Governance Teams Proposed for N.Y.C. Schools

By Kerry A. White

Parents and teachers in the nation's largest school system would have broad new authority over their schools under a plan the New York City school board is expected to take up next week.

The proposal, which Schools Chancellor Rudolph F. Crew announced at a Nov. 4 board meeting, would set up decisionmaking councils at all the city's 1,100-plus schools. Half the membership would consist of teachers and school administrators, including the principal, and half would be parents, students, and community representatives.

The teams, which would vary in size, would collaborate on decisions ranging from the school budget to curriculum concerns to professional development, and they would have the authority, given an impasse, to override a principal's authority by appealing to the district superintendent, a mediator, or...