Mayoral school control is flawed

The mayor’s control over the city’s public schools has a number of flaws, most notably too much power centered at the top, which has discouraged parental input. This is the main thing that educators and community members from Howard Beach and the vicinity expressed during a forum on mayoral school control held on Monday, October 6.
The forum comes at a time when the New York State Senate and Assembly are gathering testimonials from citizens and holding public hearings in all boroughs to solicit opinions about the efficiency of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s school management. The legislature is gathering these opinions because in June 2009 it will review the mayor’s performance and vote on whether to continue or revise the current school structure.
Held at St. Barnabas Church, at 159-19 98th Street, in Howard Beach, the school control discussion was hosted by Councilmember Joseph Addabbo, a democrat who represents parts of South Queens and is running for Senate.
“The almost seven-year experimentation with mayoral control is a failure,” said David Quintana, a member of the city group Class Size Matters and of Community Board 10’s education committee.
“Many speak about tweaking the system, but I think it is in need of a massive overhaul to make it more responsive to the needs of its primary stakeholders,” Quintana said.
Most of the other debaters, about 30, essentially agreed. “To me, it’s almost like a dictatorship. The windows to the Department of Education are black; you can’t see through them,” said Andrew Baumann, president of Community Education Council District 27.
“There’s no communication. There’s no ‘Put your hand in mine and we’ll do it together,’” Baumann added, recommending more checks and balances. “If mayoral control is to continue, it has to be revamped where the mayor is more of a monitor, because, let’s face it, the mayor is not an educator.”
Betty Braton, a teacher for many years and a chairperson of Community Board 10, expressed a similar view, saying that the current system has been designed to fit Bloomberg, but it may not fit a different mayor. She added: “It doesn’t function to allow all the different stakeholders to have a say.”
One group of stakeholders that debaters agreed is underrepresented are parents. “[They] don’t want to be involved because they feel they don’t have a voice,” said Baumann.
Andrea Mercatante, president of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) at P.S. 207 in Howard Beach, complained that the main role of her school’s association has been limited to fund-raising. “We are looked at as a cash cow. That’s all we are good for,” Mercatante said. “In five years, I don’t see the PA [Parents Association] involved in the school at all. Parents go above the PA to have their needs met.”
Tracy Schnepf, second vice president of the PA at P.S. 47 in Broad Channel, echoed the sentiment. “I have nine parents that come to our PA meetings,” she lamented.
Representatives from the Department of Education were not present to respond to the debaters’ concerns.
They were invited, but “they were told not to be here today,” which is disappointing, said Addabbo. “They felt it was political - I’m a councilman; I’m a candidate for state senate,” Addabbo explained, claiming that this was not political.
But some of the debaters, such as Assemblymember Catherine Nolan, who chairs the Assembly’s education committee, expressed hope that next year Addabbo would be in the Senate and vote on whether to continue or change the current structure of school governance.
Meanwhile, Senator Shirley Huntley, co-chair of the Senate’s committee on the governance of New York City schools, urged the public to submit testimonials to her about the effectiveness of mayoral school control.
Nolan’s Albany office is also accepting testimonials.
In 2002, Bloomberg inherited control over the city’s school system, the biggest one in the country, which prior to that was widely believed to lack transparency and the ability to produce skilled students. Bloomberg created a centralized system headed by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. The Chancellor’s numerous reforms have proved controversial though.