School Sweethearts
August 13th, 2007
When City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced the formation of a task force on middle schools last winter, it seemed the council wanted to take initiative on perhaps the most vexing education issue in the city – the generally sorry state of education in grades six through eight.
The task force has now completed its work, and whatever the merits of its findings, it seems Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Department of Education have largely taken it over. The announcement of the report today came from the mayor’s office and not from the council – as of 2 p.m. today it was not even on the council web site. The mayor praised the task force and said the Department of Education was already undertaking a number of initiatives to implement its suggestions including a $5million fund available to help 50 high-needs schools, providing Regents courses in middle schools across the city and creating an office of middle schools initiatives.
Rarely has any task force seen its efforts enacted so quickly. And given the Bloomberg administration’s repeated claims that the mayor — and only the mayor — makes education policy in the city (see cell phones and bullying), the response seemed particularly noteworthy.
Interestingly the mayor’s statement did not mention any effort to reduce class size. Many city middle school classes have more than 30 students, while experts say restricting that number to around 25 could improve education. The mayor and the Department of Education, however, have generally resisted efforts to trim class size.
Education aside, the Daily Politics viewed today’s press briefing event as another in the endless round of Quinn-Bloomberg lovefests. “Quinn (likely mayoral candidate) got yet another boost from Mayor Bloomberg, who has been awfully complimentary of the speaker in recent months,” the blog’s Elizabeth Benjamin wrote. ”During the event, Bloomberg called Quinn ‘the great speaker of the City Council.’”
By Gail Robinson on August 13, 2007, 1:40 pmIn category: Education, Electoral Politics
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