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1. 

   Michael M.

   November 3rd, 2009 9:04 am

   Re DC37 fighting the school aide layoff: The $800k bond sounds odd.

   Can anyone cite an example of any other group being forced to post such a bond while fighting wrongful termination?

   As the full article touches on, posting a bond had the city WON the first round would have been a whole nuther story. But the city LOST. So how about the city continue to PAY the aides — and deploy them — until the case has run its course.

   Then again, the city could re-appeal and re-appeal for eight years as Bloomberg has the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, first settled in the kids’ favor under the Giuliani administration.

2. 

   QueensParent

   November 3rd, 2009 5:02 pm

   MM this is stupid lawsuit. Where else in America can people file a lawsuit claiming they shouldn’t be laid off because it amounts to wrongful termination? Do autoworkers in Detroit file such lawsuits? How about textile workers in the South? I have that answer, no where else but in silly lawsuit New York City. This is a frivolous lawsuit intended to get publicity for DC 37. They know it is without merit and that’s why the judge required them to post a bond. It will stop other people from filing similar silly lawsuits that don’t even deserve to be written on toilet paper.

3. 

   Michael M.

   November 3rd, 2009 5:05 pm

   Re Pre-K kids and H1N1 vaccine:

   This must be corrected at once.

   It’s one thing for the DOE to tell parents that there’s a shortage of Pre-K seats INSIDE Public School buildings, but, not to worry, there are FREE and COMPARABLE seats available across the street, down the block, or around the corner.

   It’s quite another to say, after the fact, in so many words:
   “Those Pre-K kids who were once looked at as one pool at application time last spring, and who were divvied up in part because of the Kindergarten seat shortage, are now ON THEIR OWN when it comes to H1N1.”

   “Univeral Pre-K” without universal H1N1 vaccine clearly shouldn’t be the last word.

   Per the NYDN: “Children between 6 months and 4 years old are not only in the highest risk group for infection, they are also the highest risk for complications.”

   We’re talking 33,000 kids out of 1.1 million. THREE PERCENT. Sheesh.

4. 

   Michael M.

   November 3rd, 2009 5:10 pm

   QP,
   Your generosity of spirit knows no limits.

   Note that while the Chancellor espouses the autonomy of Principals, the Mayor pre-ordained X number of aides would be axed, and well before the Principals considered their budgets. As someone for whom neither can do any wrong, please explain that apparent conundrum.

5. 

   QueensParent

   November 4th, 2009 12:04 am

   MM once again I have to say it must be a hard world for folks such as yourself who make no distinction between those who like Mayoral control or a single point of accountability for our schools and those who like the Mayor. For you the two viewpoints are inseparable, but they need not be that way. Now to your point, I’ve been involved with schools long enough to know that when there need to be cuts, do you honestly think schools are going to give up this money? Of course not, if left to their own devices, they will continue to spend and overspend even when no money was there. In my district in the old system there were many schools that overspent their budgets each year by hundreds of thousands of dollars with no repercussions? Why? Because they could under the old system. So when there need to be cuts, do you think we should wait on schools to cut their budget (won’t happen) or should schools act like THE REST OF THE CITY AGENCIES and have the budgets cuts centrally. Certainly, the latter is reality. The former that you espouse is not.

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