Not-Dead Board Of Ed Votes To Keep Schools Chancellor Klein

Yesterday, the re-formed Board of Education voted unanimously to keep Schools Chancellor Joel Klein in control of the school system. The board's first meeting in years was, the NY Times reports, "not the chaos Mr. Bloomberg had predicted if mayoral control of the schools lapsed." And the Daily News notes, "Predictions of anarchy failed to materialize as the first day of summer school passed without the Soviet-style dysfunction Mayor Bloomberg predicted."

The new board is made up of seven members—two appointed by the mayor, the other five appointed by each of the borough presidents—and three of them are deputy mayors (here's a cribsheet). Still, Bloomberg was pissed that the State Senate didn't vote on legislation to keep control of schools under the mayor, saying during a press conference, "Since the Senate refused to exercise its duties responsibly, we here in the city are moving to protect our children. We’ll do our best to keep them from becoming victims of the Albany train wreck."

The board later voted 6-1 in favor of continuing mayoral control of schools. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.'s representative Dolores Fernandez abstained from the vote; Diaz said, "Though I am a supporter of some form of mayoral control, and am disappointed that the current law was allowed to expire, the business of our children is too important to wait for Albany to act."

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By Jen Chung in News on July 2, 2009 11:29 AM

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Rfive

NYC politics. Business as usual.

felixthecat2

Bloomberg must be terrified. He needs to keep Klein in place to cover his dirty deals - such as lack of NYC licensing of inner circle friends in the DOE, illegal contracts and inflated test scores.. A change in chancellor just might expose Bloomberg and Klein's corrupt practices. How can they be held accountable, when they call the shots. There is no independent monitoring of the budget or of student data. We need a strong system of checks and balances and then we can hold these crooks accountable.

longacre

Yeah, because stuff like that never happened before Bloomberg, and surely Willy Thompson would never do such a thing.

calypsojpants

I'm in favor of whatever or whoever lifts this rotten teacher hiring freeze.

jaycjay

"'m in favor of whatever or whoever lifts this rotten teacher hiring freeze."

Personally, I'd support a freeze on hiring rotten teachers.

jaycjay

"The board later voted 6-1 in favor of continuing mayoral control of schools. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.'s representative Dolores Fernandez abstained from the vote"

Not exactly. An abstention would result in a 6-0 vote, not 6-1. According to the linked Post article, she voted against continuing mayoral control, and abstained from the vote for board president:

"The Bloomberg-friendly board voted 6-0 to appoint Walcott as board president, with Bronx appointee Dolores Fernandez abstaining. She also opposed continuing mayoral control."

pastaboy12

NYC can easily become a self-sufficient city-state. Who needs Albany?

felixthecat2

We need Albany since albany is the only one who keeps Bloomberg in check.

Bloomberg owns this city and has the city council, borough presidents, unions, etc all in his pockets. Unfortunately Espada and Monseratte really screwed anyone's plans