Dear families of NYC city-wide schools,

We have just received a message that affects our lives and the lives of our children. Yet we were not asked for our opinion on this matter. TAG school is changing its start time from 8:45 am to 8:05 am to be 40 minutes earlier than before. Other city-wide schools are making similar changes to their schedules "to be in compliance with the new guidelines of both the Chancellor and teachers’ union". I kindly ask all of you to join our petition and to ask the officials to revert these changes.

As a city-wide school for Gifted and Talented students TAG school have kids and their parents commuting from all 5 boroughs. Many of us commute for 30-45 minutes and many have to commute even longer. This is true not only for TAG school, but also for other city-wide schools. Zoned schools have already been operating at or around “8:05 am” schedule, but having citywide schools operate at this schedule places burdens on those parents and their children who are not able to move closer to their schools.

Our children will be forced to wake up 40 minutes earlier which means they will be less rested and therefore less healthy. We need to raise our concerns in order to protect our children’s wellness; we need to ask our Principle, Janette Cesar, our DOE Chancellor, Carmen Farina, and other involved parties to revert this change for TAG school and for other city-wide schools for Gifted and Talented students.

Thank you in advance for joining our petition; I hope this issue can and will be resolved with your support.

Kind regards,

Dennis Kapylou and Hanna Kapylova,

parents of 1st grader in TAG School