Trey Songz, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Get Schooled launched a campaign in New York City on Thursday (February 10) called “Wake Up! NYC”, aimed at reducing truancy in New York City high schools.
The launch, which took place at Isaac Newton Middle School in East Harlem, was the beginning of a campaign rolled out by the administration of Mayor Bloomberg, attempt to get students who persistently skip class to start showing up more often.
Celebrities recruited by Bloomberg, such as Trey, have recorded calls that will be sent off to truant pupils starting next week. So, when NYC school kids skip a lot of school, they will be getting a wake-up call from someone like the singer.
In one of the phone messages recorded by Trey, he says, “What up, it’s your boy Trey Songz. If you’re a student, get your butt to school.”
In addition to Trey, other celebrities such as Magic Johnson, Jose Reyes, Terrence J and Rocsi of BET’s “106 & Park”, and Big Boi have donated their time and voices to the cause.
To hear the full wake-up call from Magic, click here. And from Trey Songz, here.
The Wake Up! NYC campaign will begin with 6,500 students at the 25 schools, who have missed 10 or more days of school this academic year, each of which will receive a phone or email message inviting them to participate in the Wake Up! NYC campaign. After this introductory period, it will expand to approximately 250,000 chronically absent students citywide.
And, when students start improving their attendance, they will also receive congratulatory “good news” call.
“We’re putting on a full-court press, using mass media and digital media to drive home the point that every student should be in school every day,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
