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On Tuesday May 31st, the State legislature released the bill to amend and renew Mayoral control of the city’s school system (A10499/S9459). The bill has some important changes that are responsive to our advocacy efforts, such as enabling CECs to interview a minimum of 3 candidates for superintendency, requiring a CEC representative on the District Leadership Team and adding an elected parent member with a child in a D75 program to every CEC. The bill also extends Mayoral control by two years, rather than four, and tasks the NYS Education Department Commissioner with reviewing and assessing school governance.
We appreciate tremendously the legislators who communicated with us throughout this process and fought for changes supported by the ECC. However, we are deeply dismayed by some of the amendments in the bill. In an effort to be responsive to as many stakeholders as possible, the law seems to have become a hodgepodge of disparate ideas without a cohesive vision for what this system should be. We share our concerns below. Changes to City Board of Education (a.k.a., the Panel for Educational Policy or PEP)
Changes to Community District Education Councils (CECs)
Powers & duties of PEP and CECs We requested enhancing powers and duties of the PEP and CECs to create more checks and balances. Unfortunately very little has changed. Here are some changes that were not included in the amended law.
Task Force to develop a democratic alternative to Mayoral control We are pleased that there will be a process for a thorough review of the school governance. The law tasks the NYS Education Department Commissioner to review and assess school governance and to contract with an institution of higher education in doing this research. It is unclear if there is any funding set aside for this purpose. The Commissioner is also required to hold one hearing per borough to engage the rights holders. We hope the Commissioner will create an advisory committee, working with the institution of higher education. Public hearings are welcome and necessary, but they are rarely the appropriate platform for thoughtful and in-depth dialogue among rights holders to consider and vet ideas. Conclusion This amendment process illustrated why we needed a task force. Some of the changes made are not in alignment with the realities of the roles in which we serve. As we feared, legislators ran out of time to have thoughtful and deliberate discussions regarding which immediate tweaks should be implemented to create more checks and balances, and which should be decided after the thorough vetting of a commission. We will continue to advocate for a better school governance system because this is about our children and the future of our City.
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First watch this video to understand why Mayoral control is undemocratic. The State legislature is poised to extend Mayoral control for three years. Please send emails and call your legislators today and every day for the next week. Please keep sending letters by clicking here.
After you email, please call your legislators and tell them:
Tweet and tag your legislators. Post on Facebook and Instagram. Tell your friends to take action. Here is the toolkit. On April 14, 2022, the Mayor and the Chancellor released their plan for the Gifted & Talented program. We are deeply disappointed by their lack of commitment to create an equitable and anti-racist school system as evidenced in their willingness to continue segregating students. The Mayor claims he is “expanding equity” and how this new plan will end parents fighting for a small number of seats. The Chancellor says he is moving to “end the era of scarcity” by offering two entry points: Kindergarten and third grade. These declarations ring hollow to the vast majority of families whose children will not be served by the G&T program.
The numbers simply do not support the claim of equity or ending scarcity. There are more than 70,000 students in each elementary grade in NYC. Kindergarten G&T seats of 2,500 amount to about 3% of the Kindergarteners. For third grade, the plan calls for identifying the top 10% of second graders in every school and inviting them to apply. The plan also adds 1,000 seats to the third grade G&T program. If we assume the number of G&T seats is relatively stable as it moves up the grade from Kindergarten, then the total number of G&T seats for third grade will be approximately 3,500 - about 5% of the total third graders and half of eligible students. We want to know how a segregated program serving 5% of the children is equitable. The DOE press release states the “expansion is the result of the DOE’s engagement with parents and community stakeholders.” Considering the very small number of families served by the G&T program, we are left wondering with whom the DOE engaged. We know who was NOT engaged in the conversation. Black, brown, immigrant and low income parents have been forced to fight for crumbs for decades. Parents of children with disabilities are not even given crumbs in the current system of segregation. We must not be duped into believing that adding a few more crumbs to a slightly larger pool of historically marginalized students is equity. The ECC supported the School Diversity Advisory Group’s recommendation to implement a School-wide Enrichment Model (see below) to replace the current segregated G&T program. The DOE, under the de Blasio administration, was in the process of developing Brilliant NYC as the new program (the DOE website for Brilliant NYC has been taken down). Yet, the new administration has disregarded this equity work and is rolling back what little progress we have made. We must continue to fight for equity and advocate for the School-wide Enrichment Model (SEM), which is widely implemented as both an enrichment program used as an alternative to gifted and talented programs and as a magnet theme/enrichment approach for all students. The purpose of the SEM is to develop the strengths and talents of all students. The SEM provides enriched learning experiences and higher learning standards for all children through three goals:
Many schools in the City are using this model, either as all day cluster class events, across a whole grade, or on rotating semesters. If you would like to learn more, watch this SEM presentation (start at 11: 15:00) and read about Ms. Halley Potter's Strategies for School Leaders and Educators. With questions about SEM, you can reach out to Halley at potter@tcf.org We need to demand democracy and equity for NYC public schools. We want an end to Mayoral control and inequitable funding for traditional public schools.
We demand the State legislature to:
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