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Public
Employee Press Montgomery-Costa
hits mayor on school support services
Veronica Montgomery-Costa, president of DC 37
and NYC Board of Education Employees Local 372, charged Feb. 6 that Mayor Michael
R. Bloomberg has stolen vital school support services from our children.
Her comments on the mayor and his education policies was delivered at a hearing
on governance of the citys public school system held by the state Assembly
Standing Committee on Education.
Montgomery-Costa, who represents 26,000
school employees, recommended that the Legislature allow the law that gives the
mayor sole control of school governance in the city to expire on June 30.
We
entrusted the mayor with sole proprietorship of the education of our citys
1.1 million school children, yet to date he has failed to demonstrate that our
children are his first priority, the local president told the committee.
Instead, he has stolen vital school support services from our children,
calling the unconscionable practice a gap-closing initiative.
She
accused Bloomberg of making the school system an agency based on a for-profit
business model instead of an agency whose primary goal is to educate children,
and said the chancellor should be an accomplished educator instead of a business
person from the private sector. Our students should not feel like anonymous
figures in a bottom line, she said.
In addition, Montgomery-Costa
called for more well-trained teachers, administrators and school support service
workers who live in the school community. She also cited the waste in contracting
out. The latest is a $55 million contract with $23 million in related expenses
to a Virginia company to track special education data, she said. The
history of this company with the DOE is tarnished and the effectiveness of their
software is unproven.
She sharply criticized DOEs lack of transparency
and accountability, which she said results from the absence of a central
school board and the elimination of community school boards, which served to enlighten
and empower parents. Major budget and staffing decisions are made without any
informed input from school administrators, staff, parents and community. | |