education is the difference maker. Start with that – extending the school day through afterschool – huge difference maker. There's a whole host of other areas –teacher retention, teacher training. There are so many pieces to the puzzle. And we will work with everyone –traditional public schools, small new–age public schools, charter schools. We'll work with everyone. But, the fact is, we've got to get the foundations right. It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of resources to fix the core problem. Then we get  up ahead to CUNY. There's two problems – one, CUNY is getting a lot of kids coming in who just aren't college ready, we have to fix that at the root cause; two, in CUNY, we can do more to support the kind of education that gets kids directly to jobs. One of the things we've called for is to take some resources from other parts of our budget, put it into CUNY for a two–year STEM program. Because those technology jobs that are growing in the city – that is a very good news story. They are good paying jobs. You can get a lot of those jobs with just a two-year degree, but CUNY doesn't have the capacity right now to provide enough kids that degree. So, that's where we think we can both fix the front end and address some of the immediate challenges in CUNY.

Thank you everyone.