The debate over term limits and the billionaire bully who is pulling the strings

See today’s NY Times, which reports how members of the Bloomberg administration, including Linda Gibbs, Deputy mayor for Health and Human services, are urging the beneficiaries of city contracts and his private fortune to lobby the City Council to overturn term limits so he can run for a third term.

The article mentions the involvement of several organizations in giving testimony this week on behalf of the Mayor during the City council hearings on term limits that have received substantial city contracts and private donations from the Mayor. Most prominent among them are the Doe Fund, an organization for the homeless, which has received either $150,000 from the Mayor’s own pockets, according to the Times, or more than $2 million, according to the Daily News (anonymously donated by the Mayor’s accountant after the organization honored Bloomberg at a fundraising dinner in 2005.)

According to the Times, not only did the head of the Doe Fund testify at City Hall in support of overturning term limits, but at least 11 Doe Fund staff members as well, most of whom did not identify their employer, but instead described themselves as ordinary citizens.

See also the Daily News blog, which further details how the organization bused nearly 50 homeless men from shelters in support to City Hall in support of the Mayor, a fact which the organization first denied and then finally admitted. The group’s spokesman later claimed that these men were all volunteers who simply wanted to support the mayor.

One wonders whether how legal this all this – pushing nonprofit groups to literally campaign in favor of the mayor’s ability to run for office again.

Geoffrey Canada is also mentioned as one of the individuals who testified to overturn term limits; Canada is also co-chair of the Mayor’s effort to retain Mayoral control of the schools, and who has received at least $500,000 for his charter school from Bloomberg in recent years.

The Mayor’s bullying tactics have long been clear to many of us in the educational advocacy world – and those organizations that have had the nerve to speak up against his policies have had their city contracts and donations from Bloomberg drastically cut – in some instances, to the tune of nearly one million dollars.

It is about time that the rest of the world finally woke up to the ruthlessness of this Mayor – and his determination to use his personal fortune and political power to ensure that non-profit groups comply with his every whim and keep silent if they disagree with his policies.

A Free Ride for Bullies

Check out this NY Times oped -- by education advocates Neha Singh and Khin Mai Aung --pointing out that DOE officials have refused to enforce the anti-bullying law passed by the City Council in 2004, called the Dignity for All Students Act:

"The bill requires the New York City Department of Education to establish procedures to protect children. These include creating anti-harassment policies and communicating them to students, parents and administrators in several languages; reporting annually on incidents of harassment; and explicitly making harassment a basis for disciplinary action. "

Because of this refusal, the Department has given scant attention towards stemming the bullying of students from different ethnic and religious backgrounds; and no "tracking of harassment incidents, educational outreach and mandating meaningful annual reports on bias in schools."

This is yet another example of how the DOE sees themselves as above the law.

The op-ed relates the example of a Sikh student named Harpal Singh Vacher who had his turban forcibly removed and his hair shorn in a school bathroom.

"The department must do more to maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect in our schools. As a result, children like Harpal are suffering."

Mayor: anti-harassment measure "illegal" and "silly"

On Monday, City Council members and advocates blamed the Department of Education of "turning a blind eye" to discrimination and bullying in our schools.

On May 25, a 15 year old Sikh student was attacked in the bathroom of Newtown High School in Queens by another student, and had his hair cut off. Apparently, he had complained to staff of similar harassment five times before but nothing had been done. A DOE spokeswoman said no record of the student's complaints could be found.

Councilmembers John Liu, Robert Jackson, and David Weprin held a press conference to protest the fact that the anti-harassment legislation passed by the City Council in 2004 known as the Dignity for all Schools Act, or DASA, has never been enforced . The legislation not only prohibits bullying, but also requires DOE to follow certain procedures to track and report all such incidents.

When the City Council first passed the law, Mayor Bloomberg called it "silly" and vetoed it. He said that it was up to teachers and principals to judge "when the horseplay gets out of hand."

"Having a law to do it doesn't make any sense. You cannot force the teachers or the principals to follow some script. They are professionals, and you have to leave it up to them to do it."

After the Council overrode his veto, Tweed officials refused to attend hearings on the issue, insisted that they would not comply with the law and declared the measure “illegal,” claiming that their authority over our schools can only be overridden by the state.

Meanwhile, according to a recent report, more than three-quarters of male Sikh students in Queens say they have been teased or harassed in city schools. "The Department of Education is as guilty as these boys in that bathroom for what happened," said Councilman Liu at the press conference.

For more on this latest incident, see NY1 clip and the AM NY article here.