Mayoral control: Squadron jumps ship and "the days of tweaks are over"

It is becoming more clear that the Senate will vote on Mayoral control this week .

The Democratic caucus was working hard to remain united against the onslaught of the Mayor's men, and refusing to rubber-stamp the Silver/Padavan bill that would allow unlimited, unilateral one-man rule to continue.

Yet today it was announced that the first Democrat has jumped ship: Daniel Squadron of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, a freshman senator whose election campaign was supported by Bloomberg. See this article from today's News:Mayor Bloomberg's school control bill gets first Democrat support

Please contact your State Senators today -- let them know how strongly you feel that one man rule cannot stand and they must support parents by supporting the Education Through Partnership Act, [Huntley/S5739] -- co-sponsored now by at least six other Senators.

Ask them to stand up for their constituents; instead of caving in to the billionaire bully who has nothing but contempt for parents and our views. Their emails and phone nos. can be found by plugging in your address here: http://www.nysenate.gov/senators ; telephone calls are the most effective, then faxes and then emails. But do it today!

In case there is any confusion about how weak the Silver/Padavan/Squadron bill is, and how it doesn't provide any stronger voice for parents, you can take a look at the summary on this comparison chart and this memo, which clearly lay out its provisions, as compared to our bill.

As the Mayor himself pointed out this weekend, there are not even "tweaks" in the Silver/Padavan bill, which he wholeheartedly supports:

"He's incensed about Sampson's drive to strip the mayor of his majority on the Panel for Educational Policy or impose fixed terms on his appointees. "That's not going to happen," Bloomberg declared. "That's the old Board of Education," he said dismissively, vowing to battle any last- minute "compromises." "The days of tweaks are over," he said.

It is ironic that these three men should have caved into the Mayor -- as parents and community members in their districts have clearly expressed their fervent opposition to renewing the current system which has wreaked havoc on our schools. Under this bill, the Department of Education will remain the only city agency that will be free from having to comply with city law .

Community Boards 1 and 3 in Manhattan, as well as the Community Education Councils in District 1 and District 2 -- all of which overlap with Squadron's and Silver's districts -- passed resolutions in support of strengthening the parent voice, enhancing the authority of CECs, and for stronger checks and balances on the Mayor's dictatorial control.

Both CEC 26 and CB 11 in Queens -- in Padavan's district -- passed resolutions in favor to alter the Mayor's automatic majority on the PEP. But it seems that for these three men, the Mayor's position is more important than the views of their constituents.

Here is Squadron's email address (his regular Senate email is down) so you can directly express your outrage:daniel@danielsquadron.org

Squadron's Albany Office: Tel: 518-455-2625; His District Office:Tel: 212-298-5565

Let him know that you are disappointed and angry that he caved into the our autocratic Mayor and has deserted not only the other Democrats in the Senate -- but also his constituents.