It's Time to Get Rid of Board of Ed
BILL THOMPSON, Board of Education president, sits at a conference table in his spacious 11th-floor Brooklyn office. In the middle of the table, amid stacks of newspapers and documents, is a wooden placard. "My Responsibility," it says. It was given to him by Schools Chancellor Harold Levy as a reminder of how the board should approach its job. These days, it could be read as an admission of failure. Responsibility or lack thereof is the primary problem at 110 Livingston St. On Wednesday, Mayor Giuliani called for the abolition of the Board of Ed. It is the best and most sensible solution to the problems that plague the 1.1 million school children in this city. The Board of Ed doesn't work, and hasn't for a very long time. Its makeup - two appointees from the mayor and one from each borough president - has led to political tugs of war and foot-dragging on major issues. When the mayor sensibly wanted a takeover of school safety by the Police Department, the board stalled for two years before finally acquiescing. Since the NYPD took over security in public schools in December 1998, overall crime has fallen 14%. That is a success. It could have, and should have, come sooner. The board and Thompson also fought the end of social promotion, where more than 97% of kids were allowed to go to the next grade despite not having the tools to survive. The board feared dropout rates would skyrocket. Social promotion finally ended last year, and already more children are being forced into summer school, giving them a fighting chance at a solid education. Bill Thompson, a very nice man with good intentions, and enough political ambition to run for city controller next year, has taken one big stand for change. In 1998, he led the charge to promote school uniforms for 550,000 students. It was a small but effective gesture that restored a sense of order and decorum to hundreds of schools across the city. Thompson's cautious approach is now on display with his proposals for fixing bilingual education and the English as a second language (ESL) program. A board report found that 55% of students entering bilingual ed in the sixth grade fail to exit within eight years. Of the 165,000 students in bilingual and ESL, only 6.3% were proficient in math and 4.9% proficient in English on the latest statewide tests. Thompson's multipronged solution: Better prepare children for Regents requirements as they enter middle school and high school. End the seesawing of children between bilingual and ESL. Greatly improve bilingual special education. Develop new tests for determining when children need bilingual/ESL services and when they are prepared to exit. And get more certified teachers in this area. These are all admirable suggestions, but they are more a wish list than a realistic formula for reform. And they ignore the history of what has worked. In the '40s and '50s, millions of immigrants learned English and other subjects in city schools without the benefit of special language classes. They learned because they had to. There was one standard, and everyone had to meet it. "You're right, bilingual and ESL as a whole do not work," said Thompson, a soft-spoken man with an even temper. "But I don't believe in the sink-or-swim approach. There has to be a way to preserve what is working and fix what isn't without throwing the whole thing away." But how long is long enough for children to languish in failure? Reform happens when people are willing to do the tough thing, even the radical thing. Reform should make a difference. And that's why the board should be abolished. It stands in the way of reform. IT SHOULD BE replaced by a commissioner, much like the appointed officials who preside over the NYPD and Administration for Children's Services - and that person would be appointed by the mayor. And it won't be Giuliani. If this plan is approved, the earliest it would go into effect is 2002, when a new mayor will occupy City Hall. That commissioner would answer to the new mayor, who ultimately answers to the people - the people whose children are in the system. That's accountability. |