Skip to content
Know Your Rights
Source: New York Daily News
Subject: Education Justice
Type: Media Coverage

Parents’ Fury Halts Klein Talk

Furious parents and students (including members of Make the Road by Walking) who say they’ve been shut out of school decision-making disrupted a monthly schools meeting last night, chanting “stop the reorganization” and “listen to the parents.”

A group of about 100 activists repeatedly interrupted and drowned out presentations on a new science curriculum and on a controversial plan to change the way schools are funded at a meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy.

The panel is a largely powerless board that replaced the old Board of Education when Mayor Bloomberg took over the schools.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who chairs the panel, calmly let the group vent before resuming the meeting. He then allowed a few members to speak at the start of a public comment period.

“We feel shut out. We feel disenfranchised and angry about your changes,” said Ocynthia Williams, a Bronx mother of two.

Klein, who recently announced his third administrative reorganization in five years, thanked the group for its comments, adding that “the purpose of the reorganization is to give additional resources to the schools.”