4-24-23
Set the Record Straight in tight NYC City Council Race
Anna Belfiore is running for City Council in South Brooklyn and was just smeared by the NY Daily News. They are accusing her of not being a “real teacher” in NYC which is B.S. – TEACHERS FOR CHOICE stands with Anna!
Anna is currently in an important and tight Republican primary race in South Brooklyn. Her opponent in the Republican primary (Kagan) is a Democrat who very recently switched parties to Republican. The recent NY Daily News hit-piece clearly helps Kagan (who until a few months ago was a Democrat). The winner of this Republican primary will move forward in an attempt to unseat Justin Brannan who has been horrific on all covid and mandate issues in NYC. Anna is a great candidate who has received a number of important endorsements already, and is likely to be endorsed by TEACHERS FOR CHOICE. Anna came to support all of the plaintiffs at the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse on February 8th fighting to get our jobs back for being fired over NYC’s illegal covid vaccine mandate.
Below is Anna’s response to the smear from NY Daily News. – mk
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 23rd, 2023
For Additional Information Contact:
AnnaBD4NYC@gmail.com
I would like to clarify some misinformation that has been spread by a highly unreliable and biased news source. I am running for city council in District 47. The Daily News, as well as other sources including my opposing candidates, have referred to me as a liar. As I’ve stated I am currently a stay-at-home mom and a NYC special education public school teacher by profession. I haven’t taught in quite some time since I decided to leave my career, temporarily, and my salary, to raise my children. These sources have labeled me as a fraud and consider me to not be a teacher since I’ve left to raise my kids. So, a retired officer, marine, doctor, nurse, etc. can no longer refer to themselves as such because they are not currently working. This is the claim.
Working for the Department of Education, as a female, you are allotted 4 years to return to work after giving birth. I gave birth to my second, took the leave, then gave birth to my third while on that leave, restarting the amount of time allowed to take the childcare leave. I am a concerned mom who wanted to raise my kids before sending them off to school. I made the sacrifice and left my salary behind to ensure my kids had their mother there in the crucial first years. I was set to return in September 2022, however, the vaccine requirement was still on the table for teachers, and my choice was to wait it out until they reversed the mandate. By the time the mandate was reversed, I had already begun putting into motion running for office. The article also claims I was receiving emails from my school regarding covid cases, however, those e-mails were from my children’s school updating the parents on a case-by-case basis in their building which all parents were and still are receiving.
I was born, raised, and lived practically my entire life in Brooklyn, N.Y. I attend church in Brooklyn, my kids go to school in Brooklyn, and have all their extracurricular activities in Brooklyn. Election law clearly states during a redistricting year that you do NOT need to reside within the district in which you are running until 30 days after the General Election. That being said, I do have an apartment in Bay Ridge in order to be close to my kids while in school, and we have a property in Staten Island. I am invested in this district because we need to restore it back to the incredible place it was when I was growing up. Kids should feel safe outside, in schools, and in parks. The quality of life has declined tremendously over the last few years, and it is destroying our neighborhood. I am running because my whole life is vested in this district. I want to see education restored, the NYPD restored, and quality of life restored. I am the only candidate capable of this. This has been a failed attack to try to discredit me because they fear putting a woman in power. I have the interest of the people in mind and not selfish political ambitions.
Teachers For Choice 