Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks at UFT Spring Education Conference Luncheon

April 26, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you so much. I have been informed by President Mulgrew, that I'm the first mayor to have attended the spring conference during his presidency.

[Applause]

Can't think of any place else I'd rather be to tell you truth because I deeply, deeply respect the work you do. So I have some things to say today but I want to start with something that I think is the most elemental thing I can say to you, something I know Chancellor Fariña feels and says to you. I want to say on behalf of the people of New York City, thank you for what you do for our children and families every single day.

[Applause]

Michael and I have worked together a long time. It's very easy for people to have assumptions and stereotypes about labor leaders, about elected officials, about their relationship. From the very beginning of our relationship we didn't buy into that conventional wisdom. We believed that this was a real partnership for the good of all. I recognized early on, whenever Michael told stories about being a CTE teacher, about the commitment he had to the children that he taught, I could hear in his voice this was his passion, that he had chosen this profession out of love for it. We talked about the city and do things that had change – I heard a lot of common ground, common aspiration. We talked about the larger world – the battle we had to undertake against inequality. I knew we shared the same core values. 

So, for me, this has been a natural partnership. And it's been one, I think, will help in so many ways to achieve the things that we have to for this city. And Michael made the point that some people would like to see us divided. Some people would like to assume there can't be that sense of shared values, that sense of common path, for the good of all. That just doesn't fit their worldview. They don't want to let in the notion that labor can do so much for the common good. That labor leaders can be such an important part of the solution. 

[Applause]

But I've talked to Michael, not only about the fights that we've had to undertake right now for things like pre-K and after school. I've talked to him about what we have to do to create more economic justice and fairness in this town – talked to him about how we have to be more fair to immigrants in this town. 

[Applause]

And I know, how deeply he believes in these changes we have to make, and I know how capable he is at getting them done. So let's thank the president of this great union, Michael Mulgrew.

[Applause]

You've got an all-star team of great leaders here today. I'm going to talk about Carmen, in a moment. I want to always thank her for what she does for our schools. 

[Applause]

Randi Weingarten, for fighting all around the country on behalf of public education. Karen Magee, the new president of NYSUT, I congratulate you. I look forward to working together. I thanked all the teachers in the room, I want to thank also all the parents in the room because you are the backbone of our efforts to bring our children forward. I enjoyed Scott Stringer's remarks before and I know he's been a stalwart for public education. I thank Scott and I thank Kathy Nolan, the great chair of the education committee in the assembly. 

I have to brag on Kathy for a moment. When we were fighting for pre-k and afterschool in Albany, Kathy Nolan was a tiger unleashed. She was a stalwart, she did an amazing things to make this happen. Let's thank her for what she did. 

[Applause]

And all my colleagues in elective office, thank you for the partnership that we have on behalf of our people.

Now, speaking of elective office – I was first elected, not to one of these fancy positions like assembly or City Council where you get paid for the job. First job I ran for, in Brooklyn, was school board member of District 15. And, you know, remember there was that book, Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned Kindergarten [sic], remember that one? Well, everything I ever needed to know about public service, everything I ever needed to know about education, I learned in the District 15 school board. What I learned, most fundamentally, was to listen to parents – taking in their needs – try and find ways to put those concerns into action and recognize every step of the way that they were fundamentally part of the solution. And then I learned to listen to the people who do the work. Because I went into school after school – every type of school in the neighborhoods that we had – and I listened to teachers. And their passion, their commitment, through thick and thin – didn't matter how much they had to spend out of their own pocket to make their classroom work, they would do it. Didn't matter how much time they had to put in, they would do it. They saw a kid with a particular need, they would pursue that kid, give them extra help, call their parents. I saw it time and time again. And I learned from the grassroots – the commitment that our teachers make every day in the city and how they see their school as a community.

Now there's been other people in debates over education – elected officials and others – who have pushed away the notion that a school was a community. Let's just say they had a more corporate vision of education.

[Laughter]

I have vision education that's about the people we serve – our children, our parents. I have a vision of education that's about respect for people who do the work every day. 

[Applause]

I have a vision about that community becoming richer all the time and deeper all the time. That sense of shared aspiration – teachers, principals, and other administrators, crossing guards, custodians, all in common cause. I've seen it with my own eyes many times. When it works, it's a thing of beauty. It's a powerful, powerful thing that uplifts everyone. And it can work – and it can work more and more. But it really depends on understanding what this work is. You know, I happened to grow up in the 1960s and 70s. In those times, it was natural – we had the space race going on, we were all focused on the astronauts, they were heroes and rightfully so. I've often said we're in a different time in history. We are in a time in history where education determines destiny more than any previous moment in the history of mankind. And once you know that education determines your economic destiny, education determines the shape of your society, education determines if you can compete as a nation in an ever more global and competitive world. Once you do that basic math and say education is the key, then, if the astronauts were our heroes then, who are our heroes today? Our heroes today are our educators. That's how we have to see it.

[Applause]

Because only our educators can take us to that place we have to go. And I saw – in the time I spent in District 15, I saw all those possibilities. Even when people didn't have the support they deserve. Even when our school system was an organized the way it could be. Even when we weren't focused on things like early childhood education, and afterschool, and so many other things we needed, I still saw people finding a way. And I thought that myself, what would it look like if they had the support they deserve? What would it look like if we approach the strategy the right way? And I hope that people realize in this city that the commitment that you have plays out every day in what's unquestionably one of the toughest professions there is and one of the professions that demands most commitment, the most energy, the most focus. It plays out so much that you are here on a beautiful spring Saturday, you could be many places. You're here, working on making our schools better. That's what you're doing.

[Applause]

It's personal for me because, as a public school parent myself, I got to see not – I didn't read about it in a book, I didn't show up on graduation day – I saw every single day – over now it's been 15 years that I've been a public school parent – everyday, the extraordinary things that happen. Because everyday, one of my children would come home and talk about what happened in their class or how their teacher explained something they didn't understand. How they got corrected on a path that was wrong and they felt good about it. My daughter sometimes started the year – let's say this gently – somewhat critical of a teacher or two.

[Laughter]

I remember one when she was at Beacon – I remember one of her English teachers. Chiara didn't like anything about the syllabus. She thought the teacher wasn't fair. And then I think it was about five months into the school year, where the teacher's name came up, and I listened carefully, and Chiara talks glowingly, poetically about what they learned in class that day, and mentions the teacher's name and she says – I love that lady. So I know, sometimes you have to deal with the critics. I don't have that experience personally, but I know you do. 

[Laughter]

But I saw the way my children grew. And I saw that it was person-to-person, that every day you take in a group of children and everyday reach them in different ways, finding the way that works – and what that means and how that as up to the future of our city. 

Now, it may not have been as easy when the message you are receiving from some of the leaders of our city was that despite all your hard work, there was something wrong with you. That must not have been the easiest time to have your leaders saying that you were part of the problem. Well let me start with the most fundamental statement. I know in my heart, with every fiber of my being, I know Chancellor Fariña feels exactly the same way – that you undoubtedly are part of the solution in this city.

[Applause]

And let it not be mistaken, for the first time in a generation, what it means to have a New York City public school teacher who worked hard, who was an exemplary teacher, who became a principal, who was an exemplary principle, who went up through the ranks, and again for the first time in a generation a New York City public school teacher has risen to the rank of chancellor. And you can see everyday what that means.

[Applause]

And I have talked to teachers all over this city and I hear, consistently, the message that there is nothing more uplifting than to have not only a teacher in charge, but an exemplary teacher. One whose engendered such respect for her accomplishments. You know, everyone of you go to work everyday and I hope – as you deal with the challenges, I hope there's a little more spring in your step because you have a leader that's as good a teacher as has ever walk the hallways of this city. And she brings that to her work every single day. 

[Applause]

And I learned when we first got to work together back in District 15 – I learned a lot working with Carmen. I learned what was possible.

And, by the way, when you think about the educational debate, we're constantly told in a lot of the conventional discourse what's not possible. We're constantly told to think in terms of limits. But when you actually talk to teachers, you don't hear limits. You hear aspiration. You hear the desire to always do better for our children. When you talk to Carmen, spend a few minutes with Carmen. It is better than buying a Red Bull.

[Laughter]

It's like getting a doppio espresso and chasing the down with another with another doppio espresso. Because she's full of hope and sees all the things we could do. And that's what it's about.

[Applause]

I remember the first conversations we had about middle school. And everyone of us who has worked on the issue of middle school sees that there hasn't been a focus on that level over the years and that that was particularly unfair because kids are going through so much of those years. I often refer to myself as a recovering middle school parent.

[Laughter]

I do not look back fondly on those years. I'm happy they're over. But I learned from Carmen that we didn't have to throw up our hands. There was so much more we could do. Our afterschool programs are going to be one piece of it, but there are so many other things we can do to strengthen our efforts at that level and link together the totality of a child's education experience. And I saw it with my own children. Whatever they went through, they were blessed by the good teachers in their life. You know sometimes it is stormy when you're a parent – it's difficult. Kids are going through so much. And the good teachers are like anchors. And it makes such a difference.

I remember in the fifth grade for both of my kids at PS 372 in Brooklyn – fifth grade – so they were on the verge of middle school, they are starting to get a little cynical, they're starting to question the wisdom of all of us in the position of authority, starting with their parents. And you need something to pull things back a little. In the fifth grade, both my kids had a wonderful teacher named [inaudible] and she was just plain cool. She was as cool as them, she was cooler than them, and it kind of kept them in check because, as much as they were troubled by their parents another authority figures, if their teacher was cooler than them, it just kept them cool.  And I saw it time and time again. These teachers knew just how to balance things, just how to hit the right note. Look, this is the foundation of how we do things differently. We are in the process of making a series of changes. The changes will work because they are based on an understanding of what you do everyday and an uplift of what you do every day. 

[Applause]

The people of this city you want these changes. Let me make this clear. I think you know it, I think you've experienced it. The people of this city – they get that, despite all of your efforts, we're still not where we need to be. They see what happens with so many of our young people, even those who get to graduation still not with all the skills they need. They know we have to do a lot more to get it right.

When I said a year and a half ago we were going to have full day pre-k for every child in the city, I was told repeatedly it was impossible. Well guess what? It is happening now in this city. 

[Applause]

When I said we're going to reach so many more middle school students with afterschool, we're going to give the tutoring, homework help, we're going to get them more engaged than ever before, I was told that's impossible. But it will be happening this September. 

[Applause]

And I know you've experienced this challenge. You try to explain to people what each of these investments means. You try to explain to them what we could achieve if we do this and this and there's all those doubting voices. Carmen and I, many times, have confronted people – we talk about full-day pre-k. They say, well, that's just babysitting, isn't it? Oh yes, we've heard that before. And then we get to – we get to take out study after study after study that says early childhood education is the gateway to effective education for a child's lifetime.

[Applause]

And there are still doubters. And so, Carmen and I have gone around this city – I speak as a parent, as a layman, she speaks in the most eloquent, learned phrases of education – and we try to explain over and over again why the investments were going to make in pre-k will make a difference. Why the investments we're going to make in after school will make a difference. And still, sometimes people don't get it. So then we try and make it very human. We've taken people – including our friends in a media – out to pre-k, out to afterschool programs, we're going to show them, right in front of them, what this means.

Well, you know, you don't get to script pre-k kids. Let me just tell you.

[Laughter]

One thing I can say, if you want a really unplugged experience, go to our pre-k with a bunch of TV cameras. Reality TV's got nothing on this. So, we went out to Ridgewood – PS 239, a wonderful school, and there's a bunch of pre-k kids and we're –

[Applause]

There we go. Bunch of pre-k kids – I am, in my official capacity, reading them that great work of American literature, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I want to know that that Caterpillar truly was hungry. Okay? There was a lot of evidence that it was a really hungry Caterpillar. And I have read that book when it times to Chiara and Dante – so I'm reading the book and the kids are all raising their hands. I'm just going page by page and it they want to comment on every page. They're four-year-olds and they want to get a discussion going on halfway through the book. They're like, when do we start talking about it? And I'm like, look at what's happening – look what it means. Look what this could be if this is how they start. Where are they going? What heights could they reach? And think about the teachers who got them there and how proud they could feel.

I'm going to finish my story in a moment, Michael. I know you have other business, but I get all worked up on this very hungry caterpillar.

[Laughter]

So, one of the kids lightly says, in the midst of her comments, she says the word chrysalis. So I'm like, whoa – chrysalis. Okay. I think to myself, that's going to be the word of the day. No one is going to do better than that. So we get to the end of my time there, everyone's raised their hands, everyone's talked. I'm saying, you know, boys and girls, thank you for the chance to be with you. Kid puts up his hand the back – hasn't really said much up to now. Kind of looks a little mellow, like he's not really into it, but then he shoots of his hand. He says, I have a word I want to say. I'm like okay. What's your word? And the kid's, like, kind of, like, offhandedly looking into space and he's like, metamorphosis.

[Laughter]

So I'm thinking, really now? Metamorphosis? So, I think – and our friends in the media were there – and I think that was the day when a little light got shed and they started to teach just what a teacher can do, just what early education means, just where foundation we could build for all our children if we do it right. And I'm going to tell you something. We are going to move heaven and earth. Everyday we're working on this in City Hall. Everyday we are working on this in the Tweed building. We are going to move heaven and earth. And this September, the world is going to change in this city.

[Applause]

And we are not ending there. We are going to work on creating an environment in this town where every great teacher, every one of you in this room who has devoted yourself to our children is going to want to stay on the job for your whole career, continuing to serve the kids of this city.

[Applause]

And we're going to address the overcrowding crisis head on because we can't ask our children to learn if we put them in circumstances they can't learn in.

[Applause]

There are so many pieces ahead but we are devoted to the mission. We are devoted to working together with you. We are devoted to showing the people of this city what public education can mean. That it is the pathway to a great future for New York City. Together we will follow that path, we will make this city even greater. God bless you, thank you for what you do. Thank you for the partnership we have together.