New law could lead to more school watchdog meetings
A little-noticed provision tucked into a new state law renewing mayoral control over New York City schools could require a city schools watchdog panel to meet much more frequently.
Currently, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy meets once a month, voting on multiple proposals from across the five boroughs to close, merge or co-locate schools at each session, among other matters.
But a bill passed last month by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Hochul last Thursday could change that.
Tucked into the extension of Mayor Adams’ control over the city school system is a provision that requires the education panel to hold a meeting in the same borough as any school it’s considering for a closure, merger or co-location.
That means the panel will either have to hold separate meetings in multiple boroughs each month, or rearrange its schedule to hear proposals from only one borough each month.
This March, for example, the panel voted on 10 proposals to move or close schools in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.
Under the new change to state law, the panel would have had to hold four separate meetings in four boroughs to vote on those same proposals.
Some of the panel’s contentious meetings last six hours or longer, stretching from 6 p.m. into the morn+ing hours.
Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, a current Panel for Educational Policy member, said she supports the idea of giving parents and community members more “access to be able to contribute to school utilization plans, particularly in their borough and district.”
But she noted that adding more meetings would be a big logistical lift for the panel and the Education Department, given the amount of planning and money that goes into organizing each session.
Salas-Ramirez said she also supports continuing to offer a virtual option for Panel for Educational Policy meetings so that people can make comments without having to attend in-person.
The Education Department didn’t respond to a request for comment on the new requirement, but Schools Chancellor David Banks has criticized other aspects of the new law, including a provision that adds eight new members to the panel, saying this “bill puts more bureaucracy in the way of making real change for kids.”