By Rich Bockmann
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is moving full steam ahead with his educational agenda in the waning days of his administration, and a coalition of Queens leaders Tuesday denounced his efforts as an attempt to impose his policies on his successor.
In June, the city Panel for Educational Policy approved plans that will significantly impact Queens schools as late as the 2015 school year, and the panel is scheduled to vote at the end of October on nine proposals that will go into effect under the next mayor’s watch.
“This is only an opportunity for the Department of Education to usurp the next administration, let’s be clear about this,” City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) said Tuesday on the steps of Borough Hall, where he was surrounded by about two dozen educators, elected officials and presumptive electeds, all of whom likely believe Democratic mayoral nominee Bill de Blasio will win in November. “We’re here to make sure they stop trying to impact education beyond their term.”
Each year the panel, which is made up of a majority of mayoral appointees, votes on proposals such as co-locations and school closures, and each year they are met with vocal opposition from school communities. The administration counters that the voices missing from the discussion are those of parents who choose not to enroll their students in struggling schools, and stands behind its policies of offering more school choices.
Earlier this summer the panel approved plans to eliminate grades and co-locate schools at three western Queens institutions, plans that are scheduled to be carried out during the next mayor’s first two years.
“The city’s next administration should be able to start with a clean slate, not be forced to inherit co-location proposals that may not align with future reforms,” Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) said.
One of the more contentious proposals — and one that has been a hallmark of Bloomberg’s agenda — has been co-locating schools. Critics say the practice causes tensions between two school communities that have to share common spaces such as gyms, auditoriums and lunch rooms.
There are a pair of proposals to co-locate Success Academy charter schools with two schools in southeast Queens slated to be decided on at the upcoming Oct. 30 PEP meeting
Another plan would co-locate a technical education high school with Long Island City High School, which has had two different principals in the past two years and avoided closure two years ago.
Costa Constantinides, the Democratic candidate for Astoria’s District 22 Council seat, said the Bloomberg administration was being relentless in reforming a school it had set up to fail.
“Well, it’s like that chef at that restaurant across the street coming out and saying, ‘The food sucks,’” he said. “Well frankly, you’re the one who cooked it.”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
