Tense Moments in de Blasio’s TV Interview
The war on teachers, unions, and public education, if it exists, is evidence in an interview, or more so in the message, ‘trend on the tax relief our charter schools receive and we will retaliate.’ Close any charter schools or do not give these institutions the option to co-locate and the wrath of “the people” will be upon you.
By Michael M. Grynbaum and Nikita Stewart | Originally Published at The New York Times. March 10, 2014Bruised by a controversy over New York City charter schools and seeking to regain momentum on a stalled tax proposal, Mayor Bill de Blasio took to national television on Monday to argue his case for his administration’s top policy priorities.
But the appearance, a half-hour interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, turned tense at times, with Mr. de Blasio facing a barrage of pointed queries about his stance on charter schools and conceding at one point that his public-relations efforts needed to improve.
It was an uneasy beginning to a week in which the de Blasio administration had been keen to reframe a public debate on education that has been turning against the mayor of late.
