New York City Public School Parents: Community Education Councils and Deliberative Democracy

• In Event: Voice and Power in K-12 Education Policy Decisions

Abstract

Where most school districts have community school boards, New York City Public Schools have thirty-two Community Education Councils (CECs) made up of elected parent volunteers. In a system of centralized mayoral control CECs are the main venue for parents to participate in district-wide policy discussions. Through extended interviews with twelve CEC parents, I learned about how they made sense of their participation in this institution. CECs are under-explored in the sociological literature and merit further attention; I focus on their monthly public calendar meetings as a potential site for democratic deliberation. I offer ways this institution could better serve the collective goals of public schooling, community empowerment, and democratic participation toward developing a contemporary theory of deliberative democracy.

Author

• Eve Murphy, Teachers College, Columbia University