Public Employee Press

Delegate heads S.I. school council

Local 375 Delegate Rajiv Gowda is a civil servant whose commitment to his community only begins with his daytime job at the Dept. of Design and Construction.
When he’s not working as a Project Manager for the city, Gowda devotes much of his time to leading the Community Education Council of Staten Island District 31 to fight for improvements in the public schools.

The council elected Gowda president in August. He has served on the council since it started in 2004 after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg won legislation to abolish community school boards and took control of the public schools.

“Although we are the financial capital of the world, close to 50 percent of the kids in New York City don’t graduate, and only one in four African American and Latino students get a state Regents diploma,” said Gowda, who is passionate about improving the public schools. “There is something wrong with this picture.”

Trained as an engineer, Gowda wants to improve school safety, fight obesity and promote school construction to meet the needs of the rapidly growing student population.

“We are parents who want what’s best not only for our children but all the children in the community,” said Gowda, describing the ethos of the District 31 council. Gowda’s 15-year-old son, Rajiv Jr., studies at the High School for Math, Science and Engineering in Manhattan, and his 13-year-old son, Sanjiv, is at Markham Intermediate School on Staten Island.