A checks-and-balances system should be put in place to oversee the city Department of Education (DOE), according to a city official.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn made the suggestion while discussing the future of school governance with a group of reporters at Junior’s restaurant on Flatbush Avenue.
Quinn said mayoral control, which will sunset next year, should be renewed — but with some modifications.
“Having the City Council be the legislative body would also be helpful in making sure parents have a voice,” she said.
Although Quinn said she’s awaiting a report from the City Council’s school governance task force before making an official recommendation about whether mayoral control should continue, she did say, “There are changes I want.”
Those changes start with giving the City Council some authority over the DOE. Currently, the Council has no power to dictate DOE policy.
“It is frustrating because there are important issues that we can’t legislate over on the blocks and in our schools,” Quinn said.
That was clear last year when the City Council passed a bill challenging Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ban of cell phones in public schools. Since the Council has no power over the DOE, the bill failed to weaken the ban.
In recent weeks, there have been complaints that Bloomberg is running the DOE without a checks-and-balances system. While the City Council has no authority, parents also say they’ve been shut out of the system.
“One of the things we hear most often from parents is how they feel marginalized,” City Councilmember Vincent Gentile of Bay Ridge said at Junior’s.
Under mayoral control, “I predicted that parents would be left in the cold. That’s what happened,” he said.
“They need to find a better way in the Department of Education of including the community they serve,” Quinn said.
The DOE says that it is involving parents in the school system.
“The Department of Education is always trying to improve communication with parents and communities,” said DOE spokesperson Maibe Gonzalez Fuentes. “We put a parent coordinator in every school to assist parents in resolving school issues and created a new Family Engagement Office.”
“We have also shared our proposals with community-based organizations and thousands of parents who attended town hall meetings to discuss education plans put forward by the department. Their feedback has been incorporated when appropriate,” she added.