The New York Times reports that Governor Andrew Cuomo plans to call a special session of the Legislature to extend mayoral control of the NYC public schools for one year.
Mayor de Blasio hoped to win more than one year, but the governor and Republican-controlled State Senate like to torment him. Cuomo likes to cut him down to size, and the Republicans are angry that he helped Democrats who wanted to gain control of the State Senate.
According to the report, there won’t be any expansion of charter schools in the bill. This is a favorite cause of Senate Republican leader John Flanagan of Long Island, who loves charter schools, as long as they are not in his district.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Well one year is a start, so this is good news.
And, much better than what’s going on in the ILL-Annoy extended legislative session.
At least, today, an amendment to a school funding bill offered a palatable special education compromise.
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I don’t see this a good thing. Just because the current mayor is somewhat more sympathetic towards teachers and students doesn’t make direct control healthy, sound, or democratic:
cestlaz.github.io/posts/mayoral-control
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As a former resident of the city . I never thought of anything but the city as my community . I did not come from Flushing when someone asked I came from NY . Perhaps the borough I lived in.
So if you are saying their should be an elected school board proportional to size fine . But it was chaos with the number of boards they had .
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You taught in NYC during the “bad old days,” correct? Any insights or anecdotes that you have about mayoral control would be appreciated. By me, specifically.
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You weren’t talking to me, but I taught during the “bad old days”. Licensed Teacher of Special Education in Day Schools. Grades K-8. Kids with serious problems regulating their behavior.
There was definitely corruption in the borough school boards when it was the NYC Board of Education. The Bronx got a lot of attention, if I remember correctly, but it was evident in all the boroughs.
There has been corruption since they centralized the boroughs into the Department of Education, as well. A big system like ours is ripe for those with bad intent, regardless of who’s in control.
In terms of what it was like to TEACH in those “bad old days”, here’s my take as a teacher of special ed:
We had much, much, much more autonomy. Both admins and teachers. Admins were all former teachers.
My school had a full period at the beginning of every day during which we taught social skills. My kids would sit in a semi circle and talk about whatever was on their mind, using a Matchbox car to designate who was “speaker” at any given moment. Teachers attended anger management, dance/movement, playwriting/acting, and other workshops, designed specifically to deal with the challenges that our kids experienced and presented. These worked for the kids. A federally funded memoir based writing program that was, hands down, the best I’ve ever used. I had end of period basketball shootouts with a nerf setup, so long as the kids allowed me to teach beforehand. Token economies. Contracts. Snacks. The whole shebang.
Remedial math and reading programs were offered for classes that chose/needed to use them. My kids bought into these programs in a big way. Every lesson was predictable with frequent scaffolding from lesson to lesson/unit to unit. Advanced students used standard programs.
Bloomberg, with his newly established mayoral control, ushered in the “new day”.
Most principals hired were MBAs with no teaching experience. They were told not to establish bonds with teachers. They were now called “Frontline Managers”. My principal retired after a year of this, as did her protege, after 2 years of service in the position.
All schools, general and special ed, were required to use one math and one reading program, supplied by Chancellor Klein’s centralized office. Each class was given one grade level to work with, determined by the average of all the kid’s academic levels. Remedial programs were out. Every period was now sectioned off into strict time blocks which left no room left for anything other than academics. No basketball shootouts. No class meeting time. All the creative workshops were abandoned in favor of professional developments that focused on the assigned curriculum, data keeping/analysis techniques (BIG DATA!), use of technology, and rules/rewards/consequences (regarding the teachers…not the kids).
Bulletin boards and classroom layouts were standardized. Adherence was required or disciplinary action was taken.
Schools would be graded and many would fail. They would be given a short grace period to get it together, during which an “expert” would come to “tutor” them. Eventually they would be closed and a charter school would take over. Most kids wouldn’t get into the charter schools, so they’d go to another public school, creating overcrowded conditions there, which would eventually put that school into the “failing” territory. And the dominos would continue to fall.
The Rubber Rooms: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reassignment_centers).
Can’t believe this all went down, personally. A full fledged, media and government assault on our public schools. “Rigor”. “Grit”. Competing and losing to those genius test takers over in Shanghai.
The business model applied to education.
Some may disagree but I, personally, preferred the bad ol’ days, FLERP! I was able to do a lot more for the real needs of my kids, back then.
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their =there never fails love the edit button .
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All we need is another Mike Bloomberg to remind us of how destructive mayor control of the DOE can be.
Or take a look at what’s still happening in Chicago.
What a farce. The new normal is disgusting. I wish Bill would just blow it off and tell them he doesn’t want that as part of his job, anymore. Too many headaches.
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I’m starting to agree with you.
If Cuomo isn’t demanding more charters, it’s likely that there is a plan afoot to defeat Mayor de Blasio and install a right wing toadie of fake reformers.
Perhaps someone like Eva Moskowitz who claims to be a Democrat although she very strongly endorsed Betsy DeVos to be the new Secretary of Education — Moskowitz who is absolutely certain that DeVos is a terrific choice and fought so very hard to make sure DeVos was confirmed (thanks, Eva Moskowitz!!!)
I’m sure Cuomo and the education “reformers” can find another fake Democrat like Moskowitz whose adoration of Betsy DeVos knows no bounds. Someone like Eva Moskowitz who doesn’t let doing what is right or the needs of children she deems unworthy get in the way of pleasing the right wing billionaires who keep those donations flowing.
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When is that 2021
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Note that when Bloomberg asked for mayoral control, the Legislature gave him 7 years. When he asked for a renewal after 7 years, they gave him 6 years.
It helped that he was the single biggest donor to the New York State Republican Party.
De Blasio can’t get more than one year at a time, and usually there are conditions attached, like adding more charters, giving charters free rent, allowing charters to grow as much as they want even if it means pushing out real public schools.
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This was back in March before he was cleared .
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Marist-Poll-Mayor-Bill-de-Blasio-New-York-City-Reelection-NBC-4-New-York-Exclusive-415103783.html
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I’ll bet You Luger’s vs McDonald’s (I’ll suffer through a salad. ) Short of
pictures in a Russian hotel with Trump,Weiner and two hookers this race is over!!!!!
Cuomo may be reacting more to his challenge in the last primary than to anything else. The City is the heart of the Democratic party in the state .The Governor may be coming to the realization that a Mayor who wins that constituency by a landslide is a power broker, if not a challenger.
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Cuomo has another advantage this time around. He brought in an experienced and wise superintendent from Bedford to advise him on education policy. Jere Hochman.
Jere reads this blog and I have occasionally printed pieces he wrote, before he went to work for the governor. My guess is that he is giving Cuomo sound advice, which is a huge change.
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The difference between Bloomberg and DiBlasio, in terms of governmental cooperation, is a microcosm of what it means to be fabulously wealthy. And not.
That’s good news about Mr Hochman, Diane. I hope it’s more than just an election year ploy to get more votes. Politics can be brutal, and I have my doubts about Mr Cuomo’s motives.
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Joel Herman,
I can’t help noticing the irony in your smug certainty that the NYC Mayoral race is all but over. Given how much you criticized Hillary’s campaign for their smugness.
For the record, I was very worried back then when even on here the nasty attacks on Hillary’s character (no different than Trump) came every single day for months. I was posting asking people to recognize that their character attacks on Hillary were different than the criticisms on policy that were the way they talked about Obama. And so your blithe dismissal of the very same type of attacks on Mayor de Blasio seem very short-sighted. You think it can’t happen here?
The Mayor seems to be the only big city bulwark demanding some integrity for charters instead of going where the big money is. Once he is gone, the next one will be in their pockets, regardless of party.
Look, I will be happy if you are right just like I would have been delighted at all the people unconcerned about the character assassination of Hillary Clinton — which was never done to Obama — acted as if it was no big deal. It is. I watched it happen to Hillary. I watched it happen to Al Gore, John Kerry, and Mike Dukakis.
No doubt if Mayor de Blasio loses because of the character attack that is absolutely going to come, you will be saying it is all his fault. There’s certain to be something he should have done or should have said or should not have done or should not have said that will allow all the smug people to believe that there is a democratic candidate who cannot be touched by those attacks. (And the investigation into Bernie’s wife will soon have 50% of the country convinced he is a crook and another 45% saying Bernie has no one to blame but himself.)
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^^also, I don’t want to win a bet! I’d happily give up a Peter Lugar steak x 100 as long as we don’t have another corrupted election where the candidate of the corrupt money interests wins.
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NYC public school parent
You may have been smug in your confidence in Hillary defeating Trump . I believe I was among those on this blog who were shouting from the roof tops long before the convention . Before the NY primary that Hillary was such a flawed candidate that we could very well lose this thing. Shouting that the dynamics that applied to the Democratic Primary were not the same as the national dynamics . Enough said on that.
As that it is July and there is no Democratic challenger to the incumbent Mayor . As that there are few issues that are enraging New Yorker’s . crime , scandal, the economy …. …..
I am going to be smug as hell. There is a snowball’s chance in hell that a Republican is going to beat a Democrat in NYC with Trump as the President, unless Staten Island cedes from the State. In which case that island could go Republican, would not be NYC and we could raise the toll on the Verrazano bridge to keep the trash out.
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And if and when Mayor de Blasio gets trashed and loses you can yell about how he was so “flawed” as well and blame it all on the Democrats again. Hindsight is 20/20. After all, without James Comey’s nice little smear of an FBI letter 10 days before the election and the fake “scandals” about Hillary’s corruption that the Russian bots posted on pro-Bernie boards, and the fact that ten of thousands of voters were struck off the rolls, you’d be talking about how “flawed” Trump was. Apparently, Hillary was so “flawed” she managed to win the popular vote.
As I said, I was never smug about Hillary and I refuse to be smug about Mayor de Blasio. After all, look at what a crook Bernie and his wife turned out to be.
(FYI, I don’t believe Bernie and his wife are crooks, but then again, neither was Hillary and that didn’t stop lots of Americans in the midwest from believing just that. And the irony is that those voters didn’t abandon Hillary for the reasons you claim — just the opposite but you just don’t see it. Those voters are STILL supporting Trump. Please don’t make this about how they despise the Democrats fighting against Trumpcare’s funding of a billionaire tax break out of their health care. They want a scapegoat who isn’t white and Christian to blame and Trump gives them exactly what they want. And they will be certain that Bernie is as big of a crook as Hillary once the right wing propaganda machine gets done with him.)
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Eva Moskowitch likes anybody who has money and gives the money to her. To Eva she will be democrat today and republican tomorrow all depending on who has the money and if they are giving the money to Eva Moskowitch. I must say that Eva has been consistant in her approach and that is to be as phony as can be.
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Mayoral control of school districts is a BAD IDEA…period. Mayors are bought and sold and don’t know about education.
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