Parent Leader Dorothy Giglio Responds to the Mayor's Tirade

At his April 9th press conference, Mayor Bloomberg again lashed out at opponents of his latest schools restructuring. Dorothy Giglio has been an involved parent for almost twenty years and was elected by parents to lead the Region 6 High School Presidents Council. Here is her response to the Mayor's latest tirade:

I don't even know how to react to this latest slap in the face. I am amazed that I am suddenly a "special interest group". Well I am a parent who has an interest in seeing that the children get what they need and deserve and that parents have a voice in the process, so I guess that is a special interest.

It astounds me that after the Mayor and Chancellor took their dog and pony show all over town trying to drum up support for this new plan and received only concerns and jeers, from parents, teachers and community people that they would pull this blatant attempt and making it appear that support is there when it isn't. If I heard from one person that they thought this was a good idea, I might be willing to rethink my position. If I heard from one parent over the last five years that thought the first reorganization was good for their children or for them, I might rethink my position, but the opposite is exactly what I have heard, over and over again.

I have even spoken to teachers and administrators (who for fear of repercussions will not speak out) that the first reorganization was bad enough, but this one would be a disaster. An end to the system. To the people who lined up behind the Mayor, for what ever their "special" reason. Shame. They are pandering in order to gain jobs, or contributions or just because they consider him a friend.

Well as a parent, and a volunteer for over 20 years, I have seen plans come and go, and I will certainly admit that we did need some changes five years ago, but not what we got. There were inequities that had to be corrected in many areas, but what we wanted was a quality education for each child. We are still not getting that, instead we got a giant overpriced bureaucracy. Now they want to make it worse and keep attacking us because we want a voice. A real voice, not an hour of speechmaking and telling us how we are wrong.

I am asking every parent member in my Presidents Council to call their representatives today and tell them that they expect them to stand up for our parents and children in this latest insult and tell the Mayor he cannot buy or bully his way when it comes to our children.