“They really don’t know what’s going on in their district, really through no fault of their own,” Kolb, the president of the School District 24 President’s Council, said. District 24 includes Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village, Elmhurst and Corona.
Giving an example, she said she recently spoke with Catherine Powis, the superintendent of School District 24, to find out how many classrooms were being used in P.S. 307, a new school in Corona which opened up this year. Powis looked into the situation, according to Kolb, to discover only pre-K and kindergarten classes were using the school, taking up just eight classrooms when the school likely has more than 30.
Meanwhile, P.S. 19, across the street, is one of the most overcrowded schools in the city with about 2,000 students. “If the district superintendent had more control, maybe that wouldn’t have happened,” Kolb said.
Borough President Helen Marshall added that she fought to get that school built and was disappointed in the DOE’s handling of it, especially considering some students at P.S. 19 have to take classes in hallways, using clipboards for desks.
In response, Klein said that when he became chancellor more than six years ago, the city spent roughly $200 million on 2,000 school employees, such as deputy superintendents, in district offices. That money is now dispersed to schools, roughly $150,000 each.
In addition, he said he was not concerned about the superintendents evaluating principals, because he had the “best accountability” system in place. He was referring to his system of giving a letter grade to schools, primarily based on how well students do on standardized tests. If a school does poorly, its principal can be removed and the school will likely face decreased enrollment applications.
“If my kid were in a school and the school’s not making progress, I would be worried about them,” he said.
But the audience, including Kolb, was not convinced. “I don’t know any business model where a supervisor doesn’t supervise the people they evaluate,” she said.
Klein responded that he will look further into this issue.
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