When the sun goes down on the legislation giving the mayor total control of city schools, speakers at a recent hearing in Kew Gardens hope it stays down, or at least rises a little brighter.
State Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica), along with the School Governance Task Force, held a public hearing at Queens Borough Hall on Thursday to get input on what people think about mayoral control. The response was overwhelmingly one-sided.
Richard Barr, a member of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council and a parent of two, said the mayor has created an autocratic, dictatorial system — and tweaking his policy is not nearly enough. “I personally would take a hatchet to it,” he said.
Added the Rev. Charles Norris, the following speaker, “I’ll loan you the hatchet.”
The state Legislature gave Mayor Michael Bloomberg total control over the school system in 2002. In doing so, the state dissolved the 32 local school boards and created Community Education Councils, similar to the boards but without their power.
The main complaint stated was that parents had absolutely no avenue to communicate with the Department of Education. Questions do not get answered and concerns do not get addressed.
Getrude Gonesh, an educator from southeast Queens, said the practice of excluding members of the community is an insult to the people in her district. “I will get on my knees if it’s necessary not to let mayoral control happen again,” she said.
Carol Berger, a member of the Kew Gardens Civic Association, said the mayor has a “father knows best” attitude toward education and as a result, parents have absolutely no input. She added the mayor has turned the department into too much of a business. “The mayor has too many bottom line thinkers,” she said, including the Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who is an attorney, and not enough educators.
Nick Comaianni, the president of CEC 24, said parents are so disenfranchised that it’s getting harder to find people to sit on the councils, which like parents, have no say in what happens in city schools. “This system does not work,” he said. “The bureaucracy is too hard to break.”
He cited an occasion when parents and CEC members throughout the city called on the mayor to abandon his plan to ban students from carrying cell phones in schools. Despite the outcry, Bloomberg stuck with his decision. “Maybe we should call him ‘Your Royal Highness’ when it comes to the school system,” he said.
Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Little Neck) said mayoral control has introduced accountabilty to the system — something that wasn’t there during the old school board days. However, he added, Bloomberg has gone beyond the scope of the powers he was given in the legislation.
The mayor’s reliance on standardized testing to gauge both the performance of students and schools has also become a contentious point for parents like Weprin. “Right now we’re turning our schools into Stanley Kaplan courses,” he said, referring to the test preparation company.
Huntley, a co-chairperson of the School Governance Task Force, said in a later interview that the complaint of parents being locked out of the system has been echoed at a number of hearings around the city.
Huntley doesn’t favor bringing back school boards, but said she does want serious changes to be made in the legislation when it comes up for approval next year.
“Parents are not involved in any decisions in any part of the department of education anymore,” she said, adding that the avenues of communication that are supposed to be there, such as the CECs and school superintendents, just amount to a facade with no power. “They are just to appease parents to make them think they have a role, which they don’t,” she said.
Huntley expected the state to begin discussions on the legislation early next year. Any vote to reinstate the law would need to be approved by June. “It’s not about me, it’s not about the mayor. It’s about communities and the children,” Huntley said.
Added the Rev. Charles Norris, the following speaker, “I’ll loan you the hatchet.”
The state Legislature gave Mayor Michael Bloomberg total control over the school system in 2002. In doing so, the state dissolved the 32 local school boards and created Community Education Councils, similar to the boards but without their power.
The main complaint stated was that parents had absolutely no avenue to communicate with the Department of Education. Questions do not get answered and concerns do not get addressed.
Getrude Gonesh, an educator from southeast Queens, said the practice of excluding members of the community is an insult to the people in her district. “I will get on my knees if it’s necessary not to let mayoral control happen again,” she said.
Carol Berger, a member of the Kew Gardens Civic Association, said the mayor has a “father knows best” attitude toward education and as a result, parents have absolutely no input. She added the mayor has turned the department into too much of a business. “The mayor has too many bottom line thinkers,” she said, including the Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who is an attorney, and not enough educators.
Nick Comaianni, the president of CEC 24, said parents are so disenfranchised that it’s getting harder to find people to sit on the councils, which like parents, have no say in what happens in city schools. “This system does not work,” he said. “The bureaucracy is too hard to break.”
He cited an occasion when parents and CEC members throughout the city called on the mayor to abandon his plan to ban students from carrying cell phones in schools. Despite the outcry, Bloomberg stuck with his decision. “Maybe we should call him ‘Your Royal Highness’ when it comes to the school system,” he said.
Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Little Neck) said mayoral control has introduced accountabilty to the system — something that wasn’t there during the old school board days. However, he added, Bloomberg has gone beyond the scope of the powers he was given in the legislation.
The mayor’s reliance on standardized testing to gauge both the performance of students and schools has also become a contentious point for parents like Weprin. “Right now we’re turning our schools into Stanley Kaplan courses,” he said, referring to the test preparation company.
Huntley, a co-chairperson of the School Governance Task Force, said in a later interview that the complaint of parents being locked out of the system has been echoed at a number of hearings around the city.
Huntley doesn’t favor bringing back school boards, but said she does want serious changes to be made in the legislation when it comes up for approval next year.
“Parents are not involved in any decisions in any part of the department of education anymore,” she said, adding that the avenues of communication that are supposed to be there, such as the CECs and school superintendents, just amount to a facade with no power. “They are just to appease parents to make them think they have a role, which they don’t,” she said.
Huntley expected the state to begin discussions on the legislation early next year. Any vote to reinstate the law would need to be approved by June. “It’s not about me, it’s not about the mayor. It’s about communities and the children,” Huntley said.
