NY Mayor fires independent thinking Hispanics

When Mayor Bloomberg fired Hispanic leaders--mayoral control in action
Jesse Alred, Examiner, July 19, 2009

On July 1, 2009 New York state senators, in a surprise move, refused to approve a bill extending Mayor Michael Bloomberg's control over New York City's public schools.

The mayor is currently fighting to have the legislature approve the bill.

The extent of the mayor's power was exercised fully in March of 2004, when the mayor and his schools' Chancellor Joel Klein laid before the Panel of Education Policy, a proposal to end social promotion of third graders.

When several members opposed the measure, the mayor fired two of them. Under the state law establishing mayoral control, he appointed and could fire panel members any time he wanted.

Mr. Bloomberg fired two Hispanic Panel members--Susana Torruella Leval and Ramona Hernandez--and appointed two Hispanic government employees in their place.

The Staten Island borough president, who had the authority to hire and fire one member, fired John Mckeever-Thomas, a parent, and replaced him with a more compliant delegate.

The mayor won by a vote of eight to five.

"Corruption, Nepotism at its worst. This is one of the reasons we never supported mayoral control," said Robin Brown, the president of the United Parents Assocation, a city-wide coalition of PTA's.

The incident has gone down in the history of New York City's mayoral control system as an example of the need for more checks and balances in how the community runs its schools.

New York City schools has a diverse, mutli-racial student body, with the largest single group of Hispanic origin.