By Ayala Ben-Yehuda and Alexander Dworkowitz
In response to legislation sponsored by state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) to preserve the city’s 32 community school districts, the Department of Education will put an administrator and a small staff in every district to respond to parent inquiries, a spokesman for Padavan said.
The districts are set to be grouped into 10 instructional regions under the city’s reorganization plan, with 10 instructional supervisors to be hired within each region.
Parents in District 26 in northeast Queens have rallied against Mayor Bloomberg’s plan, charging that it will limit meaningful parental contact with school administrators by adding a higher level of bureaucracy.
According to a memo on the agreement negotiated between Padavan and City Hall obtained by the TimesLedger, a local instructional supervisor would be assigned to each of the old community school districts to handle parent questions and problems, work with local parent councils, and monitor the performance of district schools.
Padavan said last week he has not dropped his legislation to preserve the old districts, but would give the city a chance to follow through with its promise before proceeding further.
“I wouldn’t use the word ‘compromise,’” said Padavan of the accord. “I would use the word ‘acquiescence’ by the city.”
He pointed out that “if it works, then we won’t need legislation.”
The senator acknowledged that his measure faced obstacles in the Legislature because the Assembly has not introduced a companion bill. Instead the Assembly’s Education Committee chairman, Steve Sanders (D-Manhattan), and other lawmakers are pursuing a lawsuit in state court to block the city’s reforms. Padavan is a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, which is still pending.
In meetings with parents and school leaders from Districts 25, 26 and 29 last week, Padavan said the agreement with City Hall on district administrators received support.
“The general feeling is … it is a substantial improvement and we have to see how it’s implemented,” said Padavan.
The agreement accomplished “90 percent, if not more, of what we set out to achieve,” he said.
But Melvyn Meer, head of Community Board 11’s ad hoc education committee and a staunch opponent of the mayor’s reorganization plan, said the agreement only achieved closer to “50 to 60 percent” of what parents wanted.
Meer, who participated in the meetings with Padavan, said the Education Department’s provision for district administrators did not carry the force of law.
“(The schools chancellor) could withdraw that office and that support staff and designation at any time,” said Meer, calling the change a “managerial move.”
Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Bayside), who also met with Padavan and parents, called the agreement “a fair compromise.”
“No matter how deep you dig your heels, it’s nice to pull them up every once in a while,” said Weprin.
Not pulling up their heels were the board members of District 25, which covers Flushing, Whitestone, College Point and Kew Gardens Hills, who voted 6-1 to support the state court lawsuit at a May 21 meeting.
“Why did [Bloomberg] have to make 10 regions?” asked SB 25’s president, Arlene Fleishman. “We’re not a business. We’re not a corporation.”
Fleishman, whose district covers Flushing, Whitestone, College Point and part of Fresh Meadows, did not object to the dissolution of the school board, which she characterized as virtually powerless. Instead she worried the parental advisory boards that the mayor says will replace the boards are limited by bureaucracy.
“I feel the way the system is set up now, they are putting barrier after barrier in front of the parents,” she said.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
