Beating the Tweed Bureaucarcy? Do an End Run - Small Schools Athletic League WINS -

This just in from Dave Rosen after what must have been a successful rally today (All Kids Deserve Right to Play Sports - Rally Monday for Small Schools Athletic League).

For background read previous Ed Notes coverage (NYC Teacher David Garcia-Rosen Battles) on how Tweed/PSAL bureaucrats did little to assist the small high schools without sports teams, while Dave took action. Instead of supporting the League, they offered Dave a job, figuring that ought to shut him up. It didn't.

Dear Students, Coaches, Administrators, and Allies,

Comments From the Steps of City Hall Today 

Thank you Council Member Andy King and thank you to all the coaches, student-athletes, administrators, elected officials, and community allies who have worked so hard on behalf of our student-athletes.

This is a historic day for the student athletes of New York City and the future of high school athletics both here and across our nation. 

Mayor de Blasio and the City Council have made it clear with this budget that they will no longer accept a city where students go through our high schools without the opportunity to play high school sports.

This first of its kind investment is not simply an investment in sports, it is an investment in transforming the lives of our students through the power of sports.

The Mayor and City Council have provided the Small Schools Athletic League with the funding needed to continue building a high school sports program that is quickly becoming a model for the nation. The SSAL A PLUS model uses sports to turn drop outs into graduates, depressed students into leaders, and suspensions into celebrations.

New York City is now the first city to have a high school sports league that includes tutoring, mentoring, and life coaching for its student athletes. Our life coaches will work closely with our student-athletes to make sure their victories on the field, translate into victories off the field. They will make sure that all of our youth remember that they are a student first and an athlete second.

New York City is investing in a paradigm shifting sports league that uses sports to transform the lives of our most at risk students. The moments when traditional sports leagues kick students out, are the moments when we use sports to bring them back in.

Mayor de Blasio and the City Council have made it clear that High School sports in New York City will never be the same again. The High School Sports chapter of the tale of two cities is now on the fast track to being solved.

This is only the beginning and we will not stop fighting until every high school student in New York City has the right to play high school sports.

Thank you to the City Council! Thank You Mayor de Blasio! Thank You to all of our incredible allies in New York City and beyond. You saved the Small Schools Athletic League and you Let Them Play! 

Sincerely,#NYCLetEmPlay,
David Garcia-Rosen
Founder/Director Small Schools Athletic League
845-553-5626(C)    718-292-1372(F)
WWW.SSALSPORTS.ORG

 

Small Schools Athletic League

42 SMALL HIGH SCHOOLS, THOUSANDS OF STUDENT- ATHLETES,

ONE MISSION  

INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORTS OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL STUDENTS IN NYC