Press Release: NYC Parents Union Victory - DOE cancels flawed CEC elections
Mona Davids (NYCPA)
May 9, 2011
Contact:
Arthur Schwartz, Esq. (917)923-8136
Chris Owens (718)514-4874
Mona Davids (917)340-8987
New York City Parents Union Victory
Department of Education cancels flawed Community Education Council elections
May 9, 2011, New York, NY---Today, Advocates for Justice filed papers on
behalf of the New York City Parents Union and six (6) parent petitioners
for a temporary restraining order to stop the flawed Community Education
Council elections being conducted by the New York City Department of
Education. The hearing was scheduled for 7pm this evening before Judge
Shirley Heitler, Manhattan Supreme Court. At 6:30pm, the Department of
Education's General Counsel advised the court that they will postpone the
selector process voting for one week.
The Department of Education's General Counsel has just requested a meeting
with the New York City Parents Union and their General Counsel, Advocates
for Justice at 1:oopm, tomorrow, May 10th.
Parents, community leaders and elected officials have written to complain
to the Department of Education regarding their violation of the electoral
process mandated in state education law. Parents also pointed out that the
Department of Education failed to notify parents of the elections and
obstructed the process by requiring parents to have their children's New
York City Identification Number to view candidates information and vote.
Most parents had not received the identification numbers from the
Department of Education at the time of voting or through the entire week
of voting.
Many candidates were also deemed ineligible by the Department of
Education, never informed of their ineligibility and unable to reach
anyone at the Department of Education. Other parents of aged out children
and charter parents were eligible to run but unable to access their
candidate information or vote.
Arthur Schwartz, Esq., attorney for the parents stated, "The school system
will only thrive with active, involved, informed parents. The vote last
week was a sham. Parents are entitled to a well run, iformed choice, so
that the makeup of Community District Councils reflects the parent
community. It is a shame that it took a lawsuit to get the process
stopped. Hopefully our negotiations over the next few days will bring
about a fair, democratic, informed process."
Mona Davids, President of the New York City Parents Union, stated, "For
too long, parents have been ignored as the real stakeholders in our
children's education. The founding of the New York City Parents Union
signals a change and that parents will no longer stand by while our rights
are violated and our children are used as pawns in political games. We
demand a seat at the table in determining policy and ensuring a quality
education for our children."
www.advocatesforjustice.net
www.nycparentsunion.org
###
msa...@nycparentsunion.org
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "NYC Parents Union" group.
> To post to this group, send email to nyc-pare...@googlegroups.com
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> nyc-parents-un...@googlegroups.com
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/nyc-parents-union?hl=en
>