NYC Public School Parents: Do we all really serve the Chancellor, and do the buildings belong to him?

NYC Public School Parents: Do we all really serve the Chancellor, and do the buildings belong to him?

Do we all really serve the Chancellor, and do the buildings belong to him?

by Leonie Haimson

On June 23, 2010, the Office of Portfolio Planning (OPP) from the NYC Department of Education attended a Community Education Council meeting in District 1 on the Lower East Side. This was in response to an invitation from our CEC to hold an initial needs assessment, before deciding how space should be used in our neighborhood’s schools.


When a CEC member asked, “What happens if there is a conflict between what the community wants and what the Chancellor wants for our district?” Elizabeth Rose, the OPP representative, responded, “We all serve the Chancellor, the buildings belong to him.” You could see the entire room full of parents bristle.



As a parent from a local elementary school who went to the hearing in a furious panic because word had gotten