By Rachel Monahan, NY Daily News
Four of the five top Democratic candidates for mayor took to the steps of City Hall Tuesday to criticize the mayor’s school closing policy.
As the city moves to close a record 62 schools this year, the Democrats said Mayor Bloomberg needs to account for what happens to the highest needs kids when a school is closed.
“It’s very easy to close a school. It doesn’t take real leadership,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. “For too long, school closing has been the easy way out.”
“Stop this dangerous shell game with our children. Stop shuffling them around,” said former city Controller Bill Thompson.
Controller John Liu and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio also joined the advocacy group the Coalition for Educational Justice for the press conference Tuesday.
The Democratic primary field, already critical of some Bloomberg-era education reforms, is in competition for support from the mayor’s fiercest critics on education policy, including the powerful teachers union.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the current frontrunner in the mayoral contest and a close ally of the mayor’s, did not attend. Instead, she issued a carefully worded statement praising the city’s “small schools movement” while noting that there has been no “magic bullet.”
“To too many people over at the Tweed building, closing a school is a panacea. They think it will solve all our problems,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
Past reports on the city’s new small schools — including one last week by CEJ — have found that the new, Bloomberg-founded schools serve a less needy population than the shuttered schools they replaced.
Eight failed high schools closed under Bloomberg served more of the highest-need special education students than the small schools that replaced them, CEJ found.
“When a school is closed it has a disproportionate impact on students with special needs,” said city Controller John Liu. “The new schools are not serving the same population.”
Department of Education officials defended their school closing policies, referring to a recent study that showed students randomly selected by lottery for new small schools performed better than students who attended school elsewhere.
“High-needs students deserve better schools, not more excuses, and we refuse to go back on a strategy that improved thousands of lives in neighborhoods long neglected by the system,” said Chief Academic Officer Shael Suransky.
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