Council Battles Education Dept. On Legal Ground
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The City Council issued a subpoena last week to compel officials of the Department of Education to testify at a hearing on their implementation of a new anti-bullying law the council had passed over the mayor’s veto. Yesterday, education officials showed up for the morning hearing, but they didn’t budge on their resolve not to implement the law, which they call illegal.
Much of the three-hour dialogue focused on the legal dispute between the council and the department.
The general counsel to the education department, Michael Best, said the department doesn’t intend to implement the so-called Dignity for All Students Act because it is pre-empted by the state’s Safe Schools Against Violence in Education law. He said if the council is not satisfied with the administration’s plan, it can sue.
Council members said it’s the department’s duty to go to court if it doesn’t want to implement the new law.
The chairwoman of the Committee on Education, Council Member Eva Moskowitz, also scolded the department officials for not adhering to basic civics principles such as the separation of powers, and she repeatedly reprimanded Mr. Best for rolling his eyes as she tried to get to the bottom of what the department is currently doing to combat bullying at city schools. Mr. Best conceded he had rolled his eyes once but said the other times he was blinking to get something out of his eye or looking down at the microphone.
“I would certainly hope that instead of any hint of resentment at the number of hearings, you would understand that parents have the right to know what is going on and why it’s happening, and it’s our job to ask the hard questions,” Ms. Moskowitz, who is running for Manhattan borough president, said. “You may not like it, and it may be a pain in the neck for you to come here and explain to the public what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, justify why you’re doing it; and if you don’t want to do that, you shouldn’t be in the business of public education, because these are not private decisions, they’re public decisions.”
