UPDATED: Rally at City Hall and Close Encounters of the Heated Kind with Mayor Mike by Leonie Haimson - NYC Public School Parents:

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We had a great rally this morning at City Hall to protest the budget cuts to schools. About fifty parents turned up, some with their children, with signs pasted to their jackets saying, “Do not balance the budget on our backs.”

Joining us were Council Members Robert Jackson and Margaret Chin of Manhattan, Mark Weprin of Queens, Jumaane Williams and Matthieu Eugene of Brooklyn, and Diana Reyna of Brooklyn and Queens, as well as Leroy Barr, staff director of the UFT and Donovan Richards, CM Sanders chief of staff.

At the end of the rally we had an unexpected encounter with Bloomberg himself. Pictures from the rally and our encounter with Mayor Mike are now up on the CSM Facebook page .

At the press conference, I showed charts revealing the sharp increases in class size that have already occurred, as well as a chart with the worsening distribution of income in NYC and NY state.

Eliminating 6,000 teaching positions would be an absolute disaster for our children, and would lead to even further increases in class size, probably the sharpest in over 30 years. I concluded that though the mayor may want to roll over the city’s $3 billion surplus, we as parents will not roll over when it comes to our children.

All of the elected officials were eloquent in their defense of our children’s right to a quality education, and pledged that they would fight hard to make sure that there would be no further increases in class size or any cuts to the classroom in the city’s education budget. I handed CM Jackson our petition with over 1,000 signatures and asked him to give it to Speaker Quinn, who will have to protect our children in the budget negotiations.

He emphasized that there was no need for any cuts with the city’s $3 billion surplus; Mark Weprin pointed out that there were plenty other areas that were expendable in the DOE spending policies, including wasteful testing, technology enhancements, consultants and private contracts. CM Chin said as a former teacher and married to a teacher, she knew full well how important class size is and that we cannot afford to let class sizes grow any more. Both Jumaane Williams and Matthieu Eugent pointed out that focusing on improving education is the best investment the city can make.

Sue Dietrich, Staten Island parent and head of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council, representing all the PTAs in the city, said her son’s class was already at 34 students; and that it can’t possibly go any higher. She pointed out that the city’s arts programs, like the great chorus at PS 22 that sang at the Oscars, could be lost if there were any more budget cuts to schools.

Noah Gotbaum, President of CEC D3, said the Governor and the Mayor should be ashamed of themselves for favoring millionaires over our kids, and that though Cuomo talked about “shared sacrifice” it was hard to see what if anything the wealthy had sacrificed in this budget.

Lisa Donlan, parent leader and member of the Grassroots Education Movement led us in a chant, “Whose schools? Our schools! Whose taxes? Our taxes? Whose priorities? Our priorities!” Sarah Porter, parent activist from PS132K in Williamsburg, wrapped up by pointing out the mayor’s math was defective and that he needed remedial lessons, since there was no need to cut 6,000 teachers with such a large surplus.

After the rally was over, some of us remained talking on the plaza in front of City Hall, including Sarah, Tina Schiller of PS 234, and Benita Rivera of the Mother’s Agenda, when I noticed the Mayor walking down the steps.

I waved to him and shouted, “Please, Mr. Mayor, do not balance the budget on our children’s backs” and that “Millionaires should pay more, including you!”

To my surprise, he briskly walked over to us. He asked if we were teachers, and we said, no, parents. I showed him the class size charts, and asked him if he would want to have his child in such large classes; how could he consider letting them increase even more?

He countered by saying that city had been subjected to big cuts from the feds and the state and we should criticize them, not him. I followed up by pointing out that the city’s had a $3 billion surplus, but he claimed that there was no surplus; when we disputed that, he added that he needed to save the surplus for the year after.

I told him that I knew he wanted to roll over the surplus, but our kids cannot have their education further damaged. We said he should use the surplus now to fill holes in this year’s budget, and if he needed more money, he should raise city taxes on the wealthy. He said, go tell Albany; and that he’s been up there arguing with them.

We pointed out that he didn’t go to Albany to support the surtax on the wealthy but that he had instead opposed this. Several times he said, “Listen to me! I won’t talk unless you listen to me!” After about five minutes, he got tired of the discussion, and walked off.

Luckily, Benita Rivera was snapping photos with her cell phone; these are on the CSM Facebook page along with earlier ones from the rally, taken by Michelle Faljean of the SI Federation of PTAs:

Thanks Benita, Michelle, and everyone who came today!

After our exchange with the mayor, Erin Einhorn, City Hall Daily News reporter ran over, along with Samantha Gross of the AP, to ask us about it. She has already posted an account of our debate on the DN blog, entitled Mayor Bloomberg Listens! (But Does He Hear?)

UPDATED: The mayor's press spokesman has responded and so have I. several times on the DN blog. Go check it out!

Go check it out and leave a comment! And please leave a comment below.

City’s School-Liaison Office Is Said to Seek Supportive Parents By Fernanda Santos & Sharon Otterman - NYTimes.com

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In 2007, the New York City Department of Education created an office to help families navigate the school system and to make sure their grievances got to the right ears.

Known then as the Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy, it was set up as a bridge between parents and the department’s central office, and was intended to address complaints that parents had lost their voice when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took control of the schools.

But lately, according to people who have had dealings with the office, the role has been expanded in a way that has made some of them uncomfortable.

In January, at a meeting of parent coordinators from a number of schools, employees of the office asked them to forge relationships with parents who they thought might speak out in support of the department’s policies, including its controversial push to close failing schools. The employees at one point used a nickname to describe the type of parents they were looking for: “Happy Harrys,” and not “Angry Sallys,” as two coordinators recalled it.

And on Tuesday, an employee at the office circulated a petition among nearly 400 coordinators citywide, asking them to round up parents’ signatures. The petition was in support of one of the mayor’s most concerted political efforts of the year: to persuade the Legislature to end the law protecting the most senior teachers in the event of layoffs.

The unions representing teachers and parent coordinators — city employees who work inside schools and act as points of contact for families — have called for an investigation, charging that the Education Department used public money and civil servants to advance a political cause.

“Seniority has been and is a political issue,” said Santos Crespo, the president of District Council 37, Local 372, which represents the city’s roughly 1,200 parent coordinators. “They were asked to do a political function, out of the purview of their job scope, let alone the conflicts of using public employees to do political work.”

In an interview, the city’s deputy mayor for education, Dennis M. Walcott, said, “What happened around the petition should not have happened.” But he made no excuses for the Education Department’s broader attempts at mobilizing parents.

“There are parents who aren’t satisfied with what’s going on in the schools and there are parents who are,” Mr. Walcott said. “That’s what we work on: to improve our abilities to engage them.”

There has always been a political gray area embedded in the mission of the family engagement office, a division of about 20 employees. Among its roles are running elections to citywide parent councils and organizing an annual lobbying trip for parents to Albany to advocate state financing for city schools, two relatively noncontroversial efforts.

But after Mr. Bloomberg only narrowly won a third term in 2009, there was a growing realization among some in his inner circle that the city had not done enough to win the support of public school parents for the mayor’s education agenda. There was also a sense that the office of family engagement offered a great deal of untapped potential for organizing through its existing network of parent coordinators, said a person who was familiar with the discussions within the Bloomberg administration at the time, but declined to be named so as not to anger City Hall.

One change was to appoint Maura Keaney, a top aide from Mr. Bloomberg’s re-election campaign, to head the Department of Education’s office of external affairs, which organizes all political lobbying and communications work for the department. She appointed a new executive director for the office of family engagement, Ojeda Hall, a dynamic youth minister and community organizer from Queens. Ms. Keaney, who is on maternity leave, did not return calls for comment.

In the effort to reshape the office, one of the first moves was to give it a new name: the Office of Family Information and Action.

There was little discussion, the person said, about whether there might be a conflict about taking on a more political role. “I think the feeling is you are not asking someone to do something they don’t want to do, and parents who disagree with you, it’s not like you are going to give them worse services,” the person said. “You are just trying to identify parents who do support parts of your agenda, and if they want to, why not enlist them?”

On Jan. 11, at a public library branch in Midtown, at least 40 parent coordinators got together for what had been billed as a training session. After workshops on social media and the technological shift in schools, representatives from the family engagement office made their pitch.

“They asked us to get parents to lobby,” said one coordinator at a Manhattan elementary school, who, like others who discussed the meeting, insisted on anonymity for fear that speaking publicly could cost them their jobs. The content of the meeting was reported this week by Gothamschools, an education blog.

Another coordinator, also assigned to a Manhattan elementary school, said the representatives noted that “only complainers come out” to protest to the Panel for Educational Policy, where school closings are decided. The meetings are often dominated by loud protests, often organized by the teachers’ union.

With a vote on 22 school closings scheduled for early February, the coordinators said they were urged to drum up allies among parents in their schools, saying the parents would be more likely to come if they were invited by someone they knew.

The room fell silent, the coordinators recalled. One of them said that when a woman tried to talk about some issues she was having with the principal at her school, one of the office’s representatives said, “No negatives, only positives.”

The phrase would become like a mantra, repeated over and over during the meeting, the coordinators said.

According to the coordinators, the family office representatives also said that because of the city’s financial straits, principals would be allowed to fire parent coordinators to free up money for other staff members and programs in their schools.

“It didn’t feel right for them to do that to us, to tell us that our jobs are in danger and then asking for our help,” one of the coordinators said.

Some principals said they had also become skeptical of the office, and after word got out of the tone of the meeting on Jan. 11, they advised the parent coordinators in their schools against attending future meetings.

In a statement, Ms. Hall acknowledged that circulating the petition this week was improper. “I regret that it happened, because it is not reflective of the day-to-day work that OFIA does to help families navigate the school system,” she said.

And city officials maintained that their efforts to get parents to meetings were not improper. “Our bottom-line goal is to make sure parents are respected stakeholders,” said Mr. Walcott, the deputy mayor.

Two Council Members, Dozens of Parents and Youth Arrested Protesting School Closures Near DOE Headquarters « EdVox

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Hundreds of Fed Up Parents, Students Rally to “Fix Schools, Not Just Close Them

Two New York City Council Members and dozens of parents and youth were arrested for blocking traffic at Chambers and Centre Street following a rally outside Department of Education (DOE) headquarters. Council Members Jumaane Williams and Charles Barron were among those arrested when hundreds of parents and students gathered to demand the City “fix schools, not just close them” as the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) prepares to vote this week on whether or not to close 26 schools. The rally was organized by the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice and the Urban Youth Collaborative.

Clueless Cathie Black at the PEP Attacks LIFO, ATRs and Pensions...

Cathie Black at the Panel for Edicational Policy Attacks LIFO, ATRs and Pensions...She doesn't even know how many teachers or students are in the Public School system...She's totally out of touch (like the Mayor) with the school system she supposedly runs...

Many Challenges Ahead for Cathie Black by Bryan Yurcan - Queens Chronicle

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Cathie Black, left, tours Hillside High School with Assemblyman Rory Lancman and Councilman James Gennaro earlier this month. FILE PHOTO

When Cathie Black presumably assumes the post of New York City schools chancellor on Jan. 1, she will have a lot on her plate.

Several Queens officials, educators and administrators weighed in with the Queens Chronicle about what they think some of the biggest challenges Black will face.

Black was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg when current Chancellor Joel Klein abruptly announced he was resigning from his post Nov. 9 and said he was leaving to take an executive position at media giant News Corp., whose properties include the Fox News Channel and the Wall Street Journal.

Klein has said he would stay on until the end of the year to help ease Black’s transition.

Black was granted a waiver by the state Education Department since she does not have the proper educational certification to serve in the post.

Two lawsuits, which were filed by groups opposing Black’s nomination, seek to nullify the waiver she was granted. But barring any decisions in those cases, Black will step into the role of chancellor in the new year.

Dmytro Fedkowskyj, the Queens representative to the Panel for Educational Policy, believes Black’s biggest challenge will be to implement a budget on July 1 that adequately balances the needs of every student.

“The DOE serves a diverse population of students, who range in academicsfromlow-performing togifted and each of their requirements need to bemet in order to achieve an optimal learning experience,” he said.“Given the economic environment, it will bea Herculean taskto get this done forthe more than 1 million studentsthroughoutthe city.”

Black will also have to work with the United Federation of Teachers, an organization that had a sometimes contentious relationship with Klein — and has been working without a contract for more than a year.

Dermot Smyth, the Queens political action coordinator for the UFT, said Black will have a lot of “on-the-job training” once she takes over.

Smyth said one issue that affects Queens, and schools citywide, is the city Department of Education’s plans to phase out and replace several schools that were deemed low-achieving by the state, such as Jamaica High School.

“I hope she will come to realize that closing schools is not always the best option,” Smyth said.

One Queens principal, who wished not to be identified, said Black’s biggest challenge will be improving the education experience for English Language Learner students.

“It’s very, very hard for children with limited English proficiency,” the principal said.

Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) will get the chance to meet with Black firsthand when she conducts a tour of John Adams High School in Ozone Park on Jan. 10.

Ulrich said given the current fiscal situation in the state and city, the chancellor-designate has a tough job ahead of her.

“She faces the enormous challenge of providing quality education to our students while dealing with a very tight budget in the coming fiscal year,” Ulrich said. “I look forward to hearing her ideas on how to improve public schools for all students.”

Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows), had the opportunity to meet with Black when she came on a walk through of Hillcrest High School earlier this month.

Lancman said Black has an impressive background as a manager in the corporate world — she served as the president of Hearst Magazines — and hopes those skills translate into her new job running the city’s public school system.

“I think she was chosen because she’s an extraordinarily gifted manager and because she has experience in the professional world,” the assemblyman said. “Hopefully, that will result in students being prepared for the professional world.”

Lancman added, “I don't know that I would have selected her but I am rooting for her.”

Comptroller John Liu Takes Aim at Bloomberg Through DOE Contracts - John Liu takes aim at Bloomberg through DOE contracts By Andrew J. Hawkins - City Hall News

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Much like his predecessor, Comptroller John Liu has focused on contracts with the city's school system as a way to check Mayor Michael Bloomberg's wide-ranging power.


The war began in early October, with news reports that the Department of Education was blaming the comptroller for delaying contract approval that would allow over $500,000 in profits from new health food vending machines from being transferred to schools. Liu's office said it was probing possible "collusion" between the vending machine companies.


The dispute soon escalated over insurance contracts between the comptroller's office and DOE, which still has the potential to leave hundreds of school buses without insurance coverage after December.


Under the revised mayoral control law, DOE must register contracts with the comptroller's office before finalizing them. But a contract between insurance broker Willis Group and DOE to insure city school buses expired June 30 and has yet to be registered by Liu's office. Liu's office is refusing to approve the contract, arguing that, as it is currently written, it "usurped" the comptroller's responsibility under the City Charter to adjudicate insurance claims.


Cathie Black's replacement of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is unlikely to ease the tension between DOE and the comptroller's office. If anything, some experts predict that Black's ascendency to the top position could heighten the perception of DOE as an agency unchecked.


"Generally, executives like to keep the power they think they inherited," said Pedro Noguera, a professor of education at New York University. "She would see this as a power loss of some of her authority, especially because she's coming from the corporate world. With only the mayor for her to report to, it really leaves no room for checks and balances."


Bloomberg has always pushed back against the idea of increased oversight by the city comptroller, arguing that DOE is more a state agency than a city one, answerable to the State Education Department. This stance led to friction between the mayor and then-Comptroller Bill Thompson, compounded by Thompson's political ambitions to run for mayor himself. Though this was exacerbated after the term limits extension, which set the two up to run against each other, Bloomberg aides felt even before the fall of 2008 that Thompson occasionally hit the education record to help lay the foundation for his own mayoral run.


Barring some massive change of heart in the referendum electorate and another recalibration of the political world from the mayor, Liu will not be running against Bloomberg at any point. But he is seen as a likely candidate for the 2013 race, when having some burnished credentials and additional exposure would be important for sticking out of a crowded field.


"There's always been tension, political and administrative, between the comptroller's office and the mayor's office," said David Bloomfield, an education professor at the City University of New York. "So it's not unusual for the comptroller, in his role as auditor and oversight manager, to hold things up, doing his due diligence, and take advantage in that situation perhaps to bring the mayor up short, to not steamroll his program through the contracting process."


After the Legislature reauthorized mayoral control in the summer of 2009, the city comptroller was given new powers to regulate and manage DOE's contracting process. Problems with the new protocol were evident almost right out of the gate.


In July, Liu's office got word that the Panel on Education Policy would seek to approve a resolution that would allow DOE to make contract purchases without the panel's approval. Liu fired off a letter arguing that the resolution would not only be in violation of state law, but was also not put up for public review, as required. The panel eventually pulled the resolution from its agenda.


But a few months later, DOE and the comptroller were back at it. With the vending machines, Liu's office refrained from approving the contracts, holding up hundreds of thousands of dollars in healthy snack profits until concluding that there was nothing improper in how the contracts were awarded. But DOE installed the vending machines anyways, before the contracts were registered by Liu's office.


The flap over school bus insurance appears to be more severe. Willis, the insurance broker, threatened to terminate the contract by Nov. 5 if it still had not been approved by Liu's office. The deadlock would have left thousands of children without rides to school had the deadline not been extended at the last moment to Dec. 31 to allow added time to work out a claims protocol with DOE and, more importantly, avoid a potential public relations nightmare.


Alan Van Capelle, deputy comptroller for public affairs, said that this is a systemic problem with DOE that needs to be addressed.


"We hope that the Department of Education uses this increased time to work with us and find a resolution to all the outstanding issues," Van Capelle said. "But I think DOE needs a study hall on procurement. And they need to understand that mayoral control of schools does not mean they control everything. There still is a procurement policy and they're required to follow it."

A DOE spokesperson declined to answer questions about the status of the insurance contract, preferring instead to highlight the procedural issue between the agency and Liu's office.
"Yellow bus service will continue to serve our children," said DOE spokesperson Margie Feinberg. "The comptroller has 30 days to register the contract and the time period is not yet over. As we do with many of our contracts, we have had discussions with the comptroller during the registration period, and we expect all issues will be addressed and that the contract will be registered."

Education Panel Delays Vote to Weaken Its Own Authority by Sharon Otterman - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

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The Panel for Educational Policy, the successor to the old Board of Education, is controlled by appointees of the mayor, so it summarily approves just about everything that comes before it. But has the city quietly been trying to make a near-toothless panel even less relevant?

That is the accusation of John C. Liu, the city comptroller, and Patrick Sullivan, a panel member not appointed by the mayor, in reaction to a resolution that had been on the agenda for the panel’s July meeting on Monday night, but was removed on Sunday amid their questions.

The resolution, called “Blanket Approval of Purchases Through Contracts of the City of New York and Its Agencies,” asked the panel to weaken one aspect of a power it was granted last year under the mayoral control law, its ability to approve or veto all contracts that are not competitively bid.

Right now, state law gives the city’s Department of Education blanket authority to approve purchases of items made under existing state and federal contracts, provided the price of those items is “below the prevailing market rate.” In other words, if a state agency has already worked out a good bulk price on computers, the city Department of Education can buy computers under that contract without the panel’s approval.

But that authority does not extend to contracts made by other city agencies, and the panel must vote on purchases made under those contracts. The resolution would change that.

In a statement, Mr. Liu said the resolution would amount to “an end-run around the stronger D.O.E. accountability required by school governance reform passed less than a year ago,” which he said would “circumvent state law.”

Neither he nor Mr. Sullivan had received a copy of the resolution by Sunday, though Mr. Sullivan was supposed to vote on it the next day, and it did not appear on the Department of Education’s Web site.

“I asked specifically about whether this was in compliance with the law,” Mr. Sullivan said, “and I expressed concern that the D.O.E. was asking the panel to expand its authority in contravention of the law. And they didn’t respond.”

The city said Monday that the authority the panel was seeking had already been approved by the panel in principle, in a few lines tucked into a 103-page procurement document passed at the panel’s January meeting. That was also the night that thousands of people attended to protest school closings and there was little public debate on procurement rules.

“I think we missed it,” Mr. Sullivan said. “I think the panel made a mistake.”

The city said it expected the issue to return to the agenda in August, after the panel’s questions about the resolution were answered. Update: A Department of Education spokesman, Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld, said later Monday afternoon that the fate of the resolution was unclear and that it would be worked out with the panel members.

The resolution would affect only purchases by schools or the central office with an annual value of less than $25,000. A central contract office would still manage the process.

“This proposal would let D.O.E. and schools take advantage of city contracts that have already been properly negotiated and are below market price, saving both time and money,” said Mr. Zarin-Rosenfeld.

Panel for Educational Policy "Puppet Show" by Elizabeth Rodd

This is a must-see video from the January PEP meeting...

Panel for Educational Policy "Puppet Show" from Elizabeth Rodd on Vimeo.

Lisa Donlan and Jane Hirschmann from Time Out From Testing testify at the Panel for Educational Policy Hearing, held at Brooklyn Technical High School on January 26, 2010.

Over 350 people signed up to testify regarding Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to close 19 schools considered failing. Each speaker was allowed two minutes to make comments.

If you would like donate to a documentary film that follows grassroots education activists working against the education reforms underway in New York City, please contact info@lmnopfilms.com.

Woodhaven-Metro School Seating Disputed by Dan Bush - Leader-Observer

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A debate over seating priorities is delaying community action on the new high school being built at the intersection of Metropolitan Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard.

The Department of Education (DOE) plans to open the 1000-seat high school in phases.

In September of 2010, the school is slated to open for a freshman class of 250 students, leaving the school 75 percent under capacity for its first year of operation.

In subsequent years, the DOE would phase in the remaining students and grades, possibly one grade per year.

The school is primarily zoned for School Districts 24 and 28. Seating priority for the incoming freshman class has been evenly divided between the two districts.

Critics of the plan say District 24, and all of Queens generally, is getting short shrifted by the zoning and plan to phase-in students.

Community Board 5 voted December 9 to wait an extra month before issuing a resolution on the project, shooting down a proposal to green light the school as is.

Vincent Arcuri, CB5’s chairman, said the DOE’s zoning proposal makes little sense. He argued that census data shows that, when combined, the sections of districts 24 and 28 included in the zoning don’t have enough freshman to fill the incoming class.

“The zoning they currently have does not contain 250 freshman,” Arcuri said.

If it isn’t changed, he said the remaining open spaces would go to students from elsewhere in Queens and around the city. Arcuri has suggested expanding the District 24 area included in the school zoning farther west to capture more high school-aged students.

Dmytro Fedkowskyj, the Queens representative on the Panel for Education Policy, voiced strong opposition to the DOE’s plan to fill the school slowly by phasing in students over time. He said the DOE told him they believe opening the school at full capacity will set it up for failure.

“Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of waiting in Queens,” said Fedkowskyj. “We have high schools bursting at the seams.”

He outlined an alternative plan to open the school for 9th and 10th graders at once. That way, Fedkowskyj said, the school would open at 50 percent capacity right away, alleviating overcrowding at other high schools such as Grover Cleveland and Newtown high schools.

A DOE spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

While impasse over zoning continues, the DOE is finishing construction at the Woodhaven Boulevard-Metropolitan Avenue campus.

Besides the as-of-yet unnamed high school, the site will also house a second, 900-seat school, I.S./H.S. 167. Seating for that school is being split between districts 28 and 75, which will get 700 and 200 seats respectively.

It remains unclear exactly how the opening of another high school being built in nearby Maspeth might impact the two new schools.

Fedkowskyj said the Queens needs as many high school seats as it can get. “I don’t think that we have enough high school seats to serve the borough of Queens as it is,” he said.

Queens Parents Debate DOE Promotion Criteria by Lisa Fogarty - Queens Chronicle

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At Queens Borough President Helen Marshall’s Parent Advisory Board meeting Tuesday night, the question about whether public school students are being subjected to over-testing for once played second fiddle to an even more pertinent one: if schools are going to continue state testing and months of preparation, just how reliable are the scores? What’s more, how big a role should test grades play when determining whether a student should be held back for the year?

In an effort to base grade promotions in elementary schools on objective, measurable standards, the Department of Education has proposed ending social promotion — the action of passing students even if they haven’t fulfilled their academic requirements — in grades 4 and 6. The Panel for Educational Policy will vote Thursday in Queens on ending the practice, which has already ceased in grades 3, 5, 7 and 8.

The new benchmark for moving on to the next grade relies heavily on state test exam scores. In order to be promoted, students must achieve at least a Level 2, which the DOE still considers below the standard, on math and english language arts assessments. The tests are graded 1 through 4, with the lowest number indicating a student’s grade is far below the state standard. Students who do not meet these requirements are given additional opportunities to succeed by completing a series of classroom-based activities, called a portfolio, which come with a statewide standard scoring rubric, according to Jennifer Bell-Eilwanger, senior adviser on research and policy at the DOE. Summer school sessions are also an option, with the chance to retake the test at the end of the session, she said.

These cases, which Bell-Eilwanger called “rare,” also apply to students who passed the test by only a few points, have poor attendance records or aren’t completing their coursework.

Many educators and parents argued the DOE’s procedure was faulty for several reasons, including the fact that, more often than not, state test score results aren’t received by schools until the end of the year — far too late to be able to resolve the issues that school year.

The scores themselves, they said, are also too broad to be accorded such weight — an accusation corroborated by DOE data. In New York State in 2009, only 2.8 percent of students in grades 3 through 8 scored Level 1 on their English Language Arts exam. Comparatively, 28.3 percent scored Level 2, 62.8 percent were in Level 3 and 6.1 percent scored Level 4.

“Everyone scores Level 2 or above — what’s the criteria here?” asked one parent.

Another concern among the group was the DOE timeline for alerting parents of at-risk children. Although parent-teacher conferences take place in the fall, “Promotion In Doubt” letters aren’t mailed out until late January or early February.

“It shouldn’t take three to four months to find out what their problems are,” Marshall said.

The borough president also urged the DOE to reconsider the effectiveness of its current summer school sessions. “Children need real help,” she said. “If you’re going to send them to summer school, make it an enrichment program.”

Marge Kolb, president of the President’s Council for District 24, questioned a school’s ability to help students who are left behind. She reminded the group of the Eight-Plus program, a discontinued DOE program whereby eighth grade students who were not promoted could spend the first half of ninth grade completing their requirements so they could start high school in January and thus not be held back.

“Kids are always going to be left back, they’ve always been left back,” Kolb said. “But they go back to the same situation the next year. What are you doing about that?”

Bell-Eilwanger said several tools have been put in place to help struggling students, including the use of guidance counselor to work directly with at-risk students, ongoing assessments of their classwork, and inquiry teams — groups of teachers who can suggest teaching strategies to the student’s primary instructor that might help the child with his or her personal needs.

According to a $3.3 million study conducted by the RAND Corp. over the course of five years, fifth graders who scored a level 1 or 2 in fourth grade performed better under the new DOE policy of ending social promotion than comparable students who were not subject to the standards. The study also found that students who were retained experienced no negative socio-emotional effects when subject to the policy — a finding some parents feared was inconclusive because the report didn’t incorporate high school students.

Bell-Eilwanger said the RAND study also made important discoveries about what methods work for students. Saturday prep and Summer Success academies, while effective, require at least seven sessions to have an impact on a student’s grades. Small group tutoring and one-on-one tutoring were found to be most successful.

With the room still buzzing about Gov. David Paterson’s proposal to cut even more school spending, it perhaps came as little surprise that even the RAND study evoked criticism.

“One-on-one tutoring is just an acronym for smaller class sizes,” said David Quintana, who formerly represented District 27, before adding that the money used to do the study may have been better spent in classrooms.

The PEP vote will be on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. at P.S. 128 at 69-26 65th Drive, Middle Village.

Debate Over Mayoral Control Continues by Conor Greene - Forum News:

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With the state law granting the mayor full control over city schools set to expire, the debate over the system is underway in Albany and in town hall meetings, including one hosted by Senator Joseph Addabbo last week in Middle Village.

A 2002 vote by the state legislature established the school governance system known as mayoral control, which allowed Mayor Bloomberg to abolish the local board of educations and hire a chancellor to run the public school system. However, due to a sunset provision, the law expires on June 30 unless lawmakers renew it.

“This is an opportunity to make this process a better process,” said Senator Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) at last Wednesday’s town hall session, which was also attended by Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, who oversees the city’s Education Department for the Bloomberg Administration. “The legislature shouldn’t vote without input” from residents and other stakeholders, added Addabbo.

Walcott called himself a “firm believer in mayoral control” and said there have been “significant improvements in the system” since it was established seven years ago. He cited areas such as test scores and the number of seats created through new construction as examples of progress made since Mayor Bloomberg was granted full authority. “The bottom line for me is accountability, transparency and parental involvement.”

However, many of the parents, teachers and officials who spoke later in the meeting argued that mayoral control has stifled their voices, making it hard to seek out answers from administrators and has left local superintendents with little power.

Jo Ann Berger, who has three children in PS 153 in Maspeth, said parents have been relegated to “leaving voicemails and never getting a call back” when they seek information from administrators. “There is little to no response to parents… There is no place a parent can to go” due to the elimination of local offices, she added.

Berger also took issue with the Bloomberg Administration use of test scores to gauge progress, especially since students spend three months prepping for the exams. “That’s what you are basing our performance on? I don’t think that’s fair,” she said.

Another bone of contention for many is the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), which was formed along with Community Education Councils after the Boards of Education were abolished. Under the old system, the mayor appointed two of the seven Board of Education members, while he appoints eight of the 13 PEP members.

That has led critics to argue that the members don’t hold real power – especially after three members appointed by Mayor Bloomberg were fired in 2004 for questioning a Department of Education plan. At last week’s hearing, Dermot Smyth, a teacher at IS 5 in Elmhurst, said that the teacher’s union supports mayoral control, despite several “little flaws we’re looking to address.” He argued that the panel needs “independent voices who can work collaboratively with the chancellor” instead of political appointees.

Ozone Park resident and blogger David Quintana agreed that the mayor’s appointment of eight of the 13 PEP members means “he has a slam dunk on anything he does.” He called the local school boards “the most basic form of democracy we have.” Instead, they have been replaced with “powerless” local Community Education Councils. “Parental involvement has gone down the drain under this administration.” To prevent the PEP from being controlled by the mayor, the teacher’s union has suggested that the city comptroller, the public advocate and City Council speaker each appoint a member, leaving the mayor with five appointees.

Marge Kolb, president of the District 24 PTA Presidents’ Council, said there “needs to be a lot of adjusting” to the current system. She agreed that PEPs “should not be controlled by the mayor” and argued that some members should have educational credentials. “I don’t know where the mayor came up with the curriculum he purchased, but it wasn’t in consultation with educational professionals,” she said.

Former Assemblyman Michael Cohen, who was in office for the initial vote granting mayoral control in 2002 said he was “very uneasy voting for this bill [because] it is giving the mayor absolute control over the system.” Instead, he agreed that the city needs “accredited educational professionals to make educational policy.”

Community Board 6 District Manager Frank Gulluscio said his office has received numerous complaints from parents who feel the current system has stifled their opinions. “We want to be heard. We don’t just want lip service,” he said echoing the complaints his office has heard regarding mayoral control.

The harshest criticism of the evening towards the Bloomberg Administration’s governance of the school system came from Juniper Park Civic Association President Robert Holden, who accused officials of lying to the public.

“At one time I was for mayoral control. Then I saw the mayor in action. Then I saw Deputy Mayor Walcott in action. They just do as they please,” he said before criticizing the city’s decision to build a high school in Maspeth despite strong community opposition. “You just completely lie. You don’t tell the truth, you hide things,” he said to Walcott. “We have a dictator who says you will have this whether it’s good or not.”

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) said that city officials “really don’t have much oversight on how [the $22 billion budgeted for education] is spent.” She also argued that the current system “doesn’t give fair representation” to community members. She also hears “a lot of complaints” about students being “taught for tests.”

“I do believe for the most part that the quality of education has improved over the years,” said Crowley. However, she added that much of the gains are because elected officials have made education “a top priority” for funding.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll shows that New Yorkers support mayoral control, with 55 percent saying the system should continue.

State Senator Joseph Addabbo, Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley listen (top photo) as residents weigh in on mayoral control. The Forum Newsgroup/photos by CONOR GREENE

Group Rallies to Limit Mayor's School Control by Jon Blau - Queens Chronicle

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Hoping to sway state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) to their side of the mayoral control argument, the Campaign for Better Schools brought a group of about 40 people to the majority leader’s St. Albans office on Friday, armed with what they said were postcards from parents who want to limit Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s control over educational policy.

Smith has outlined plans to renew Bloomberg’s mandate to appoint eight of 13 voting members of the Panel for Educational Policy before mayoral control expires June 30. While Smith has promised revisions to the law to include more avenues for parent participation, the Campaign for Better Schools backs a bill from Assemblyman Carl Heastie (D-Bronx). The legislation, titled the Better Schools Act, has been submitted in both houses and has provisions supporters say render more transparency, accountability and include initiatives for parent and student involvement.

“One man rule has got to go,” the group chanted.

Heastie’s bill would keep Bloomberg’s appointees at eight, but the panel would grow to 17 members to take away his majority. Nine PEP members would be voted in by other elected officials, such as the governor, members of the City Council, the borough presidents, the Assembly speaker and the Senate majority leader.

Those individuals would have fixed, two-year terms, eliminating the chances Bloomberg could terminate anyone who opposes his policy decisions. And the chancellor, who currently has a vote on the board, would become a non-voting member.

According to Heastie, the PEP has voted with the mayor “97 out of 97 times.”

“They are a rubber stamp organization,” Francisca Montana, mother of a three-year-old girl in Middle Village, said of the PEP.

Many of the protesters said they feel as though the community is left out of decisions impacting students, and that figures on schools’ budgets and performance are disseminated from non-objective sources. State Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) has said in support of the Better Schools Act that it is now impossible to “distinguish facts from spin,” and part of the bill mandates that the New York City Independent Budget Office report on “financial investments and academic achievement” in city schools.

Montana said she sees the signs in the subway praising mayoral control of schools. Graduation rates are up as a whole, they read, but she hears other figures through the Campaign for Better Schools, which says only one out of three African-American and Hispanic children graduate high school with their Regents diploma. Her child, Qwania, is a child of both races.

“I want the best education she can get,” Montana said of her biracial daughter. “She’s smart, she’s beautiful. I want her to be developed with all of her brightness.”

PTA organizations are “just paper,” according to Montana, who said parents and teachers — the ones working with students every day — cannot grab Bloomberg’s ear to address issues in schools.

At the same time, the Campaign for Better Schools says it is not completely against mayoral control. Claudio Idrovo, a resident of Jackson Heights and a high school teacher in his native Ecuador, acknowledged the policy has brought some grade improvements. On the other hand, he does not want to rely on statistics that are connected directly to the mayor’s office.

And Idrovo reiterated the feelings of his group when saying parents need to participate more in educational policy. The Better Schools Act seeks to provide parents with input on school closings and restructurings. It would also reinstitute the offices of district superintendents as a way to solve issues within communities.

“I’m convinced interaction with parents is going to improve education, which Bloomberg isn’t doing,” Idrovo said.

Smith’s office released a statement after the rally. He thanked the community for voicing its concerns, and reassured them that his proposal for mayoral control will not exclude them.

“Mayoral control has proven to be a far bigger success than what came before it, but no policy is perfect and I want to take this opportunity to enhance the measures that need improvement by providing parents with greater input and avenues for participation in their child’s education and ensuring greater fiscal accountability,” Smith said. “I look forward to a rigorous debate on what is best for our children.”

Teacher Against Mayoral Control: All That Power Hasn't Made Things Better by Arthur Goldstein

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As a teacher in an A-rated school, I believe mayoral control has been an absolute disaster.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Our federal and state governments have checks and balances so no one person has total control, which is a synonym for dictatorship.

City kids need reasonable class sizes and decent facilities. Under Mayor Bloomberg, class sizes just took their biggest leap in 10 years.

Some people say class size doesn't matter, but even the best teachers can give more attention to 20 kids than 34. The fewer kids I have, the more individual attention each one gets.

Under this mayor, charter schools get the best of everything, including small classes and new technology.

My high school was built to hold 1,800 but enrolls 4,450 students. My kids sit in a crumbling trailer, with no technology and often no heat in the winter. So much for efficiency.

The mayor says it's his way or "the bad old days." That's a false choice. We need a system that works better than what we have.

We need a chancellor who works for the kids, not the mayor. The chancellor needs to fight for what's best for kids whether or not the mayor agrees. He can't do that if the mayor can fire him for not following his orders.

A few years ago, the mayor fired two members of the Panel for Educational Policy who had the nerve to disagree with him.

Consequently, the PEP is a mayoral rubber stamp. No mayoral appointee dares to stand up for kids.

This mayor boasts about accountability. Teachers are accountable. Principals are accountable, but the only time the mayor is accountable is once every four years.

That's not enough, particularly for a man who is prepared to spend $100 million to buy reelection and who scoffed at the voters by changing the term limits law they twice affirmed.

Four more years of this system guarantees the privatization and destruction of public education in New York City. That's a prospect we should all oppose.

Arthur Goldstein teaches English as a Second Language at Francis Lewis High School in Queens

Lobbying To Change His Own Law, Sanders Wades Back Into Mayoral Control by Andrew J. Hawkins - City Hall News

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Former Assembly education chair, Klein foe, charges chancellor with “freelancing”

Most people do not keep copies of the mayoral control law in their offices.

Steve Sanders does.

“I wrote the law, so I know what’s in the law,” said Sanders, who chaired the Assembly Education Committee from 1995 to 2005, jabbing a finger at the leather-bound book containing the text.

Keeping a copy nearby is handy as Sanders levels his criticisms at how Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has been interpreting the law.

“There are a number of things he is doing, in my opinion as the author of the law, that are not authorized,” he said. “He was freelancing, he was doing things beyond the scope that exceeded the authority we gave him.”

Now an Albany-based lobbyist, Sanders finds himself back in the middle of the highly charged debate around renewing the law he helped shepherd through, which is set to expire June 30.

Sitting in his office at Crane, Vacco & Sanders, LLC, Sanders said he could have stayed on the sidelines and watched as his successor, Assembly Education Chair Catherine Nolan (D-Queens), did her best to manage all the competing interests involved. But instead, Sanders became one of those competing interests.

Late last year, Sanders was hired to lobby for the New York State School Board Association (NYSSBA), which represents over 700 school boards across the state. The New York City school board, the Panel of Education Policy, was once a member, until Klein ended that affiliation last year. NYSSBA was incensed at Klein’s decision to drop membership, especially since this fed into the group’s notion that that the chancellor was marginalizing the Panel from other state school boards.

As of now, the Panel is mainly a rubber stamp for Klein’s will. Sanders is lobbying his former colleagues to strengthen the Panel when reauthorizing the law, granting it the power to approve construction contracts, union contracts and certain regulations that have an impact on citywide issues, which he said was the original intent as written in the law.

Seeing well-funded groups like Learn NY, a pro-mayoral control lobbying organization, pushing its message on Albany lawmakers, the NYSSBA retained Sanders to lobby on its behalf. Having Sanders on its side “evens the playing field,” said Timothy Kremer, the group’s executive director.

“I don’t have that kind of money,” said Kremer of Learn NY’s reported $20 million budget. “But it is good to know that I have somebody who is aware of what the legislative intent was, who has contacts with those that will be making decisions in Albany, and who has contact with people in New York City.”

From the beginning, Sanders said he suspected something was off about mayoral control. When Klein moved to replace the 32 local school districts with six regional support centers, Sanders joined a lawsuit against the Department of Education to keep them and convened hearings about what he called a subversion of the intent of mayoral control.

Looking at the negotiations over renewal, Sanders said he agrees with increasing transparency and accountability, and more opportunities for parents to have their voices heard. He is also aware that the law’s many ambiguities have allowed Klein to bypass parents.

“One of the mistakes I made was that there wasn’t enough specificity,” Sanders said. “There wasn’t enough specific language diagramming what we meant.”

He did take credit for the sunset provision that is now forcing the debate about mistakes made in the first round.

But while Sanders lobbies for Sunshine Development School, Metschools Inc. and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators in addition to NYSSBA, education is not the only thing on his mind. Duane Reade and the East River Science Park corporation (which would be within his old Assembly district on Manhattan’s East Side) are also among his clients.

While he does not have the same role he used to, he admits, he still expects his colleagues’ respect in the mayoral control negotiations.

“I see myself as a young elder statesman,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “I can opine, I can reflect, and I do. Sometimes ad nauseum.”

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ABOVE: Steve Sanders helped write the mayoral control law. Now he is lobbying on behalf of the New York State School Board Association to make changes. Photo by Barry Sloan

Mayor Bloomberg’s Crib Sheet by Op-Ed Contributor Diane Ravitch - - NYTimes.com

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ARNE DUNCAN, the secretary of education, has urged the nation’s mayors to take control of their public schools so that they can impose radical reforms. He points to New York City as a prime example of a school system that made sharp improvements under mayoral control.

Photo: Diane Ravitch Website...

Actually, the record on mayoral control of schools is unimpressive. Eleven big-city school districts take part in the federal test called the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Two of the lowest-performing cities — Chicago and Cleveland — have mayoral control. The two highest-performing cities — Austin, Tex., and Charlotte, N.C. — do not. Mr. Duncan came to New York City last week to urge the New York State Legislature to renew the law that grants control of the New York City public schools to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. That law, passed in 2002, will expire at the end of June.

Mayoral control of the schools is not a new phenomenon in the city’s history. From 1873 to 1969, the mayor appointed every single member of the Board of Education. The era of decentralization from 1969 to 2002 was an aberration, because the mayor had only two appointees on a seven-member board.

Yet no mayor has exercised such unlimited power over the public schools as Mr. Bloomberg. Previous mayors respected the independence of the board members they appointed. The present version of the board, the Panel on Education Policy, serves at the pleasure of the mayor and rubber-stamps the policies and spending practices of the Department of Education, which is run by Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.

Mr. Bloomberg’s allies say that the results of the current system are so spectacular that the law should be renewed without change. Secretary Duncan agrees: “I’m looking at the data here in front of me,” he said while in New York. “Graduation rates are up. Test scores are up ... By every measure, that’s real progress.”

It sounds good, but in fact no independent source has verified such claims.

On the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress — widely acknowledged as the gold standard of the testing industry — New York City showed almost no academic improvement between 2003, when the mayor’s reforms were introduced, and 2007. There were no significant gains for New York City’s students — black, Hispanic, white, Asian or lower-income — in fourth-grade reading, eighth-grade reading or eighth-grade mathematics. In fourth-grade math, pupils showed significant gains (although the validity of this is suspect because an unusually large proportion — 25 percent — of students were given extra time and help). The federal test reported no narrowing of the achievement gap between white students and minority students.

The city’s Department of Education belittles the federal test scores and focuses on the assessments given by New York State. And, indeed, the state scores have soared in recent years, not only in the city but also across New York state However, the statewide scores on the N.A.E.P. are as flat as New York City’s. Our state tests are, unfortunately, exemplars of grade inflation.

The graduation rate is another area in which progress has been overstated. The city says the rate climbed to 62 percent from 53 percent between 2003 and 2007; the state’s Department of Education, which uses a different formula, says the city’s rose to 52 percent, from 44 percent. Either way, the city’s graduation rate is no better than that of Mississippi, which spends about a third of what New York City spends per pupil.

Moreover, the city’s graduation rates have been pumped up with a variety of dubious means, like “credit recovery,” in which students who fail a course can get full credit if they agree to take a three-day makeup program or turn in an independent project. In addition, the city counts as graduates the students who dropped out and obtained a graduate-equivalency degree.

To further raise the graduation rate, the city does not include as dropouts any of the students who were “discharged” during their high-school years. Some discharges are legitimate, like students who moved to another school district. But many others are so-called push-outs, students who were ejected from school even though they had a legal right to be there, often because their grades and test scores were bringing down their schools’ averages. The Department of Education refuses to disclose how many students are in each of these categories. We do know, however, that more than one-fifth of the members of the class of 2007, or 18,524 students, were discharged and not counted as dropouts.

Even those who manage to graduate from our high schools are often not ready for college. Three-quarters of the graduates fail their placement examinations at the City University of New York’s community colleges and require remediation in basic skills. These are students who presumably passed five Regents examinations to graduate yet cannot read or write or do mathematics up to the standards of a two-year community college. This reflects as poorly on the Regents examinations as it does on the city’s promotional policies.

This is not to say that Albany should eliminate mayoral control — nobody wants to return to the status quo of the ’90s. However, as legislators refine the law, they should establish clear checks and balances. The mayor should be authorized to appoint an independent Board of Education, whose members would serve for a set term. Candidates for the board should be evaluated by a blue-ribbon panel so that no mayor can stack it with friends. That board should appoint the chancellor, and his or her first responsibility must be to the children and their schools, not to the mayor.

The board should hold public meetings to review decisions before they are made final. Local school boards composed of parent leaders should oversee the schools in their districts, although they should not have any financial authority. Moreover, the school system needs a professional auditing agency to evaluate test scores and graduation rates. Claims of improvement are not credible without independent scrutiny.

Not every school problem can be solved by changes in governance. But to establish accountability, transparency and the legitimacy that comes with public participation, the Legislature should act promptly to restore public oversight of public education. As we all learned in civics class, checks and balances are vital to democracy.

Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education at New York University, is the author of “The Great School Wars: New York City, 1805-1973.”

Education Panel Votes To End 8th Grade Social Promotion by Austin Considine, Assistant Editor - Queens Chronicle

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The city’s Panel for Education Policy passed a measure on March 17 that effectively abolishes eighth grade “social promotion” in schools.

The PEP — whose approval is required for Department of Education mandates — passed the measure with an 11-1 vote.

“For too long, eighth graders have simply been passed along to high school, even if they were far below grade level and at risk of dropping out,” Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said in a statement after the vote. “Tonight’s vote will help ensure that these students will enter high school ready to succeed.”

Under the new policy, most eighth graders must pass all four core academic subjects, including their math and English Language Arts assessments, social studies and science. Students will also have to score a Level 2 or above on their math and ELA tests.

Students who fail to meet the new requirements will be able to retake failed tests or courses at summer school. Failing that, they will be obliged to repeat the eighth grade. In a small number of cases, students may appeal such decisions.

Standards can differ slightly for English learners, special education students and students who have been held back before.

The move has drawn vociferous criticism from some groups and parents who feel that children may be unduly punished for the failures of their respective middle schools.

At a meeting before the vote on March 20, critics shouted in protest, prompting Klein to clear the room twice before eventually cancelling the meeting, according to press reports.

Indeed, it is unclear what the new policy means for students and parents in under-performing school districts like 27 — which comprises Woodhaven, Ozone Park, Howard Beach, Far Rockaway and parts of Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park and Kew Gardens.

According to the DOE’s school grading system — whereby schools are given letter grades for performance — more than half the schools in District 27 scored a C or lower. Of the district’s 16 middle schools (including K-8 schools), nine of them received a C or lower.

“Nobody wants to see kids who aren’t qualified to move on move on,” said David Quintana, former District 27 representative for the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council. “But all they’re doing is leaving (these kids) behind.”

Quintana also accused the DOE of holding back potential drop-outs to make high school graduation rates look “rosy and sweet.”

Andrew Jacob, a spokesman for the DOE, cited statistics showing that eighth graders who pass all their courses are more than twice as likely to graduate high school than those who don’t.

“Fundamentally, it does a disservice to students to move them along before they’re ready,” he said. “It sets them up for failure.”

Jacob also cited additional measures that would help children pass, including new, periodic assessments for early problem detection, and a middle school improvement plan, currently in the works for next year.

Queens still did not have a borough representative on the panel when the vote was taken, as it has not for the last five months. The task of appointing a representative falls to Borough President Helen Marshall.

Forum Debates Mayor's Control Of City School System - NY1: Top Stories

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A state law that gives Mayor Michael Bloomberg control over the city schools' governing body is bound to expire soon. At a forum held Tuesday morning in Midtown’s Manhattan Institute, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said that such a law benefited the school system and deserved to be renewed.

The law in question replaced the Board of Education with the Panel for Educational Policy. Bloomberg appoints eight of the 13 members - leading to criticism that the panel rubber-stamps mayoral initiatives like ending social promotions.

Klein said that the mayor’s increased authoritative power has led to a rise in city schools’ test scores and graduation rates. He also said that while schools do need improvement, they are on the right track.

"If we abandon mayoral control, and take the mayor out of the ability to take on the tough and often politically controversial challenges, we will be making a huge mistake," said Klein.

Parents and officials at the meeting weighed the pros and cons of the mayor's influence.

"We have today a mayoral dictatorship, not mayoral control. I believe in mayoral control with an independent board," said Diane Ravitch of NYU's Steinhardt School.

Albany lawmakers will vote on renewing the law later this month.

City's Ed Policy Board Lacks Queens Advocate by Howard Koplowitz - Times Ledger

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A citywide panel that sets education policy, including a crucial vote Monday that abolished social promotion for eighth-graders, has been without a Queens representative since November.

In the four months without Queens representation, the Panel for Education Policy has voted on a capital budget and on Monday approved an end to social promotion for eighth-graders by an 11-to-1 margin.

Queens "has already missed out on two important things," said William McDonald, president of the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council, which advises the chancellor on policy issues, and a Springfield Gardens resident.

The lone vote against abolishing social promotion, a policy where students who do not meet academic requirements still move on to the next grade based on their age, was cast by the member appointed by the Manhattan borough president.

"It's a very important position, in my opinion, and it needs to be filled," said McDonald. "You need a voice in education matters, especially with these budget cuts."

Dan Andrews, a spokesman for Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, who is responsible for appointing one member to the PEP, said her office would look into the situation.

Michael Flowers, the Queens representative on the PEP, left the post in November.

The PEP is the predecessor to the now-defunct Board of Education, which was abolished after Mayor Michael Bloomberg was given control of the city's school system.

Bloomberg appoints eight representatives to the 13-member board, with the remaining five selected by the borough presidents.

While the PEP has final say on education matters, the body basically rubber-stamps policies advocated by Bloomberg, whose representation dominates the board.

"It's almost criminal and it's neglectful at best," said one Queens education advocate who declined to give his name. "Queens needs to have a rep on this board."

"For the last four months, Queens has had no rep on the PEP," the advocate said, noting that there was not even an observer from the borough present at PEP meetings since Flowers' departure. "Queens didn't even have a rep at the table."