Results tagged “boardofeducation”

With kids back in the classrooms, parents and teachers have been complaining about overcrowding. According to the UFT, the number of jam-packed classes has increased by 20 percent this year. Many students end up sharing books, while others are made to learn inside converted closets. "It's like on the subway at rush hour," said Erin Flanagan, a P.E. teacher in Flushing, "when the doors open, there's no room. That's what the hallways are like."

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."

Since the State Senate has been deadlocked for weeks, legislation giving Mayor Bloomberg control of the school system expired—forcing an emergency meeting of the re-formed Board of Education today. According to CityRoom, the Board's seven members are "three deputy mayors, three sympathetic allies of the mayor, and one wild card from the Bronx." The Daily News adds the Board "is expected to give [Schools Chancellor Joel] Klein authority over the school system -- essentially keeping Mayor Bloomberg in charge."