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Parents’ new demands

Parents in School District 20 are demanding that they have a stronger role in the public school system.

The Community Education Council (CEC) representing the district, which spans Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, Borough Park and part of Bensonhurst, passed a resolution calling for the next form of school governance to better involve parents in city Department of Education (DOE) decision−making.

The CEC wants “to create a governance system distinguished by an educational partnership between the mayor, the chancellor and parents, who together would endeavor to strive toward consensus in the effort to improve our schools.”

The council says parents have been shut out under mayoral control, which is up for review next month.

“A promise of greater parental and community input have not been met,” the CEC notes.

In the case of CECs, which are volunteer groups of parents advocating for local schools, DOE officials often disregard the councils, the resolution charges.

“In many districts, the input of CECs has been ignored on a wide range of educational issues, and there has been little or no consultation when it comes to the opening and closing of schools in their districts,” District 20’s CEC says.