Mayoral Control: Whose School Is It?

Name: Whose School Is It? (2 hours)
Organizer: WESPA: NYU's Wagner Education Policy Studies Association & NYU's Institute for Education and Social Policy
Location: Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012
Summary: Going into this I wasn't sure what to expect. There was a panel of 4 people, Lesley Esters Redwine, Richard Kessler, Leonie Haimson, and Fatima Shama. Lesley was an advocate for charter schools. Everything she said spoke about how successful charter schools have been after the changes made 6 years ago. She stated how because of the mayoral control, more student-centered decisions are being made. And because of this, more charter schools are being opened, students are learning, and schools are getting results. When they would like future mayors to addresses a specific issue she didn’t want anything to change. She suggested that if any changes were going to be made, that charter schools should be kept in mind and the effect these changes would have on charter schools. She also stated how more charter schools should be supported and more failing schools should be closed.

Richard was an advocate from the Center for Arts education. He emphasized the importance of arts in education and how arts were becoming a more integral part of education because of the mayoral control. He, like Lesley, thought highly of all the changes made to the school system since the education reform in 2002. His major emphasis was on funding, creating transparencies, and an effective system of checks and balances. He believed that the mayor’s best interest was in the schools because of all the funds he put in the schools; and his main point in this was that would the large amounts of money be put in the schools if it not had been in mayoral control? When he was asked about changes he would like to address he stated how all students deserve a well rounded education. He also believe that the input of educators and parents should be heard, because many times, these people are unsure of where or whom to turn to.

Fatima was very supportive of the changes made to the education system in 2002. One of th3e major topics discussed was class size, and in her opinion, class size doesn’t matter. She believes that things probably can be done better, but they are working toward that now. She doesn’t believe that students should be deprived of services, and made it a priority to state that 42% of students in the education system were either immigrants or children of immigrants. One thing that she stated, that I found very interesting, was that before 2002 a lot of the parental programs that are now in place didn’t exist. When asked what she wanted addressed, she stated that great work has taken place within the last 6 years. All these changes were made possible through legislation that makes schools better and makes good leadership decisions. She mentioned how the power of the legislation is questions, it will be taken away; and if we change anything, everything will be challenged.

Finally, my favorite of the 4 panelist was Leonie, who was speaking from a parent’s perspective. Unlike the other 3 panelist, she was the only one that resented the changes done to the schools system; and I’m not sure as to why, but her evidence and knowledge of statistics captured me the most. She stated how the school system is run like a business. In 2006, $90 million was put into schools to help reduce class size, and only 1.3% of this money was actually used towards this purpose and the rest of the funds were misused. The following spring 2007 more money was put into the same purpose, to reduce class sizes, and again a large amount of these funds were misused. She stated how there is no parental input in the school system and there is no way for them to complain. She commented on how the surveys created for parents, students and staff was a good idea, but all the questions the parents wanted in the survey were censored. She commented on charter schools and how their hearings are horrible. Also, on how charter schools are controversial because they are placed in schools that are already overcrowded, taking away classrooms from the schools and causing more oversized classrooms. She mentioned how all the systems that have been put in place have done nothing for the education gap in our society. And the most important thing I believe Leonie said was the there is a decrease in admission or children of color and minorities into gifted and talented schools and charter schools, so they are attending schools with oversized classrooms that lack one-on-one attention. When asked the issues she wanted addressed she said that they should listen to educators, which are not happy. The legislation should be subject to state and city law, because they currently are not. There should be an inspector general separate the mayor as a way of people to get their voice heard.

I found this session really interesting. I seemed to learn the most and be most interested in what Leonie had to say. Not saying that the rest of the panelist didn’t shed some knowledge on me. I learned a lot about charter schools, but to me they seems to idealistic. Fatima just seemed extremely rude and uptight about the whole conversation. She seemed easily aggravated by what people had to say. And Robert, he was just there. (LoL) As a future teacher, I felt the biggest connection to what Leonie had to say because the schools she was talking about are the schools I want to teach in. Hearing the acceptance ratio of minority students is decreasing to these specialized schools, I could help but to this about this course and wonder why? Is because of the parents or just the way society is? Are all the best options and resources given to non-minorities because of the way society is, or are they smarter or performing better on entrance exams? This to me was very impacting because why should learning only take place in charter schools? Why can’t the minorities in our zone schools receive the same luxuries and resources as students in charter schools?

As a future educator, I know this is a challenge that I have to take. But at the end of that hard journey, it’ll all pay off, because I will be the teacher they remember and inspires them to better themselves. They will look back on their education and remember that someone believed in them and what they were capable of doing. And who knows, maybe that memory will inspire them to go to college, even be educators, or become someone that inspires change and success.