Bloomberg Puts "Children First" By Axing After School Programs For 27,000

Because the mayor is all about helping the children:

MANHATTAN — The city's plan to chop after-school programs in half will leave tens of thousands of children with nowhere to go after school, endangering working families and putting children at risk, youth advocates and members of the City Council said Thursday.

The free five-day-a-week after-school programs currently serve about 55,000 elementary and middle-school children, providing much-needed childcare so parents can work, advocates and city officials said. The programs also offer homework help, academic enrichment, recreational and cultural activities, and, often, the child's only hot meal of the evening.

Council members and nonprofit directors at a City Council hearing Thursday slammed the city for cutting nearly 200 after-school programs that serve about 27,000 elementary and middle school students across the five boroughs as of next fall.

"That is not a budget cut — this is an atrocity," said City Councilman Lewis Fidler, who led Thursday's Youth Services Committee hearing.

This week Bloomberg said teachers only care about themselves and their job security while it is he who really cares about kids.

And slashing after school programs for 27,000 kids really shows how much he cares about children, doesn't it?

To rephrase something the mayor said about teachers this week, it shows that he doesn't give a shit about kids at all.