(2003-10-17) Nyc Schools Decentralized60s

Some articles about the decentralization of the NYC public schools (Educating Kids In Nyc) in the 1960s.

• on the Ford Foundation, Mc George Bundy, Mario D Fantini, John Lindsay. "And if enough private schools are available," he wrote, "the pattern ushers in an entrepreneurial system in which parents can choose, cafeteria-style, from a range of styles of education - Montessori, prep school, Summerhill, and others." But Fantini thought that privately-operated, state-funded schools would ultimately break free of government control, a prospect he found abhorrent. He therefore rejected privatization in favor of decentralizing public school central offices... The UFT then launched a five-week strike, one of the nation's longest. In November 1968, Mayor Lindsay ended the controversy by abolishing the community councils altogether.

• interview with Fred Siegel. For some time, I have watched the inner city crumble. In the book, I try to explain this in terms of the changing nature of liberalism. Until the 1960s, liberalism left New York in debt, but it did not leave it wildly overburdened with taxes. More important, there was a recognition of the importance of self-respect. The city was there to help you, but you had to help yourself, too. In 1965, this changed. Liberal Republican John Lindsay was inaugurated mayor, ushering in what I call "dependent individualism." This introduced the notion that the city had an obligation to support you, but that you had no obligation to help the city. Or anyone else, for that matter.

• interview with Marilyn Gittell. I did not support the 1969 legislation, but it did prove that decentralization potentially could accomplish exactly what we said it could, which was to allow communities to control their districts and create innovation in the school system.