Meeting in Queens: Mayoral Control is flawed

Check out this excerpt from an article in the Queens Courier, about the recent Town hall meeting in Howard Beach, with Council member Joe Addabbo, Assemblymember Cathy Nolan and other elected officials. (photo by David Quintana)

"The mayor’s control over the city’s public schools has a number of flaws, most notably too much power centered at the top, which has discouraged parental input. This is the main thing that educators and community members from Howard Beach and the vicinity expressed during a forum on mayoral school control….

“The almost seven-year experimentation with mayoral control is a failure,” said David Quintana, a member of the city group Class Size Matters and of Community Board 10’s education committee….

“To me, it’s almost like a dictatorship. The windows to the Department of Education are black; you can’t see through them,” said Andrew Baumann, president of Community Education Council District 27.