Post by Moses on Feb 19, 2005 18:44:00 GMT -5
School Critics Full of Snit Says Mayor
A potty-mouthed Mayor Bloomberg yesterday got down and dirty with critics of his strategy to revamp decrepit schools — saying they should be flushed down the toilet.
On his weekly radio show, the mayor blasted Democratic lawmakers who a day earlier ripped into his plan to cut $1.3 billion from school construction funding.
"I'm sure you can go and find a broken toilet someplace, and then let's go call the newspaper and have them take a picture of you standing there pointing at a toilet," Bloomberg said on his WABC radio show.
"They should flush everybody down the toilet," he added. "Come on, let's get serious."
Moskowitz yesterday shot back that the "flippant, condescending" remark shows "just how out of touch the mayor is with parents at our public schools."
— David Andreatta and David Seifman
New York Post
2005-02-19
www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/40824.htm
Ohanian Comment: I would tell Bloomberg that broken toilets are are serious. They are clear evidence of the regard in which a system holds its students and faculty. When I started teaching in New York City, I was shocked to read the UFT contract and discover that "providing an adequate toilet paper supply" was one of the things the union required of the district. "What kind of a place is this that workers can't take toilet paper for granted?" I asked.
Later, I worked upstate, where the union didn't have toilet provisions and the toilets were so bad I used my lunch break to walk four blocks to a department store where I could use their facility.
And things haven't changed. You can bet that suburban kids go to schools with clean, functioning restrooms.
A potty-mouthed Mayor Bloomberg yesterday got down and dirty with critics of his strategy to revamp decrepit schools — saying they should be flushed down the toilet.
On his weekly radio show, the mayor blasted Democratic lawmakers who a day earlier ripped into his plan to cut $1.3 billion from school construction funding.
"I'm sure you can go and find a broken toilet someplace, and then let's go call the newspaper and have them take a picture of you standing there pointing at a toilet," Bloomberg said on his WABC radio show.
"They should flush everybody down the toilet," he added. "Come on, let's get serious."
Moskowitz yesterday shot back that the "flippant, condescending" remark shows "just how out of touch the mayor is with parents at our public schools."
— David Andreatta and David Seifman
New York Post
2005-02-19
www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/40824.htm
Ohanian Comment: I would tell Bloomberg that broken toilets are are serious. They are clear evidence of the regard in which a system holds its students and faculty. When I started teaching in New York City, I was shocked to read the UFT contract and discover that "providing an adequate toilet paper supply" was one of the things the union required of the district. "What kind of a place is this that workers can't take toilet paper for granted?" I asked.
Later, I worked upstate, where the union didn't have toilet provisions and the toilets were so bad I used my lunch break to walk four blocks to a department store where I could use their facility.
And things haven't changed. You can bet that suburban kids go to schools with clean, functioning restrooms.