Bloomberg vs. The Third Graders
Mayor Mike suddenly looks like the playground bully, picking on a bunch of defenseless little kids. But when he runs for re-election, he may find those defenseless third graders have a lot of friends who'd like to reciprocate the beating.

The mayor wants to end social promotion at the third grade, meaning kids who aren't smart enough to pass a reading and math test before starting fourth grade should have to repeat third. Mayor Mike has served up a lot of unpleasant medicine since taking over in January 2002, but this time the methods were more Giuliani-like. Just before the school board meeting last night, he realized he wouldn't have enough votes, so he fired three members (one via a message on her answering machine according to WNYC) and replaced them with people who would do exactly as he said. Here's the lead quote in today's New York Times (where it's the lead story):

"This is what mayoral control is all about," Mr. Bloomberg said last night. "In the olden days, we had a board that was answerable to nobody. And the Legislature said it was just not working, and they gave the mayor control. Mayoral control means mayoral control, thank you very much. They are my representatives, and they are going to vote for things that I believe in."

- posted by Amy @ 3/16/2004 07:52:00 AM