Apathy plagues community education council

By Kate McNeil

Like its counterparts across New York City, the Community Education Council of District 10 has struggled since its inception three years ago to find ways to get parents to come to its meetings. Now, the local parent council is facing a new dilemma: how to get its own members to show up.

On July 19 — the first meeting since a new slate of parents was elected in May — only four of the 11 members made an appearance.

The turnout was so meager that elections to name the council's officers had to be postponed until the August meeting. "We need six members to have a quorum," said Marvin Shelton, a Riverdale resident who served as president of the council last year.

In May, seven new parents were elected to the council but only three were present at last week's meeting: Angela Castillo, John Corniel and Denise Sullivan. While some chalked up the poor turnout to summer vacations, Mr. Shelton said, shaking his head, "I had confirmations from almost everyone."

What's more, the 12-member board has been missing a second borough president appointee since February 2006. Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión Jr. has named only one member for the local council, Judith Powell Daly, who also did not show. The borough president's office has blamed the vacancy on a dearth of interested candidates.

The city's 32 community education councils were created in 2004 to replace community school boards, which critics said were corrupt, ineffective and mired by cronyism. While the councils serve as a conduit to give parents more information on everything from school policy to city test scores, the long-standing complaint has been that they lack teeth. Unlike their predecessors, they are unable to hire and fire community superintendents or really effectuate change.

It is for that reason, many local parents have said, they see no point in attending meetings.

Although the public crowd was scanty at last week's meeting as well — 12 people were surrounded by empty seats in PS/ MS 279's large auditorium — most spoke up about the lack of representation.

"Where are the people?" asked Lillian Perkins, an active participant in the meetings. "If the heads aren't here the tail can't operate. I don't think it's a coincidence that I see so much empty space on this stage."

Although the council was unable to accomplish anything on the business agenda, the meeting lasted well over an hour with discussions focused on how to increase attendance. There were talks of creating a council blog online, and scheduling early-morning meetings to accommodate parents.

"I'm the only one from my school that shows up," said Mr. Shelton, whose children attend PS 24. "It's depressing."

Parents in the audience also complained about past meetings, saying the topics failed to rouse much public interest.

In the council's May and June meetings, representative from the city Department of Education gave lengthy PowerPoint presentations on the district's math and reading scores and on student funding.

"Test scores are test scores and you have to talk about them but yes, I feel a little disjointed from those meetings," Mr. Shelton said.

He added that the most popular meetings are the ones that discuss overcrowding and the DOE's capital plan — issues that hit close to home for many local parents.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 9, at 6:15 p.m., at PS 54, at 2747 Webster Ave.