Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Mayor of Syracuse, will hold a news conference on Friday, October 20 in front of the Westside Academy at Blodgett to discuss his plans for improving Syracuse schools.

Hawkins will explain how he plans to secure equitable and adequate funding of all Syracuse schools, to resist a state takeover and possible privatization of nine so-called “struggling schools” in the city, and to begin desegregating schools in the Syracuse metropolitan region by socioeconomic class, which he says is the most powerful reform to improve educational outcomes for poor, working class, and middle class students alike.

Joining Hawkins in speaking to these issues will be Frank Cetera, Near Westside resident and Green candidate for councilor-at-large.

Hawkins will hold the news conference at the outside the Westside Academy at Blodgett, a school building in urgent need of renovation. The school building has been neglected for decades, with sections of the school now closed off due to asbestos, high lead from water fountains, a leaky roof, cracking walls and floors, and a crumbling facade. It will take an estimated $54 million dollars to completely renovate the school. $17 million is available for Blodgett in the current round of funding for school buildings, but the Joint Schools Construction Board has yet to commit that money to renovating Blodgett. The board is also considering a recommendation to close the school. The neighborhood’s middle school students would then have to walk to Shea Middle School, which is 1.2 miles away in another neighborhood.