Weiner discipline

Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner is planning to run for mayor of New York, a position that would also put him in control of the schools. Why New Yorkers would want to put this creep anywhere near school children is beyond me. But then, Mark Sanford was just elected in South Carolina, so what do I know?

(N.Y. Post pic)

Monday, protesting NYC students made it clear that they want no part of Weiner's ideas on public education. Those ideas were laid out in a policy booklet released last month. In the document, titled “Keys to the City,” he wrote that his first educational priority was to “streamline the process of removing troublesome kids from the classroom.” What he would be "streamlining" is Mayor Bloomberg's current policy which emphasizes using suspensions and arrests to enforce school safety.

The students did their homework and found that arrests and suspensions in NYC schools disproportionately and unfairly involve black and Hispanic students.

According to the Times:

“Instead of proposing an ineffective and harmful policy for student safety, you should embrace successful and proven strategies like restorative justice that improve safety, reduce conflict and increase learning,” the groups wrote in a letter to Mr. Weiner, which protesters tried to hand-deliver on Monday. (A doorman would not allow them inside the building, at East 20th Street, but took the letter.)

Aside from keeping Weiner-style discipline out of the mayor's office, how many more reasons do we need to end mayoral control of the schools?