CEC 28 Parents, Local Leaders Still At A Loss Over Election Disqualification

After weeks of consternation over a set of confusing rules within Queens Community Education Council 28, local lawmakers are trying to clear the air.

In July, two parents who had won seats on the educational district council via election received notice from the Department of Education that they had been ruled ineligible to serve.

The law states that no school in any educational district may have more than one parent on the representative council. The Department of Education’s interpretation of that law ruled out the two parents in question because they each had children attending more than one school in the district.

Now, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, State Sen. Toby-Ann Stavisky and City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz are coming to the parents’ defense, saying the DOE has misinterpreted the law.

“The Department of Education’s legal counsel and the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York have made a strict and flawed interpretation of this particular statute, which ignores both the spirit and letter of the law,” Hevesi said. “In the particular case of CEC 28, the termination of these two parents from their seats significantly reduces parental input and contributions from the Forest Hills and Rego Park school communities for the next two years.”

Stavisky partially blamed mayoral control of the schools for the incident.

“To have parents from Forest Hills/Rego Park win the election and then be told they were disqualified reinforces the opinion held by many that under mayoral control of education, parents are not important,” she said. “If we follow [the DOE’s] reasoning, no parent with children in two schools would be eligible to serve on the CEC — disenfranchising many parents.”

Kathryn Thome was one of the parents ejected from the council, according to the Daily News. She told the paper it was a stunning moment, hearing she was not going to serve out her two-year term.

“I feel like I got punched in the stomach,” she told the paper.

Koslowitz said the whole process is flawed.

“The confusion and unclear rules did a great disservice; one and one sure didn’t make two. We need to change the process to make it work better for parents, children and our communities,” she said.