CONFLICTED: Former city Comptroller Bill Thompson canceled just hours before his scheduled appearance. (
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Two Democratic mayoral candidates battling for the endorsement of the city’s powerful teachers union were sudden no-shows last night at a forum sponsored by an organization that supports charter schools.
“Boo! Boo!” screamed hundreds of parents when the moderator announced that both former Comptroller Bill Thompson and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio had canceled just a few hours before they were scheduled to appear at the forum on West 14th Street in Chelsea sponsored by the advocacy organization Families for Excellent Schools and other groups.
The two candidates are the leading contenders for the backing of the United Federation of Teachers, which next week is planning to announce its choice for mayor.
The union has fought the expansion of charter schools — privately managed, publicly funded schools that use mostly non-union teachers.
Parents were outraged at the disrespectful slight.
“I’m the parent of a 5- and 9-year-old and I’m upset about it,” said Denise Senderson, 38, of The Bronx, who has one child attending the Harlem Village charter school and has entered a lottery in a bid to get a spot for her second child.
Judith Rodriguez, 28, a mother of four, scoffed at the claim that Thompson and de Blasio had scheduling conflicts.
“I’m juggling, too,” she said, explaining that she left two kids at a school event 20 blocks away and grabbed a cab so she could attend the forum.
“My kids have a show and I have come here because this is very important to our kids,” she added. “We need a good mayor and we need to know who to pick. So if they’re not here, I don’t know how I’m going to feel.”
One source said Thompson pulled out at 3 p.m. for a 7:50 p.m. appearance.
De Blasio canceled a couple of hours before his 5:50 p.m. appearance, the source added.
The Thompson camp claimed he never confirmed his attendance and had to be at a dinner of the Dominican Bar Association yesterday.
But the source said Thompson aides were saying as late as Monday that he’d be attending.
The teachers union is trying to block charter schools from opening or co-locating in any more public-school buildings.
Thompson has called for a moratorium on such “co-locations,” in which charter schools share building space with traditionally structured schools.
A confidential memo circulated by Democrats for Education Reform, another charter school champion, said that both Thompson and de Blasio left themselves some wiggle room .
“The biggest prize for the UFT in the pandering process would have been a line of candidates calling for the elimination of co-locations. That didn’t happen,” said the May 31 memo, which was unearthed yesterday by Crains New York Business.
“In the current field both [candidates Christine] Quinn and [Anthony] Weiner appear to support co-locations and Thompson and de Blasio give adequately confusing responses on the issue. This is good news for charter schools . . .”