New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. joins day care workers and parents at a City Hall rally to oppose the Mayor’s plan to move five-year-olds from day care centers to public schools on May 6, 2009. Photo credit: Marla Maritzer

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New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today joined day care workers and parents in a rally to oppose the Mayor’s plan to move five-year-olds from day care centers to public schools.

“This ill-conceived proposal violates the most basic responsibility we have as a city: to ensure that every child is protected, provided for, valued and cherished,” Thompson said. “Especially during these trying times, when New Yorkers are struggling and need these services the most, it is disappointing that the Mayor has chosen to turn his back on the struggles of working families.”

Thompson recently sent a letter to the Mayor expressing his concerns about the “poorly administered effort” by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to move five-year-olds out of day care center and into public schools. You can read the letter at www.comptroller.nyc.gov.

Thompson noted that despite the broad involvement of a number of levels of government, families were not fully involved in a process that lacked transparency or substantial community input.

“We are here today to tell the City that thousands of youngsters they want to move out of day care centers are more than just numbers on a page that you shift from one column to another,” Thompson said. “They are our children and this plan would be detrimental to them, our schools, our neighbors, friends and family members. So I call on Mayor Bloomberg and ACS to reconsider their plans and, instead, put forth a plan that abides by one simple rule: it puts the needs of our children first.”

 
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