From the beginning of time and the world as we know it I have been opposed to the appointment of members and the existence of the
Panel For Educational Policy. What could be the benefit to the children of NYC to have the school board say yes to anything the Mayor and Chancellor want, knowing both their backgrounds.....)
The best argument against keeping Mayoral control over the NYC public schools is in yesterday's (June 1, 2016) NY POST - see below.
The corruption of Mayor
Bill de Blasio and his sidekick,
Carmen Farina. The two of them have managed to do more damage to the students of New York City than any Mayor in recent history, the truth will come out. No, I haven't forgotton about Bloomberg's scandal with
CityTime.... but I still think the Bill-Carmen team is worse). The
PEP puppets harm NYC public schools and the parents/children under their direction and authority.
Bill and Carmen must not be left at the top without public supervision - give them monitors or something? Put them under 24-hour watch.
But get rid of the PEP, and give us back a vote for school board members. I believe in no
taxation/vexation without representation. July 4th is nearly here.
I agree with the judgment given by the NY Court of Appeals (
281 N.Y. 170; 22 N.E.2d 327; 1939 N.Y. LEXIS 994) in the case
Divisich et al., Appellants, v. James Marshall et al., Constituting the Board of Education of the City of New York, Respondents:
"Public education shall be beyond control by
municipalities and politics. The Board of Education of the City of New York
is not a department of the city government, it is an independent corporate
body and may sue and be sued in its corporate name. N.Y. Educ. Law §§ 300,
865. While the municipality must make appropriations of money to run the
schools, the expenditure of that money when once appropriated vests solely in
the educational board."
|
Whatever,
Preet, just do it.
Betsy Combier
 |
| NYC Chancellor Carmen Farina |
The 13-person panel that votes on city school spending signed
off at an April meeting on millions of dollars in contracts for a slew of
troubled vendors, The Post has learned.
The Panel for Educational Policy, on which Schools Chancellor
Carmen Fariña sits as a nonvoting member, voted to give 36 community-based
organizations (CBOs) a total of $77 million to work with 82 struggling schools
across the city.
But many of the vendors are as tainted as the “renewal” schools
with which they’ll begin working next month. Red flags include past complaints
of sexual abuse, financial misconduct and neglect.
Despite these histories, Department of Education paperwork
provided to PEP members before the vote stated that background checks “revealed
no significant adverse information on all awarded vendors,” documents reveal.
“All vendors have therefore been determined to be responsible.”
The DOE told The Post Wednesday that the omissions were “an
error.”
“We are addressing this error and submitting an updated RA
[request for authorization], including updated background-check information,
for review and approval by the Panel for Educational Policy this month,” DOE
spokeswoman Devora Kaye said.
The department stated that the contracts were originally vetted
by the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development. That agency did
not return a call for comment.
In March of this year, a girl under the care of a CBO called
Abbott House filed a suit claiming she was repeatedly molested by her foster
parent and that the organization blamed her when she complained.
The PEP at the April meeting awarded Abbott House a two-year,
$1.23 million contract to work with PS 64 in The Bronx.
In July 2014, a staffer at Good Shepherd Services admitted to
sexually abusing three underage students and was fired, according to records.
But the PEP approved GSS’s two-year, $1.6 million pact to work
with Essence School and Boys and Girls HS, both in Brooklyn.
A dance instructor at the Sports & Arts in School Foundation
pleaded guilty in 2014 to sexually abusing a 13-year-old female student.
But the PEP approved two contracts worth $1.77 million for
Sports & Arts to serve as a CBO at New Explorers HS in The Bronx and MS 053
Brian Piccolo in Queens.
Former PEP member Patrick Sullivan blasted the omissions and
blamed the sloppy oversight on a frenzy to enact new initiatives.
‘They’ve rushed these things into place and
are cutting even more corners than usual,” he said. “The background checks are
omitting information that the PEP should have.”
Senate
GOP tries to wrestle away de Blasio’s control of NYC schools with bill that
would extend his power for just a year, include Gov. Cuomo-appointed
‘inspector’
 |
Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan sponsored the bill, which was quietly introduced to the Senate on Friday.
(MIKE GROLL/AP) |
LINK
ALBANY — In a shot directly at Mayor de Blasio,
the state Senate Republicans on Friday quietly introduced a bill that would
extend New York city mayoral control over the schools for just a year while at
the same time giving the governor a role in how the city system is run.
The bill by the Senate GOP, which has been warring
with de Blasio, would create a new position of New York City
education inspector that would be appointed not by the mayor, but the governor,
with consent from the Senate.
According to the bill, which is sponsored by
Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Education Committee Chairman Carl
Marcellino, the education inspector would provide "oversight, guidance,
and technical assistance related to the educational and fiscal policies,
practices, programs, and decisions of the city district, city board, chancellor,
and mayor."
The appointed inspector would need some kind of
background in education and would serve, along with the schools chancellor, as
a non-voting member of the city board. The inspector would be entitled to
attend all board meetings, including executive sessions.
The inspector, according to the bill, would have
access to all educational facilities and records and could impose monthly
reporting requirements on the board, chancellor or Department of Education.
Chancellor Carmen Farina (is she asleep?), and
Mayor Bill de Blasio
The gubernatorial appointee would also be able to
appeal any decision by the city board to the state education commissioner, with
the board being required to demonstrate their action was in the best interests
of the students.
The inspector would also be required to evaluate
and make recommendations on a wide range of issues, including how funds are
distributed, disciplinary actions against students and teachers, and the
co-location of charter schools.
He or she would also look into the effectiveness
of programs for the disabled and English Language learners, and how well the
city is engaging parents and community members.
The evaluation results and recommendations would
be reported to the governor and legislative leaders.
With the mayoral control law set to expire at the
end of June, the Senate bill would extend it another year through June 30, 2017
— smack in the middle of de Blasio's re-election campaign.
The bill would also require the city to regularly
provide state leaders a trove of information on student and teacher data and
expenditures as well as develop a facilities capital plan that identifies the
10 most overcrowded and underutilized school buildings.
Education Committee Chairman Carl Marcellino also
sponsored the bill, which would appoint instate an education inspector
appointed by Gov. Cuomo and approved by the Senate.(MIKE GROLL/AP)
A de Blasio spokeswoman said City Hall would not
support the Senate bill.
"The successes we're seeing in our schools
are the direct result of accountable mayoral control," spokeswoman Karen
Hinton said. "To deny New York City’s 1.1 million students anything less
than the full preservation of mayoral control is to subject them to the
dysfunction and chaos of the old system, as well as risk an end to higher test
scores and graduation rates. We urge once again the swift approval of this
proven governance structure.”
Gov. Cuomo's office did not comment immediately.
The Assembly, which recently passed its own bill
that would extend mayoral control another three years, also opposes the Senate
measure.
De Blasio,
state Senate argue over mayoral control of NYC schools
"They weren't interested in placing
conditions on mayoral control when Mayor Bloomberg was in office," said
Michael Whyland spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. "We support a
straight extension."
The matter must be resolved before the scheduled
June 16 end of the legislative session or the law will expire and the city
school system would revert back to the old Board of Education days.
