By Michael Morton
“You have to give us some say so with what goes on with our children,” said Robin Birmingham, whose child attends IS 192 in St. Albans. She spoke at a public forum March 31 at Campus Magnet High School in Cambria Heights.
Candidates for the councils, which take over on July 1, must have a child in the school district they seek to represent, a change from the old school board system.
School board members were previously elected in general citywide votes. But with the councils, a key element of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's efforts to reform the school system, the members are to be chosen by May 11 by the highest ranking officers of every parent and parent-teacher association in each district.
Less then half of the 25 candidates spoke at the forum for School District 29, which covers Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, Laurelton, Rosedale, Rochdale Village, Hollis, Cambria Heights and parts of Jamaica and Fresh Meadows.
Each candidate was given four minutes to explain why he or she sought one of the council positions, and many urged parents in their community to become more educated about how the school system works and to seize the opportunity to become more involved.
“I think that's what's sorely lacking in this community,” said John Tillman, a member of the PTA at PS 195 in Rosedale and JHS 231 in Laurelton. “It's not an option — we must do it.”
Other candidates spoke about controversial decisions made by Bloomberg and the Department of Education.
“I don't believe in social promotion,” said Tamu Arnoux, adding that her third-grader at PS 95 in Jamaica might be held back. “But I don't think we were informed early enough.”
Andrea Foy, a NYPD school safety officer and mother of a boy in PS 37 in Jamaica, questioned the strategy of placing more police in schools to quell violence.
“Do you really think it's going to make it better off having police officers coming into our schools?” she asked rhetorically. “There is not enough positive reinforcement going on with our children.
And Birmingham, the IS 192 parent, criticized the reliance on standardized tests, the format of which she said kept changing.
“It's not all about tests,” she said.
During their speeches, several candidates compared the fortunes of District 29 to those of District 26, their neighbor to north and the top performer in the city.
“District 29 used to have very high test scores and I would like to see us get those days back,” said Ronald Johnson, who has two children in PS/IS 208 on the Glen Oaks Campus and two in PS 251 in Springfield Gardens. After the meeting, Johnson said his older children used to go to schools in District 26, which appeared to have access to more resources.
“Why that is so is baffling,” he said.
City officials involved with the creation of the councils said many of the school boards have been paralyzed by factional infighting and that many parents complained that members did not have children in the district.
But after the forum, Jeany Persaud, a Laurelton resident and the chairwoman of the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council, said Board 29 had been a cohesive group and that many members had grown children who once attended schools in the district. They are now ineligible to run.
“It's unfortunate,” Persaud said. “They are the ones who have the knowledge.”
Persaud also blamed the Education Department for not publicizing the forum in the community.
“This was unacceptable,” she said.
Reach reporter Michael Morton by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by calling 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
