A City councilman planning to run for the State Senate rebuked the Bloomberg Administration Tuesday for renaming a school campus in Queens after his opponent.Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) said the decision to rename Glen Oaks Campus after Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) was nothing more than a political ploy to give the Republican a boost in an election year.
The controversy began Monday when City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein announced the Glen Oaks Campus, the home of three schools, would be renamed after Padavan. The senator, he said, was instrumental in securing the property and building support for the creation of the school.
“What just took place at the Glen Oaks educational campus is not only a new low in the annals of political desperation, but possibly illegal as well,” Gennaro said. “Shame on the Bloomberg Administration and Frank Padavan for blatantly using this school complex for the political purpose of helping Padavan hold on to power in an election year. The cruel irony is that Padavan and State Senate Republicans have systemically funneled State education funding to suburban school districts at the expense of City schools for decades.”
Debra Wexler, a spokesman for the department of education, denied the renaming was illegal. She said the Chancellors Regulations – rules by which the schools operate – do not allow schools to be named after living people. However, the regulation does not apply to the naming of campuses, she said.
A spokesman from Padavan’s office said the campus renaming was appropriate and agreed it was within school guidelines. In addition, an e-mail from the office countered the claim the state had funneled education funding to suburban school districts at the expense of City schools, stating the City receives an estimated $8,250 in State education aid per student while the average is $7,600 per student.
The department of education issued a statement stressing the importance Padavan played in paving the way for the campus.
“The Glen Oaks campus would not exist without the efforts of Sen. Padavan, who was instrumental in identifying the site, obtaining traffic easements, and building community support for constructing schools to alleviate overcrowding in Queens,” read the statement. “As a result, the campus now houses a state-of-the-art high school and two elementary schools. The chancellor reviewed the request to rename the campus after Sen. Padavan and thought it appropriate.
“The Glen Oaks campus would not exist without the efforts of Sen. Padavan and thought it appropriate.”
The Frank Padavan Campus at Glen Oaks, as it is now called, is home to the Queens High School of Teaching, PS/IS 266 and PS/IS 208, and is one of the largest public school campuses in the nation.
