Mayoral Control Sans Control
July 1st, 2009
If you can’t beat them, ignore them.
That might be the philosophy Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the five borough presidents adopted after the State Legislature failed to renew mayoral control of schools by yesterday’s deadline. Instead, they re-established the defunct Board of Education, appointed close allies to the mayor and adjourned for the summer — crossing their fingers that the State Senate would no longer be deadlocked when school starts again.
They then filed into City Hall’s blue room this afternoon to rally support for their move, with Bloomberg berating the State Senate and their squabbling. The borough presidents, mayor and Council Speaker Christine Quinn talked of unity, keeping consistency for the kids and for teachers. Bloomberg emphasized that the new board was temporary — a band-aid fix, not a real solution.
“What we’re trying to do here is to continue on as though mayoral control was approved, and it’s our assumption that it will be sometime in the very near future,” said Bloomberg. “If in the fall we find out that it wasn’t, we have a different set of issues. They have voted for continuity and consistency.”
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