Mayor Bloomberg tours BX school on first day of class

As children headed back to school Tuesday morning after their summer break, Mayor Michael Bloomberg kicked off his five-borough school tour in the Bronx. The mayor and New York City School Chancellor

News 12 Staff

Sep 2, 2008, 8:05 PM

Updated 5,935 days ago

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As children headed back to school Tuesday morning after their summer break, Mayor Michael Bloomberg kicked off his five-borough school tour in the Bronx.
The mayor and New York City School Chancellor Joel Klein made a stop at P.S. 62, where kids and parents swarmed the schoolyard before the beginning of classes.
Mayor Bloomberg says real change requires time, but he says the school attained a dramatic progress in the last few years. In 2002, only a third of all fourth-grade students met or exceeded grade level standards. This year, that number rose to seven in 10 students in math, and nearly half in English.
?Change is never revolutionary,? he says. ?It?s almost always evolutionary if it?s going to be real change that sticks.?
In order to keep schools like P.S. 62 on the right track, the New York Department of Education is offering new resources for the Bronx and city parents.
Bloomberg says all parents will receive a guide called ?Great Expectations,? which details what their children will be learning from kindergarten through eighth grade - from shapes and colors to the Great Depression.
?It's extremely important that parents and children and staff all work together,? says Councilman Robert Jackson (R), chairman of the city?s education committee.
This fall, the city is opening nine new public schools and seven new charter schools in the Bronx alone. The mayor says more seats will help ease overcrowding in schools and improve the kids? performance.