Francis Lewis High School is a secondary school within Fresh Meadows, New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), with its principal being David Marmor. This school admittedly, has remarkable programs and hosts a plethora of students from many backgrounds. 

Let's work to get these demands passed, together, as patriots:

1 - Incentives for educators

It does not come to a surprise that many teachers are dissatisfied with their pay. This is most noted with the current New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE)’s failure to provide equitable pay, especially for tenured and seasoned teachers, where many older staff do not continue having pay rises. This creates a greater volume of inexperienced teachers as these seasoned educators are more compelled to retire than to continue working in the already overburdened system.

With this, there have been cases where educators were not being paid fairly within the system:

- A teacher, whom is responsible for the care of tortoises that the NYCDOE had paid for, still has to pay for the veterinarian costs and expenses related to the upkeep of the tortoises.
- Faculty members are not paid overtime for advising clubs (an adult advisor is mandatory for the creation of clubs, as per Chancellor Regulations.
- And many more…

2 - Administrative accountability

Though, I am aware that there are public reports within the NYCDOE’s website, not many of my peers, their parents, or the staff within Francis Lewis are. Of course, Francis Lewis provides textbooks, ID cards, metro cards, and Chromebooks free of charge to the students, and reduced AP exam fees; however, these resources are overshadowed by the frivolous spending on BMX bike shows, ping pong tables for the courtyard, and “overtime admin” (even if these are paid for by donations, they are omitted from the public financial reports). These expenses could have gone to areas with pedagogical and educational value.

Alongside this, there is a lack of transparency on the money profited by the Student Organization (SO). This should be more transparent as you are unable to join clubs without a “SO Card” (this also limits individuals with economic disparities from participating in extracurricular activities), alongside equipment for the gym curriculum (students can have this waived, though I am sure that many economically disadvantaged individuals are not aware). This calls for greater accountability; where does this money go? 

3 - Friendly environment

It is a shame that I, a student, have to create this; that educators are not comfortable with sharing their opinions and ideas with their administrators, and that there would be no change if educators had insisted on a policy change. This ends now.

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT), though is the strongest union, still is weak. Generally, as a student, I would have thought that the UFT and the individuals responsible for Professional Development (PD) would be able to have autonomy over the PD grants that the State provides to the school. This is not the case, with funding that’s meant for PD omitted from all financial reports.

There is not just tension with teachers and administrators, but also between administrators and students. As a student, me and my peers have been verbally abused and bullied by administrators within this school; it is my civic duty, and yours, for no other student to face the same, however, it still happens and will continue to happen if there is no change.