NYC school board members with ties to right-wing Moms for Liberty ousted in local election

School board members in Manhattan with ties to the conservative parent group Moms for Liberty were not re-elected to their local education council, according to results announced Monday.
Those knocked off the panel included Community Education Council 2 member Maud Maron, who brought a federal lawsuit against the New York City Education Department to regain her seat after a former schools chancellor removed her for misconduct. Maron stirred controversy last year for sponsoring a resolution condemned by LGBTQ+ advocates as anti-transgender student athletes.
In a statement to the Daily News, Marone said many parents have started voting — not just during the election, but with their feet — and leaving a school district that, as she sees it, is lowering academic standards.
'More social justice activism in lieu of an academic focus will accelerate that trend,' said Maron, who was one of two CEC 2 members to speak at a Moms for Liberty forum in Jan. 2024. Democratic politicians decried the event, and neither member secured enough votes to return to the education council.
Nearly 1,400 parents applied this cycle — a 24% increase — for seats on Community and Citywide Education Councils, which serve as New York City's school boards in a public school system controlled by the mayor, according to Education Department data. There are 32 geographic councils and four citywide panels, which focus on certain students: English language learners, children with disabilities and high schoolers.
'Our schools continue to thrive because of committed parent leadership,' Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said in a statement. 'The [Community and Citywide Education Councils] elections show just how deeply we value parent voices to shape our schools and build a stronger, more inclusive system for all our students. We are committed to giving our elected parent leaders the support and tools they need to lead effectively.'
But greater interest in serving on the councils didn't translate into any improvement in voter turnout, which remained abysmally low. This year, fewer than 18,200 parents cast ballots in a school system of close to 1 million children — a 4% decrease in participation since the last election cycle in 2023, the data showed.
While the panels are often limited in what they can do, they help shape the conversation around hot-button education debates, such as how schools should respond to Israel's war in Gaza or transgender student athletes.
Last cycle, the local education advocacy group Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education, or PLACE, captured a significant foothold on the councils, launching a debate over whether the city was experiencing a backlash to progressive education policies. PLACE advocates for more Gifted & Talented programs and the use of a single exam for admissions to specialized high schools.
PLACE-endorsed candidates will make up 31% of elected seats, down several percentage points from the last election, according to the group's tallies. This election, PLACE declined to endorse Maron, a co-founder of the organization, who is separately running for Manhattan district attorney as a Republican.
'It's an honor to have received the most votes for an individual candidate in the entire city,' Craig Slutzkin, the current president of Community Education Council 2, said in a PLACE press release Monday. 'I believe this a reflection of parents' desire for rigorous, quality education for all kids throughout the city, something I have been fighting for over the past two years.'
CEC 2 — which oversees a sprawling district from Lower Manhattan to the Upper East Side, while omitting some neighborhoods such as the East Village — became the site of sustained protests since The News broke the story last spring of plans to urge the chancellor to revisit the city's inclusive policy on transgender girls' participation in school sports.
The ensuing turmoil sparked organized efforts to oust the resolution's backers. CEC 2 saw more than double the number of applicants than in 2023, according to Education Department data.
Erin Khar, a parent leader on the P.S. 41 Greenwich Village School PTA, said she was encouraged to run by other education advocates, and made her final decision to apply after President Trump's inauguration and the onslaught of new federal policies that came with his re-election.
'I realized that while I don't have control of things over a federal level, I do have influence and control over what happens in New York City,' said Khar, who hopes to help rescind the transgender sports resolution.
'I absolutely believe we'll be able to do it with the new makeup of the council with a message to the trans kids … The message to them is we will protect them — that the protections that already exist within the DOE will be upheld, and we're going to ensure that.'
Council members serve two-year terms beginning on July 1.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

CBS News

27 minutes ago

• CBS News

Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's release before trial, but he will likely be detained by ICE

A Tennessee judge on Sunday ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has become a flashpoint in President Trump's immigration crackdown, while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges. But he is not expected to be allowed to go free. At his June 13 detention hearing, prosecutors said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would take Abrego Garcia into custody if he were released on the criminal charges, and he could be deported before he has a chance to stand trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to discuss the conditions of Abrego Garcia's release. The U.S. government has already filed a motion to appeal the judge's release order. Holmes acknowledged in her ruling Sunday that determining whether Abrego Garcia should be released is "little more than an academic exercise" because ICE will likely detain him. But the judge wrote that everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and "a full and fair determination of whether he must remain in federal custody pending trial." Holmes wrote that the government failed to prove that Abrego was a flight risk, that he posed a danger to the community or that he would interfere with proceedings if released. "Overall, the Court cannot find from the evidence presented that Abrego's release clearly and convincingly poses an irremediable danger to other persons or to the community," the judge wrote. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the smuggling charges that his attorneys have characterized as an attempt to justify the deportation mistake after the fact. The acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, Rob McGuire, argued on June 13 that the likely attempt by ICE to try to deport him was one reason to keep him in jail. But Holmes said then that she had no intention of "getting in the middle of any ICE hold." "If I elect to release Mr. Abrego, I will impose conditions of release, and the U.S. Marshal will release him." If he is released into ICE custody, that is "above my pay grade," she said. The judge suggested that the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security could work out between themselves whether the government's priority is to try him on the criminal charges or deport him. No date has been set for the trial. Will Allensworth, an assistant federal public defender representing Abrego Garcia at the detention hearing, told Holmes that "it's not necessarily accurate that he would be immediately deported." A 2019 immigration judge's order prevents Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland, from being deported to his home country of El Salvador, Allensworth said in court. That's because he faces a credible threat from gangs there, according to court papers. The government could deport him to a third country, but immigration officials would first be required to show that third country was willing to keep him and not simply deport him back to El Salvador, Allensworth said. The smuggling charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Although officers suspected possible smuggling, he was allowed to go on his way with only a warning. At the detention hearing, McGuire said cooperating witnesses have accused Abrego Garcia of trafficking drugs and firearms and of abusing the women he transported, among other claims. Although he is not charged with such crimes, McGuire said they showed Abrego Garcia to be a dangerous person who should remain in jail pretrial. Abrego Garcia's attorneys have characterized the smuggling case as a desperate attempt to justify the mistaken deportation. The investigation was launched weeks after the U.S. government deported Abrego Garcia and the Supreme Court ordered the administration to facilitate his return amid mounting public pressure. Chris Newman, an attorney who represents Abrego Garcia's family, previously told CBS News, "The Trump administration is very invested in making this a referendum on the immigration debate, which, as you know, has become coarsened and polarized." "And that is one way to look at it. And I think certainly a lot of people view it that way. I don't view it that way. I view this as a core constitutional order case, a core due process case," Newman said. "And it just so happens that a Salvadoran immigrant is defending bedrock constitutional protections for all of us." Most people in ICE custody who are facing criminal charges are not kept in the U.S. for trial but deported, Ohio State University law professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández said. The U.S. will likely try to deport Abrego Garcia quickly without going before an immigration judge, the professor said. The government would not need a conviction to deport him because Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. illegally. "The legal standard is laxer," García Hernández said. "The government's argument is on stronger legal footing." However an immigration judge rules, the decision can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, García Hernández said. And the board's ruling can then be contested in a federal appeals court.

Yahoo

32 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Oil hits five-month high after US hits key Iranian nuclear sites

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Oil prices jumped on Monday to their highest since January as Washington's weekend move to join Israel in attacking Iran's nuclear facilities stoked supply worries. Brent crude futures rose $1.88 or 2.44% at $78.89 a barrel as of 1122 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude advanced $1.87 or 2.53% at $75.71. Both contracts jumped by more than 3% earlier in the session to $81.40 and $78.40, respectively, five-month highs, before giving up some gains. The rise in prices came after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had "obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites in strikes over the weekend, joining an Israeli assault in an escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself. Iran is OPEC's third-largest crude producer. Market participants expect further price gains amid mounting fears that an Iranian retaliation may include a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global crude supply flows. Iran's Press TV reported that the Iranian parliament approved a measure to close the strait. Iran has in the past threatened to close the strait but has never followed through on the move. "The risks of damage to oil infrastructure ... have multiplied," said Sparta Commodities senior analyst June Goh. Although there are alternative pipeline routes out of the region, there will still be crude volumes that cannot be fully exported out if the Strait of Hormuz becomes inaccessible. Shippers will increasingly stay out of the region, she added. Brent has risen 13% since the conflict began on June 13, while WTI has gained around 10%. The current geopolitical risk premium is unlikely to last without tangible supply disruptions, analysts said. Meanwhile, the unwinding of some of the long positions accumulated following a recent price rally could cap an upside to oil prices, Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, wrote in a market commentary on Sunday.

Washington Post

39 minutes ago

• Washington Post

White House releases Situation Room photos from when U.S. struck Iran sites

After President Donald Trump launched the first significant U.S. military strike on Iranian soil since the 1979 overthrow of the U.S.-backed shah of Iran, the White House late Saturday released its photos of the president and his top advisers conferring in the Situation Room. The scenes were captured in the windowless room where top-secret operations are discussed and monitored. The White House photos showed Trump, wearing a MAGA hat, at the head of the table, surrounded by advisers including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.