This is going to be my third blog about a Student Hero. My newest hero is Josh – a fourth grader from NYC who has a legitimate beef with Governor Cuomo. Here is the very persuasive letter he wrote to the governor: He is my hero because he is bold and brave and not afraid to express himself in writing. He is also my hero because he wants his words shared with the world. Josh happens to be the son of a filmmaker. Josh expressed his desire to impact the world with his own words just as his father impacts the world with his movies. His dad agreed to post his letter on Facebook and included his own fatherly rant with the posting. In the rant, his father stated:

…for full disclosure josh will never take a standardized test not while im around to make sure he doesnt. but we have watched as schools here lose their budgets and the pta turns into a fundraising arm to supply every single bit of funding for art, music and science, and we have watched the class size grow and recess and lunch get shorter and shorter. we love our school in spite of it all, and i will say to gov cuomo, you’ve really pissed the kids off…

It is time for those who hold the power and the purse strings over our schools to start listening to the voices of students and parents. Thank you Josh and thank you Josh’s dad for speaking out truth, and thank you for honoring me by letting me blog your letter. Now let’s just hope and pray that your power-packed words are heard.

Hopefully, this will be the first of many letters written by students to the governors of their states speaking out about the negative impact of school reform.

#DoNoHarm

#2015YearoftheStudent

#studentvoices