School Board Elections Are Up In The Air

Though state legislators have been announcing for weeks that City school board elections will be postponed for a year to allow New York to decide how to resolve the school governance debate, the Board of Elections is maintaining that the races will go forward as planned, until the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) instructs it otherwise.
"As of now, its still on," said Rick Peters, a spokesman for the Board of Elections, about the school board contest scheduled for May 7.
But Kevin Ortiz, the Board of Educations spokesman, said, "They [the elections] will be postponed for a year."
The conflicting reports are a result of premature announcements by the State Senate, Assembly, and Governors Office Governor Pataki ratified legislation passed by the States two houses temporarily suspending the elections that the race was officially put off until 2003. The final approval to enact such a change, however, in accordance with the 1965 Federal Voting Rights Act, is the domain of the federal DOJ. The DOJ has not yet issued a verdict regarding this matter, thus the election, for the time being, will proceed.
Though it is unlikely that the Dept. of Justice will ultimately derail the States plan, in the interim, the definitive statements made by State officials about a point actually in question has confused the election process, as it continues as regular. The deadline for school board ballot petitions to be filed is Mar. 7. As of the end of Mar. 5, the second day of the four-day window to apply for candidacy, only one petition had been submitted for all six school districts in Queens, and nine for the City in total. Ordinarily, "between four and five hundred" applications are tendered, according to Board of Elections clerk Matt Graves.
The one applicant at press time, Arlene Fleishman of Flushing, is the longest-serving member of School Board 25.
According to a statement made by DOJ spokesman Dan Nelson in the Carroll Gardens / Cobble Hill Courier, the DOJ will render its decision by Apr. 22. The DOJ, though, apparently hasnt notified the Board of Elections. "We thought we would have known way before now," said Peters.