From:

Klein Joel I.

Sent:

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 6:15 PM

To:

&All Principals

Subject:

Governance Update

Dear Colleagues, I am sure you have been following the events in Albany and have many questions about thefuture of our school system. While we obviously have many questions, we cannot put theeducation of New York City’s students at risk because of Albany’s inaction on mayoral control of the public schools. In this e-mail, I will outline what we know and what we don’t know.

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Community Education Councils:

The 2002 law that put the New York Citymayor in charge of the City’s public schools expired yesterday. This same lawalso created the Community Education Councils and the Citywide Council onSpecial Education. Since the law has expired, these education councils no longer formally exist. However, I am urging the Community Education Councils and theCitywide Council on Special Education, as well as the Citywide Council on HighSchools, to continue meeting, at least until September when we hope to havemore clarity. During this time, we will continue to support their administrativeassistants. If the Councils decide not to continue their work, we’ve asked them tonotify us immediately.

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Panel for Educational Policy:

The Panel for Educational Policy also ceases toexist today. The borough presidents and the Mayor have reconstituted the Boardof Education to replace the Panel for Educational Policy.

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Board of Education:

The newly reconstituted Board of Education met at TweedCourthouse this afternoon. It approved two resolutions:

○

First, the Board appointed me to continue serving as chancellor anddelegated to me all of its powers that can be delegated under the law.This allows us to maintain continuity in our school system.

○

Second, noting that the State Assembly had adopted Assembly Bill no.8903-a, which would extend Mayoral Control until 2015, while the StateSenate had failed to act on an identical bill, Senate Bill no. S5887, theBoard urged the State Senate to take immediate action to enact S5887.

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Summer School:

For those of you who have already opened or will be openingsummer school programs, summer school will go forward as planned. You andyour staff should report to work as usual.

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Support:

Our central and field operations also remain in place. You will still besupported by your core team, including your School Support Organization andyour IntegratedService Center. You should feel free to turn to your core teammembers with any questions you might have about the current situation or regular school operations.We have made great strides over the past seven years, and, together, we have implementedsignificant reforms that have improved the City’s public schools and our students’ academicresults. I know we are working in an environment of uncertainty and that we all have manyquestions. I will work to keep you updated as we move through this period. I thank you all for your continued efforts to serve the students of New York City to the best of your ability, even during