Sam Pirozzolo, President of Community Education Council 31, and Arthur Z. Schwartz, Esq., our General Counsel, today faced off in court against the New York City Department of Education (“DOE”), and stood up for the rights of parents to have a fair Community Education Council (“CEC”) election process.
The lawsuit, Pirozzolo vs Department of Education, was filed in New York State Supreme Court on May 1.
The parents charge that the selection of representatives has been reduced from a earlier process which included a popular advisory vote involving the parents of public school children followed by a vote among “parent selectors” largely drawn from the officers of Parent Associations, to the current process that only allows for a vote by the “parent selectors”.
Furthermore, the DOE has purposely undermined parents’ ability to campaign by limiting communication with parent selectors to poorly attended candidate forums.
Judge Shlomo S. Hagler ordered that the following take place:
1. An injunction be placed on the publication of election results. The DOE is enjoined from announcing the winners
