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Revived Board of Education votes to keep Schools Chancellor Joel Klein
A hastily revived Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to retain Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, but didn't allow public comment at its first meeting in seven years.
The new board, quickly selected late Tuesday after it became clear that the dysfunctional state Senate would not act on mayoral control, also voted to give Klein authority over the school system -- essentially keeping Mayor Bloomberg in charge.
It then voted not to meet again until September 10, but can convene a meeting sooner if it likes. The 75-person capacity room was overflowing with more than 125 people packed in at Education Department headquarters in lower Manhattan.
Groups of parents waited outside the Tweed Courthouse building where the board is headquartered. The board is made up of two mayoral appointees and one from each of the five borough presidents.
Bloomberg tapped loyal deputy mayors Patricia Harris and Edward Skyler as his representatives. Deputy mayor Dennis Walcott, who was appointed by Queens beep Helen Marshall, was elected board president.
The other members are: Carlo Scissura, Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz's chief of staff; Jimmy Yan, counsel for Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer; Staten Island deputy borough president Edward Burke; and Dolores Fernandez, a former City University president picked by Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz.
Klein does not have to consult the board until its next meeting, when he will meet with members to discuss summer school progress and plans for the opening of school in September. He will also update the board on financial issues.
The board also passed a resolution urging the Senate to pass a bill that has cleared the Assembly that would continue mayoral control of the schools.
That bill keeps the major components of the 2002 mayoral control law, while adding some parental involvement
