If
a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear it? Likewise, if a member of the
Democratic minority in the County Legislature submits a resolution, does
anybody read it?
Answers: yes, lumberjacks and
hikers; no, not really.
A recent legislative referral
submitted by Assistant Minority Leader Christopher Wilmot is a case in point
(about resolutions, that is, not redwoods).
On September 5, Wilmot held a press
conference in the county Dems’ office calling for a state takeover of the
Rochester City School District.
On its face, that sounds like
serious business — ceding local control of city schools to Albany,
restructuring a school-governing system codified in the State Constitution,
possibly following Philadelphia’s lead by privatizing public education. And
Wilmot made it clear there are some big issues at stake: nothing less than the
lives and futures of the city’s roughly 37,000 students.
The reaction, however, was anything
but big. The Democrat and Chronicle noted
the news conference with a four-paragraph brief the next day, and local TV
stations ran a few frames of video, mostly of other cameras capturing the
“action.”
Internally, Wilmot’s resolution
wasn’t even sent to a committee for consideration. Instead, it’s become what’s
termed a “memorializing referral.”
Such referrals are typically nothing
more than statements of opinion regarding legislation pending before state
lawmakers and other fanciful notions. When the full legislature meets,
legislators can indicate their support for memorializing referrals by signing
them when they’re passed around on a clipboard. The signed referrals are then
sent to the appropriate recipients — in this case, County Executive Jack
Doyle, Mayor Bill Johnson, and Governor George Pataki.
“Urban
education is broken and cannot be fixed,” says Wilmot. Asked at the press
conference how a state takeover would help, Wilmot was short on answers. His
resolution merely asks that Doyle “begin discussions” with Johnson and Pataki
about initiating such a change. (Given the sour relationship between Doyle and
Johnson, Wilmot may as well have asked a grizzly to begin discussions with a
mountain lion.)
In a subsequent interview, Wilmot
elaborated a bit more on his idea. His central premise is that the high
concentration of poverty in the city dooms kids to fail in school. Until the
problem of urban poverty is addressed, Wilmot would give city kids the chance
to attend public schools in the suburbs — through a greatly expanded
urban-suburban transfer program — or new magnet schools located throughout
the county. Some suburban students would also attend class in city schools.
Asked why urban-suburban transfers
aren’t common, Wilmot says, “Socially speaking, bigotry and fear is what has
prevented that.” Since the integration battles of the 1950s and ’60s, “parents
and families and neighborhoods have resegregated themselves,” Wilmot says. He
admits overcoming “bigotry and fear” is a long-term struggle, but says, “I believe,
like Thurgood Marshall believed and others, that sometimes the leaders have to
lead. Segregation was wrong in 1954, and it’s wrong in 2002.”
A state
takeover of Rochester’s schools “means probably getting rid of the
school board and the superintendent and having the state Department of
Education run the system,” Wilmot says, but “in terms of day-to-day activities,
it’s hard to say.”
Wilmot is opposed to one reform
scenario gaining currency these days: giving the mayor the power to appoint the
school board and superintendent, and making them accountable to the mayor and
city council. His opposition to the idea, however, is based as much in personal
as pragmatic reservations.
“Mayor Johnson and I are not
friendly at the moment,” Wilmot says. “We have a feud going on right now.”
The feud, of course, stems from the
Democratic caucus’ vote to replace José Cruz with Stephanie Aldersley as
Minority Leader this summer. Johnson was particularly angry that his fellow
Dems made the change without consulting him first, calling the vote to oust
Cruz “so incredibly stupid that it defies logic.”
Though he calls Johnson a “bright,
intelligent person,” Wilmot says, “the mayor is too political right now, and he
doesn’t have the expertise to administer a school system.
“A mayor should only be in control
if a mayor advocates breaking up these high concentrations of poverty,”
continues Wilmot, who’s previously expressed interest in running for mayor when
Johnson leaves the job in 2003.
There hasn’t
been much,
if any, public support for Wilmot’s resolution since he announced it earlier
this month. Asked who’ll sign the memorializing referral when the clipboard
comes their way, Wilmot says, “probably not too many, but a couple. Probably a
couple from both sides [of the aisle].”
According to Wilmot, Republican
Majority Leader Bill Smith of Pittsford contacted him and “promised” to sign
the referral. Smith “really liked it,” Wilmot says. “Was he just playing
politics or being a kind fellow and schmoozing?” he asks. “I’ll take it for
what it’s worth.”
Smith did not return calls seeking
comment.
Given his resolution’s dismal chance
of passing the Republican-dominated Legislature, one wonders whether Wilmot
isn’t just playing politics himself.
“Reporters who are naïve say, ‘Where’s
it going to go?'” Wilmot says. “Go ask the Republicans. They’re the bastards
who kill everything we do. If you want to be cynical, be cynical with the
current majority.”
No thanks, Chris.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2002.
