Community School Boards Phased Out

New York, NY —

One year from now, the city's 32 community school boards will cease to exist. State lawmakers voted to phase out these local boards when they gave Mayor Michael Bloomberg control o the school system. For years, the community school boadrs have been criticized for being more concerned with politics than education. Now that they're on the way out, WNYC's Beth Fertig went back to the district where they first began to hear what people there want.


At the end of the 1960s, the Brooklyn neighborhood of Ocean Hill Brownsville was the birthplace of a movement demanding community control over the schools. Parents and activists were frustrated by a school system that appeared to be racially segregated - with too many poor, black students attending inferior schools. Their movement was so powerful, that the teachers retaliated by going on strike. After the streets filled with protesters in the Fall of 1968, the state responded by creating 32 community school boards.

Today, as the state now prepares to do away with those boards, Ocean Hill Brownsville is quiet. In fact, it seems the school boards are going out with barely a whimper.

BOARD MEMBER: "Where as the community school board of district 23 is on record support maintaining of school boards as a democratically elected structure..."

Last week, members of Community School Board 23 in Ocean Hill Brownsville passed a resolution opposing the new state law which abolishes local boards. Only 20 people attended the meeting in a school auditorium. And all came for other items on the agenda. Nonetheless, school board president Reginald Bowman believes he's speaking for his community.

BOWMAN: I feel an obligation to fight this on behalf of the citizens of this city who have a right to democratically elected school boards represent their communities that are 32 unique neighborhoods of the city of NY.

Bowman is considering a lawsuit to keep these elected boards, and he believes he has a good case. Under Federal civil rights laws, the U. S. Justice Department needs to approve any election changes in New York City that affect minority voters. And the parents who send their children to public schools are overwhelmingly black and Latino.

The Bloomberg administration though, has countered that the boards have very little community support. In a letter to Washington, the city's law department noted that the last time school board elections were held, in 1999, voter turnout was just three percent. But Bowman says that's not the point.

BOWMAN: I think that democratically elected boards like Congress like the Senate like the legislature, although people do not vote by in large in mass for those bodies they continue to exist because legislators are supposed to represent the interests of people in these democratically elected bodies and school boards are same thing.

Bowman has served on school board 23 for nine years, and now has grandchildren in the public schools. He and his colleagues - who are all volunteers - believe they have been real advocates for their community. Marie Monk, another board member, says parents rely on them for help in navigating the enormous school system.

MONK: You need someone that could be able to go into the superintendent's office, you need someone that could go into the administrators, principals in the schools and say guess what, we are the reflection of the parents. That's a real need.

Some parents in Ocean Hill Brownsville agree, recalling moments when board members have helped solve problems at their children's schools. But many parents also say they will NOT miss their community school board… citing a long history of obstruction and meddling.

The former chancellor, Rudy Crew, had to temporarily suspend the members of school board 23 when they refused to approve his choice of superintendent. Parents who have attended meetings also complain about the board members' verbally abusive behavior to one another - a situation that prompted the central board of education to try to mediate. And parent leader Estelle Johnson complains there have been no parent programs this year, because School Board 23 overspent its budget.

JOHNSON: I feel these positions really are political, you know. We have too many politics in our schools.

Johnson has lived in Ocean Hill Brownsville for 30 years, in a three-story house on Pacific Avenue she shares with her daughter and two grandchildren.

JOHNSON: "Come on little bit. Hi sugar…"

Now retired from her city job, she's active at her granddaughter's middle school and even led the PTA. She also thought about running for school board until she got a closer look. But while Johnson is glad to see the school boards go, she wonders what's going to replace them.

JOHNSON: Now if they're going to have parents on the school board all well and good. But depends on what parents they're going to have. Are they going to pick from each school district, each school, who's going to run, are they going to be chosen? It depends.

The state legislature is considering all of those options. Hearings around the city are planned for later this fall. Roger Green, an Assembly Democrat from Brooklyn, says lawmakers already agree the new boards will be composed of parents.

GREEN: We need to ensure that the language of the new law will in fact say that these parents, number one, must have children in the local school buildings. That they must be participants in the school leadership teams that exist within the school buildings. And they should be selected, in fact nominated by parents.

However, he concedes, there is some debate about whether parents should be elected or chosen by local politicians - a premise that worries people trying to limit the influence of politics. They're already wondering how the borough presidents will name their five parent representatives to the mayor's new Board of Education.

Indeed, there's plenty of skepticism to go around. Especially among those who recall the original movement that created community school boards 33 years ago.

OLIVER: We still feel that nothing has changed. The board of education or rather education in NY is an industry. Now it has become a political industry.

The reverend C. Herbert Oliver was chairman of the Ocean Hill Brownsville Governing Board in 1968 - an experiment to give communities more control over their schools. Oliver's board triggered a firestorm when it transferred white teachers out of the mostly black district. The teachers union called a strike, and the state brokered a compromise in 1969 by creating the school boards. However, Oliver says that wasn't really local control. Because he says the community school boards were dominated by unions and politicians. And he fears that will happen again.

OLIVER: The schools should be separated from the political turmoil. That's the way it was before we began, the way it should be, politicians should not be running the education system. Educators should be running the education system. And politician may appoint educators and have some input. But not be the ones to run an educational system.

At last week's meeting of Community School Board 23, board members spent a lot of time arguing about the date for their next meeting before any discussion of education.

BOARD MEMBER: "We are governed by bylaws Miss pusey to have a meeting…"

A parent named Denise Harper had come to hear the district superintendent's monthly update. Many credit the superintendent's leadership with a rise in math and reading scores in the struggling district. And Harper was eager to hear her speak. Frustrated after spending an hour and a half listening to the board members, she walked outside to watch the evening thunderstorm.

HARPER: All I really want to know is how the schools are doing, what's going on in the district, what programs are available. I'm not interested in who didn't like who or who didn't like which comment someone made. And that tends to happen very often and therefore you will sometimes get a very low parent turnout.

Harper has one suggestion for those state lawmakers who say they're trying to reform the system now: let the parents decide. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.

At the end of the 1960s, the Brooklyn neighborhood of Ocean Hill Brownsville was the birthplace of a movement demanding community control over the schools. Parents and activists were frustrated by a school system that appeared to be racially segregated - with too many poor, black students attending inferior schools. Their movement was so powerful, that the teachers retaliated by going on strike. After the streets filled with protesters in the Fall of 1968, the state responded by creating 32 community school boards.

Today, as the state now prepares to do away with those boards, Ocean Hill Brownsville is quiet. In fact, it seems the school boards are going out with barely a whimper.

BOARD MEMBER: "Where as the community school board of district 23 is on record support maintaining of school boards as a democratically elected structure..."

Last week, members of Community School Board 23 in Ocean Hill Brownsville passed a resolution opposing the new state law which abolishes local boards. Only 20 people attended the meeting in a school auditorium. And all came for other items on the agenda. Nonetheless, school board president Reginald Bowman believes he's speaking for his community.

BOWMAN: I feel an obligation to fight this on behalf of the citizens of this city who have a right to democratically elected school boards represent their communities that are 32 unique neighborhoods of the city of NY.

Bowman is considering a lawsuit to keep these elected boards, and he believes he has a good case. Under Federal civil rights laws, the U. S. Justice Department needs to approve any election changes in New York City that affect minority voters. And the parents who send their children to public schools are overwhelmingly black and Latino.

The Bloomberg administration though, has countered that the boards have very little community support. In a letter to Washington, the city's law department noted that the last time school board elections were held, in 1999, voter turnout was just three percent. But Bowman says that's not the point.

BOWMAN: I think that democratically elected boards like Congress like the Senate like the legislature, although people do not vote by in large in mass for those bodies they continue to exist because legislators are supposed to represent the interests of people in these democratically elected bodies and school boards are same thing.

Bowman has served on school board 23 for nine years, and now has grandchildren in the public schools. He and his colleagues - who are all volunteers - believe they have been real advocates for their community. Marie Monk, another board member, says parents rely on them for help in navigating the enormous school system.

MONK: You need someone that could be able to go into the superintendent's office, you need someone that could go into the administrators, principals in the schools and say guess what, we are the reflection of the parents. That's a real need.

Some parents in Ocean Hill Brownsville agree, recalling moments when board members have helped solve problems at their children's schools. But many parents also say they will NOT miss their community school board… citing a long history of obstruction and meddling.

The former chancellor, Rudy Crew, had to temporarily suspend the members of school board 23 when they refused to approve his choice of superintendent. Parents who have attended meetings also complain about the board members' verbally abusive behavior to one another - a situation that prompted the central board of education to try to mediate. And parent leader Estelle Johnson complains there have been no parent programs this year, because School Board 23 overspent its budget.

JOHNSON: I feel these positions really are political, you know. We have too many politics in our schools.

Johnson has lived in Ocean Hill Brownsville for 30 years, in a three-story house on Pacific Avenue she shares with her daughter and two grandchildren.

JOHNSON: "Come on little bit. Hi sugar…"

Now retired from her city job, she's active at her granddaughter's middle school and even led the PTA. She also thought about running for school board until she got a closer look. But while Johnson is glad to see the school boards go, she wonders what's going to replace them.

JOHNSON: Now if they're going to have parents on the school board all well and good. But depends on what parents they're going to have. Are they going to pick from each school district, each school, who's going to run, are they going to be chosen? It depends.

The state legislature is considering all of those options. Hearings around the city are planned for later this fall. Roger Green, an Assembly Democrat from Brooklyn, says lawmakers already agree the new boards will be composed of parents.

GREEN: We need to ensure that the language of the new law will in fact say that these parents, number one, must have children in the local school buildings. That they must be participants in the school leadership teams that exist within the school buildings. And they should be selected, in fact nominated by parents.

However, he concedes, there is some debate about whether parents should be elected or chosen by local politicians - a premise that worries people trying to limit the influence of politics. They're already wondering how the borough presidents will name their five parent representatives to the mayor's new Board of Education.

Indeed, there's plenty of skepticism to go around. Especially among those who recall the original movement that created community school boards 33 years ago.

OLIVER: We still feel that nothing has changed. The board of education or rather education in NY is an industry. Now it has become a political industry.

The reverend C. Herbert Oliver was chairman of the Ocean Hill Brownsville Governing Board in 1968 - an experiment to give communities more control over their schools. Oliver's board triggered a firestorm when it transferred white teachers out of the mostly black district. The teachers union called a strike, and the state brokered a compromise in 1969 by creating the school boards. However, Oliver says that wasn't really local control. Because he says the community school boards were dominated by unions and politicians. And he fears that will happen again.

OLIVER: The schools should be separated from the political turmoil. That's the way it was before we began, the way it should be, politicians should not be running the education system. Educators should be running the education system. And politician may appoint educators and have some input. But not be the ones to run an educational system.

At last week's meeting of Community School Board 23, board members spent a lot of time arguing about the date for their next meeting before any discussion of education.

BOARD MEMBER: "We are governed by bylaws Miss pusey to have a meeting…"

A parent named Denise Harper had come to hear the district superintendent's monthly update. Many credit the superintendent's leadership with a rise in math and reading scores in the struggling district. And Harper was eager to hear her speak. Frustrated after spending an hour and a half listening to the board members, she walked outside to watch the evening thunderstorm.

HARPER: All I really want to know is how the schools are doing, what's going on in the district, what programs are available. I'm not interested in who didn't like who or who didn't like which comment someone made. And that tends to happen very often and therefore you will sometimes get a very low parent turnout.

Harper has one suggestion for those state lawmakers who say they're trying to reform the system now: let the parents decide. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.