A parent council in Manhattan and the city’s teachers’ union sued the Department of Education on Monday, contending that the department had not adequately consulted with the council in deciding which schools to close and in altering school boundaries. þþThe lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, was the second brought in the last two months against the city by a group of parents and the United Federation of Teachers. Both lawsuits contend that the department has unilaterally made decisions about how students are assigned to schools. Under state law, community education councils, made up of parents from local schools, have the power to set and change school zoning lines. þþRebecca Daniels, the president of the community education council for District 2, which represents parents whose children attend schools on the East Side and in Lower Manhattan and filed the most recent suit, said that the council had tried for months to persuade education officials to listen to its concerns and grew frustrated because it received responses only occasionally. þþ“We were trying very hard and we just weren’t getting the kind of communication we needed,” Ms. Daniels said. “The reporting to parents and hearing their feedback was just not happening.” þþThe lawsuits come as the State Legislature is debating whether to renew the 2002 law that gave Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg control of the city schools; it expires on June 30. Critics of the mayor who have complained that his administration has shut out parents are urging lawmakers to change the law to give parents more of a role in shaping education policies. þþThe 32 community education councils, which include parents throughout individual districts, have little formal power, but their approval is required by law to make any changes in school zoning lines.þþ“We’re the body mandated by the state, and we tried to get support yet we are ignored continuously,” Ms. Daniels said. “With mayoral control, the parents don’t have any control. We’d like to know things ahead of time and be part of the decisions.” þþA spokeswoman for the Education Department declined to comment on the lawsuit. þþThe suit cites more than a dozen decisions involving the opening of new programs and schools and the closing of others. The plaintiffs contend that the council should have been consulted about those decisions, including the closure of a struggling high school in Chelsea and the moving of students from an existing campus to a temporary location. þþThe suit also criticizes the department for not finding space for Public School 151 on the Upper East Side, which was closed in 2001. Since then, students who would have attended that school have been sent to nearby schools that parents say are already overcrowded. The suit also refers to kindergarten waiting lists in the district and contends that it is “de-facto rezoning” that the council should have been consulted about. þþ“Now, many children don’t have a place to go to kindergarten, a school uptown doesn’t have a school and parents are at a complete loss,” Ms. Daniels said. þþThe suit is being handled by the law firm Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, which often represents the teachers’ union in other matters. The city backed down from its plan to replace three schools in Brooklyn and Harlem with charter schools after the union and the New York Civil Liberties Unionfiled a suit against the department in March. þþ
Source: NY Times
