School District 21’s Community Education Council (CEC) will elect a president — again.
Last month, the CEC, which is a volunteer parents’ group advocating for schools in Coney Island and Bensonhurst, selected Dionne Hastings, a veteran CEC member, as its new president.
However, the city Department of Education (DOE) recently notified the CEC that Hastings’ election is invalid, as six votes are required for an election. Hastings received five votes.Yoketing Eng, the CEC’s current president, received two votes. (Four CEC members were not present for the election.)
At a CEC meeting last week, the council attempted to schedule another election. Insiders say there was a disagreement about when the election should be held. Some suggested holding the election during the regular monthly meeting on September 16. Others suggested an emergency meeting in the next few weeks because the election would conflict with the September meeting’s agenda.
By press time, an exact date for the election had yet to be scheduled.
Whenever the election is held, Eng and Hastings will square off for the president’s seat.
Explaining why he should remain president, Eng said, “Under my administration, we ran the CEC office for nearly seven months without an administrative assistant and we put a five-year capital plan together with several council members’ help. I have always encouraged open communication so that we can settle our differences. We ended the infighting among the council members during meetings.”
Hastings could not be reached for comment for this story.
To remain updated about the reelection, contact District 21’s CEC at 718-714-2503 or e-mail Cec21@schools.nyc.gov.
