Blas expels ed. big
Ally axed despite autonomy pledge
A member of the Panel for Educational Policy appointed by Mayor de Blasio was forced to quit last week after voting against the city’s plans to close several schools, The Post has learned.
T. Elzora Cleveland submitted her resignation last week under pressure from City Hall, insiders said.
“The message was sent that the mayor no longer wanted her on the panel,” said a source informed about the matter.
Cleveland was pushed out despite de Blasio’s own pledge in 2013 to ensure that members of the 13-person panel — which was designed, in part, to provide checks on mayoral control of schools — aren’t fired for disagreeing with him.
A fellow PEP member said Cleveland confided that she would step down — and that the Mayor’s Office would draft the resignation letter.
“She was very clear that she was being removed,” the PEP member said.
When de Blasio first ran for mayor, his campaign proposed fixed two-year terms for PEP members, “which will ensure that PEP members who might disagree with Bill will maintain their membership,” according to a June 2013 survey of candidates from the NYC Kids PAC.
“I find it deeply disappointing that the mayor would break his promise to parents in this way,” said Leonie Haimson, a member of the PAC board. “This ensures there will be no checks and balances on his autocratic decision-making.”
In the same survey, de Blasio claimed he supported PEP or Board of Education members “with set terms, who cannot be fired at will by the mayor.”
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg was notorious for axing PEP appointees who did not rubber-stamp his policies — and de Blasio seems to be keeping up the tradition.
Cleveland’s resignation came the week after PEP rejected the de Blasio administration’s plans to close two Queens schools during a contentious Feb. 28 meeting that stretched past midnight.
The rebuke was possible because Cleveland joined the five borough president appointees in rejecting proposals to close the two Rockaway schools. Another of de Blasio’s eight PEP appointees, Isaac Carmignani, abstained from the two votes, effectively blocking the closures.
But Cleveland was the only mayoral appointee to directly vote against any of the closures — and did so five times.
PEP still OK’d shutting 10 other schools and postponed voting on another closure later withdrawn by the DOE. Cleveland, appointed by de Blasio in January 2014, approved seven of the closures.
Cleveland didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
“After four years of serving on the PEP, Ms. Cleveland submitted her resignation this week and we are actively working to appoint a new panel member to fill her seat,” de Blasio spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie said. “We are grateful for her service and commitment to our city’s students.”