The city’s Panel for Education Policy has not had a Queens representative since October, the Queens Chronicle has learned.
As inheritors to what was formerly called the city Board of Education, the panel is the central policy making body whose rubber stamp is required for education mandates by the mayor and the Department of Education.
Though the panel includes members like schools Chancellor Joel Klein, it also includes borough appointees from outside the administration.
Borough seats are appointed by the borough president. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall has not offered an explanation for why a replacement has not been named.
The previous Queens representative, Michael Flowers, served from September, 2004 until he left in October, citing “professional responsibilities.”
Repeated attempts by the Queens Chronicle to obtain an explanation from Marshall’s office went unanswered.
“I’m very disappointed that they have left that seat empty,” said Marge Kolb, a member of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council for District 24 — which includes Elmhurst.
She noted that the panel had already voted on things like the DOE’s five-year capital plan without Queens representation. She had already personally recommended two candidates for the job in letters to the Borough President’s Office, but had yet to receive a reply.
“The PEP is so toothless anyway,” Kolb said. But with a few outspoken members representing the five boroughs, she said, “at least they would have a bully pulpit and they could haul the chancellor on the carpet.”
Critics say an empowered panel is especially crucial now given the current system of mayoral control, which gives the mayor and the DOE broad authority to make decisions — the purview of local school boards in most places around the state.
Leonie Haimson, president of Class Size Matters, an advocacy group for smaller class sizes, said that issues of particular concern in Queens, like overcrowding, risk further marginalizaton without proper representation.
“No one is speaking for Queens,” she said, noting that Queens has the city’s most crowded schools.
More broadly, Haimson had just finished arguing her case for smaller classes before the City Council Education Committee on Mayoral Control on March 3. The committee, which heard numerous testimonies that same week, was formed in July to review the system before Albany decides whether or not it should continue once Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s term expires in 2009.
Kolb said she thought overcrowding had always been a problem, whether mayoral control was in place or not. But she agreed that on this issue, as with any schools issue, insuring the means to address them — like though local representation on the PEP — was of paramount importance.
“People think that politicians and school officials are going to do the right thing, and they don’t understand that if you don’t speak out on this stuff, you’re not going to get the results that you necessarily want,” Kolb said. “Because any time in politics, the squeaky wheel’s going to get the grease.”
Borough seats are appointed by the borough president. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall has not offered an explanation for why a replacement has not been named.
The previous Queens representative, Michael Flowers, served from September, 2004 until he left in October, citing “professional responsibilities.”
Repeated attempts by the Queens Chronicle to obtain an explanation from Marshall’s office went unanswered.
“I’m very disappointed that they have left that seat empty,” said Marge Kolb, a member of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council for District 24 — which includes Elmhurst.
She noted that the panel had already voted on things like the DOE’s five-year capital plan without Queens representation. She had already personally recommended two candidates for the job in letters to the Borough President’s Office, but had yet to receive a reply.
“The PEP is so toothless anyway,” Kolb said. But with a few outspoken members representing the five boroughs, she said, “at least they would have a bully pulpit and they could haul the chancellor on the carpet.”
Critics say an empowered panel is especially crucial now given the current system of mayoral control, which gives the mayor and the DOE broad authority to make decisions — the purview of local school boards in most places around the state.
Leonie Haimson, president of Class Size Matters, an advocacy group for smaller class sizes, said that issues of particular concern in Queens, like overcrowding, risk further marginalizaton without proper representation.
“No one is speaking for Queens,” she said, noting that Queens has the city’s most crowded schools.
More broadly, Haimson had just finished arguing her case for smaller classes before the City Council Education Committee on Mayoral Control on March 3. The committee, which heard numerous testimonies that same week, was formed in July to review the system before Albany decides whether or not it should continue once Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s term expires in 2009.
Kolb said she thought overcrowding had always been a problem, whether mayoral control was in place or not. But she agreed that on this issue, as with any schools issue, insuring the means to address them — like though local representation on the PEP — was of paramount importance.
“People think that politicians and school officials are going to do the right thing, and they don’t understand that if you don’t speak out on this stuff, you’re not going to get the results that you necessarily want,” Kolb said. “Because any time in politics, the squeaky wheel’s going to get the grease.”
