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JULY 2004

New Community Councils Hold Great Promise for City Schools. . .
by Assemblyman Steven Sanders

July 1 began a new era in New York City school governance and parental involvement in decision-making about their local schools.

The demise of the local Community School Boards after 34 years heralds the birth of thirty-two new Community School District Education Councils, each primarily comprised of parents of children who attend local public schools. It is important to note that while the school boards have been phased out, the thirty-two local community school districts remain intact and are critical components of the school system’s governance structure.

Each of the new Councils are comprised of eleven members, nine of whom must be parents, plus two members—residents of the district—appointed by the Borough President.

The three-decade-old system of Community School Boards was unfortunately marked in too many instances by ineffectiveness and, at times, corruption. Too many persons elected to these positions used the School Boards to represent their own personal or political agendas rather than represent the best interests of the local schools. It is true that the vast majority of persons who were elected and served on the School Boards were well meaning and dedicated individuals. Still, the system as a whole was widely viewed as a failure; average voter turnout for School Board elections was only four percent, and ultimately the public as a whole lost confidence in the system.  The structure of community representation needed to be reformed.

By having mostly parents on these new Councils—parents chosen by the elected parent leadership in each school district—we can be reasonably assured that the Councils’ primary objectives will truly be the real needs of the schools. Moreover, the powers of these Councils have been beefed up with new oversight responsibilities, including annual evaluation of the school district superintendent. There is also now mandatory training for new Council members to ensure that each member and Council will be ready and appropriately prepared for their important new responsibilities.

In addition, parents of children who attend special schools for students with disabilities will also have a parent-oriented education council, so that the special needs of their children will be properly addressed. And finally, high schools too will now have borough-wide parent councils, to provide critical parental input in our secondary schools.

History, of course, will be the final judge as to how well this new form of parent and community representation will work, how successful the Councils will be. In the end, any system of community participation is only as good as the participants make it. I believe, however, that if the Chancellor provides the necessary support for these Councils and ensures that policy-making is the result of real dialogue with them, then the parents and Councils will do a great job in improving our local schools.#

Steven Sanders is chairman of the NYS Assembly Education Committee. You can contact him at 201 East 16th Street, New York, NY 10003 (e-mail: sanders@assembly.state.ny.us; tel.: (212) 979-9696.)

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