Letter signed by 120+ educators states clearly: “Without ensuring hiring across all subjects — including the arts — the City cannot achieve its goal of improving education outcomes for all students”
NEW YORK, NY — Today, more than 120 educators across the five boroughs sent a letter to Mayor Adams, Chancellor Aviles-Ramos, and the City Council urging them to prioritize arts teachers as the city prepares to hire an expected 3,700 new teachers to implement its new class-size mandate. Smaller class sizes will ensure every student has more personalized instruction and help improve the overall learning environment for students — but only if New York City Public Schools includes all subjects and prioritizes arts teachers in its hiring.
Read the full letter below.
In the letter, educators write, “The City Council and Mayor’s recognition of the urgent need for more teachers will have huge impacts, but without ensuring it is consistent — and includes arts teachers — it will fall short of its intended goal to improve the overall quality of students’ education.”
Since the pandemic, New York’s public schools have lost an unprecedented number of arts teachers, widening the arts education access gap for the very students who rely on public support most. Despite efforts to improve hiring, arts access remains deeply inequitable across New York City’s public schools — and thousands of students already attend a school without a single certified arts teacher on staff. Currently, 290 public schools across the five boroughs do not have full-time certified arts teachers — leaving nearly 1 in 5 of the city’s public schools without a single dedicated arts teacher.
Earlier this year, as part of its ongoing effort to expand and protect arts access, the Roundtable re-launched the “It Starts with the Arts” campaign to urge the Mayor and City Council to support arts education funding for all students. The Roundtable was proud to work alongside Mayor Adams and the City Council last year to protect $41 million in expiring COVID-era funding for arts education, and has since advocated for City leaders to continue their support for the arts by baselining funding for arts education programming in this year’s budget. Read more here.
Read the full letter from the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable below:
Mayor Eric Adams
New York City Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos
Members of the New York City Council
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
June 26, 2025
To Mayor Adams, Chancellor Aviles-Ramos, and Members of the New York City Council,
We are encouraged by the City’s commitment to hire more New York City Public Schools teachers as part of the ongoing effort to improve the quality of education for our students. But as the City advances new hirings to implement its class size mandate, we, the undersigned, urge you not to overlook the essential role of the arts in children’s education — and to prioritize the arts educators who make it possible.
Smaller class sizes are a critical step towards ensuring every student has more personalized instruction The class size reduction initiative promises to improve the overall learning environment for the city’s nearly one million public school students. But without ensuring hiring across all subjects — including the arts — the City cannot achieve its goal of improving education outcomes for all students.
Unfortunately, arts access is deeply inequitable in our public schools — and thousands of students across the city already attend a school without a single certified arts teacher on staff. In fact, since the pandemic, New York’s public schools have lost an unprecedented number of arts teachers, widening the arts education access gap for the very students who rely on public support most. Currently, 290 public schools across the five boroughs do not have full-time certified arts teachers — leaving nearly 1 in 5 of the city’s public schools without a single dedicated arts teacher, and thousands of students without sufficient access to the arts.
That lack of access is directly affecting students’ outcomes. According to the city’s most recent Arts in Schools Report, just 29% of eighth-grade students meet the New York State Education Department’s requirements and guidelines for arts education — a figure largely unchanged since 2015.
Arts education is not a luxury. Research shows arts instruction improves academic outcomes, benefits students’ social and emotional development, and boosts student engagement — especially for those who may not thrive in traditional classroom settings. And as we deal with the lingering effects of the pandemic, arts provides students with a creative outlet that fosters their self-expression and helps them better understand their passions.
The City Council and Mayor’s recognition of the urgent need for more teachers will have huge impacts, but without ensuring it is consistent — and includes arts teachers — it will fall short of its intended goal to improve the overall quality of students’ education. As NYCPS works to hire an expected 3,700 new teachers it must ensure, at a minimum, that every school has at least one certified arts teacher.
Thank you for your attention to this important and urgent matter.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Olsen
Executive Director
New York City Arts in Education Roundtable
Philip Alexander, Board Member, NYC Arts in Education Roundtable
Anne, Music Teacher, The River School P.S. 281
Alyssa Badolato, Teacher, GMA 27Q333
Gordon Baldwin, Fine Arts teacher, Charles O Dewey MS 136
Helen Barry, Art Teacher, PS 131
Reyna Bonaparte Sandoz, Associate Education Director, The People’s Theatre
Denise Borden-Miller, Teacher, PS154M
Angel Bourne Rios, Midori And Friends 2024 Cohort Member, Midori and Friends
Bryce Cahn, Theater Arts Teacher, Tompkins Square Middle School
Sarah Calderon, Executive Director, Creatives Rebuild New York
Michelle Chen, Graduate Student, NYU
Sally Cleaver, Music Teacher, Hamilton Grange Middle School
Elizabeth Connolly, Visual Arts Educator, PS/MS 147Q
Elizabeth Cooper, Music Educator, Member: Arts Committee to the PEP
Andrew Cortese, Board Member At-Large, NYC Arts in Education Roundtable
Gina Costanza, Music Teacher, PS123K The Suydam Magnet School for STEAM
Cynthia Blackwell, PS 58
Cassidy Dangler, 3rd Grade Gifted & Talented Teacher, PS/MS 34
Emily Davis, Artistic Director, Messenger Theatre Company
Meredith Davis, Speech Teacher, CS 154
Laura Del Rosso, Music Teacher, Lower Manhattan Community Middle School
Stanley Delva, Development Manager, Brooklyn Arts Council
Nicco Diaz, Teaching Artist, The Town Hall
Rashida Dyer, Member, CEC 18
H E Davis, Elementary Gen Ed Teacher, PS/MS 034
Albert Elias, Founder, Creative Stages NYC
Rima Fand, Arts Educator/Parent, ArtsConnection
Sydney Fields, Art Teacher, PS 140
Steph Fiorino, Art Teacher, PS MS 95 Sheila Mencher
Neil Flint Worden, Past Director of Theatre, Newcomers/ATLAS High School/now International Schools
Lulu Fogarty, Director of Education, Symphony Space
Debra Freeman, Chair Education Working Group & Board Member, Four Freedoms Democratic Club
Melissa Friedman, Co-Artistic Director, Epic Theatre Ensemble – A partner of over 30 NYC Public Middle & High Schools
Robert Galinsky, Educator, Literacy for Incarcerated Teens
Fran Garber-Cohen, President, The Regina Opera Company
Kyle Garcia, Brooklyn Prospect Charter Schools
Elise Gaugert, Dance Center Director, Mark Morris Dance Group, PS 456
Roselaine Gavidia, Art Specialist, Rockefeller University-CFC
Kathleen GIlrain, Executive Director, Smack Mellon Studios Inc.
Rafaela Gomez Luna, Visual Art Teacher, PS 175
Amanda Gonzalez, Music Teacher, PS 84 Jose de Diego
Matthew Gonzalez, Teacher, I.S. 254
Janny Gonzalez Velasquez, Senior Director of Business Affairs, Jazz Power Initiative
Joanna Hayes, Theater Teacher, P.S. 748
CJ Holm, Dance Teacher, P721K
Emma Holtzman, Sustainability Educator, Barnard College
Heather Iacoviello, Dance Teacher, 22K194
Judith Insell, Executive Director, Bronx Arts Ensemble
Courtney J. Boddie, Co-Chair, Arts Committee to the PEP
Jake Jacobs, Art Teacher, MS556
Leonard Jacobs, Executive Director, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning
Jason Jacobs, Teaching Artist, Freelance
Talia Jaime, Theater Teacher, Renaissance High School for Musical Theater and The Arts
Sahiba Johar, CTE Teacher, High School of Fashion
Amanda Johnson, Art Teacher, Facing History School
Nia Jones, Music Teacher, PS 306 Ethan Allen School
Jorjina, Teaching Artist, Freelancer
Miki Kaneda, Associate Director, Center for the Humanities, NYU
Claire Keller, Visual Arts Teacher/ Art Education Liaison, P721K
Hetty King, Teacher, Dance Educator, PS145K
Nancy Kleaver, NYC Arts In Education Board Member, Kleaver Consulting
Roy Koshy, Education & Engagement Specialist
Erin Lally, Co-Executive Director Harkness Dance Center, 92nd Street Y NY
Eduardo Lebron, Associate Development Director, Society of the Educational Arts Inc.
Daniel Levy, 35-year NYC Resident and Father of a NYC Child, Daniel Levy Music
Marissa Lewis, Consultant
Rebecca Lewis-Whitson, Theater Teacher, Soundview Academy for Culture & Scholarship
Ava Lipson, Teacher, City College
Kemba Lodescar, Theatre Teacher, P.S 108Q
Erin Loughran, Parent, PS 212Q
Bryn Magnus, Director of Advancement and Operations, Drama Club
Matthew Malinofsky, Music Teacher, PS18Q
Stephanie Mandra-Martinez, Teaching Artist, Arts for All, Behind the Book, Tilles Center, Global Arts To Go
Holly McDade, Certified School Librarian, Juan Morel Campos
DJ McDonald, Dance Parade, Inc.
Kyla McKoll, Director of Professional Learning, ArtsConnection, Parent, PS 516K
Marne Meisel, Art Educator, Esperanza Prep Magnet School
Greg Miller, Executive Director, Dance Parade’s Community Engagement Programs
Rowana Miller, Executive Director, Cosmic Writers
Sucetty Miranda, Art Teacher, World Academy for Total Community Health
David Montgomery, Member, Arts Committee to the PEP, Clinical Associate Professor of Educational Theatre, New York University
Zakiya Moreira, PS IS 178
Kenneth Murphy, Music Teacher, P224Q
Sharon Nunziata, School Secretary, 14K318
Iviva Olenick, Teaching Artist, Freelance
Elyse A Orecchio, Teaching Artist, New York City Children’s Theater
Erin Orr, Artist Mentor and Curriculum Specialist, ArtsConnection
Sele Ortiz, Art Teacher, PS 32 Belmont
Donald Osborne, Theatre Teacher, P186X
Shani Perez-Anthony, NYCDOE Art Educator, Elias Howe Public School 51
Emily Porter, Art Educator, Currently seeking employment
Harry Powell, Paraprofessional, Battery Park City School/ PS 276
Michael Presser, President & CEO, Inside Broadway
Nahaz Quddus, Board Member, Harmony 4 All, Inc.
Zoe Rabinowitz, Executive Director, Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre
Jirina Ribbens, Executive Director, Ice Theatre of New York, Inc.
Barella Roberson, Founder, Copy, Color and Cause
Sara Roer, Interim Executive Director, Dance/NYC
Reginah Sanyu, Media Operations / Arts Ed. Advocate, Earlybird256
Branislava Scheluchin, Part-Time Art Teacher, PS150
Lauren Sharpe, Parent Advocate and Teaching Artist, Boerum Hill School for International Studies
Caitlin Stanton, Teacher, The Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria
Erin Stanton, Visual Arts Teacher, PS 354 The Jermaine L. Green Queens STEM Institute
Bonnie Stein, Executive Director, Seven Loaves dba GOH Productions
Sonnet Takahisa, Board Member, Arts organizations; Retired Museum Administrator, Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble
Nanna Tanier, Visual Arts Teacher K-12, Brooklyn School of Inquiry
Jamie Thiessen, Theatre Teacher, PS126 Dr. Marjorie H. Dunbar
Bryn Thorsson, Theatre Teacher, DreamYard Preparatory School
Autumn Tilson, Program Director, Community-Word Project
Shanon Traviss, Program Manager, Marquis Studios
Chris Tokar, Creative Arts Team
Leah Tubbs, Founding Artistic Director, MODArts Dance Collective
Clair Vogel, Development Manager, Creative Art Works
Brian Wagner-Yeung, Music Teacher, NYSSMA Chair, P370K
Kimberlee Walker, Teaching Artist, New York Theater Workshop
Leese Walker, Producing Artistic Director, Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble
Jenna Weinberg, Teacher, MS 839
Helen Wheelock, Independent Teaching Artist & Board Member, NYC Arts in Education Roundtable
Eve Wolff, Executive Director, Dancing Classrooms
Eli Yamin, Managing and Artistic Director, Jazz Power Initiative
Katianna Zaffery, Band Director, JHS 157Q Stephen A Halsey
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