Shino Tanikawa began her foray into New York City’s public school system “from the bottom up” when she volunteered for a fundraiser at PS 3 in the West Village where her two daughters, now ages19 and 11, attended school through 5th grade. She quickly progressed to PTA Treasurer and Co-President, and on to the District 2 PTA Presidents’ Council as Treasurer. Tanikawa was elected last June for a second two-year term on the Community Education Council for District 2 (CECD2), and again chosen by her fellow CECD2 members to serve as President. District 2 is the largest of the city’s 32 districts, with 25,000 students, spanning a vast area from the southern tip of Manhattan, to 59th Street on the west side, and 96th Street on the east side. CECs are advisory bodies to ensure parents and the public have input into education policies and decision-making forPK-8 schools, with the authority to approve school zoning lines. In addition to her seemingly round-the-clock work for city schools, Tanikawa is District Manager of NYC Soil & Water Conservation District, an agency that manages conservation projects to protect natural resources and promote the health and welfare of the city.
WVN: Many think that CECs should have more authority beyond just zoning decisions, particularly the authority to approve school closures and charter school co-locations. What is your position?
Tanikawa: The more power we have, the more people might be interested in running for the CEC, which is a good thing. But we have to be careful of what we wish for. It’s a huge responsibility. You really have to spend a lot of time looking at everything to make any particular decision that affects students. I don’t want CECs to become luxury positions where only those who don’t have to work can serve. I think that’s wrong.
WVN: Mayor de Blasio’s education platform during the campaign included granting CECs an advisory vote on school co-locations and closings, which de Blasio cleverly called a new Uniform Parental Engagement Procedure, or UPEP, analogous to ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) that community boards have over land use decisions in the city. Will that be enough in your opinion?
Tanikawa: I do think that’s a better way to go -that we have the advisory vote and it will be taken seriously. It’s not going to be the final say, but if they vote against our resolution they better have a very good reason why they did that. I might be the minority opinion on this, because there are a lot of CEC members that want more absolute authority.
WVN: Do you have any concerns about de Blasio as our new Mayor?
Tanikawa: I am concerned about him delivering on his promise to listen to parents and include us. He might find that to do it right in a more democratic process will take too much time and it is just easier to make decisions the way Bloomberg did. He is also in support of Mayoral control and I’m not. I don’t want a system that depends on the temperament of one person.
WVN NOTE: Under the city’s Mayoral control system, the Mayor appoints 8 of the 13 members on the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), which governs the city’s school system. De Blasio has never offered to give up his 8 seats, but committed to appoint more parents and other community members, a promise he has followed through on, judging by his recently announced appointees.
WVN: Do you think CECs should be given at least one PEP seat to appoint one of their CEC members?
Tanikawa: That is appealing to me, but I think first we have to strengthen the CECs before we can get there. We are starting to come together as councils city-wide, so maybe it’s possible. Hopefully, with the new administration we won’t be fighting co-locations and school closures every month, and we will have more time to network with each other.
WVN NOTE: Soon after de Blasio was elected Mayor, over half of the CECs and citywide councils came together in what their joint press release announced as “an unprecedented show of unity,” collectively signing on to a comprehensive letter to de Blasio outlining key issues for city schools and urging action in partnership with parents.
WVN: Why is a city-wide network of CECs so important?
Tanikawa: Because issues in my district might be relevant in other districts. That kind of commonality gives us strength, so that we’re not the only ones saying this is wrong. Or, we’re not saying this is wrong when other districts are saying this is right. It will put each district in city-wide perspective, which I think is necessary.
WVN: As President of CECD2, what do you see as the priorities looking at the year ahead and more long-term?
Tanikawa: In the coming year, we are looking at middle school admissions. Lack of capacity for middle school is a serious concern too. Next year is the huge bubble that created a lot of wait lists four year ago when we had 100 kids wait listed for kindergarten. These students are going to be in 5th grade next year, and after that looking for middle school seats. When we have a capacity shortage, the admissions process becomes even more problematic.
WVN: What else is on the radar screen for CECD2?
Tanikawa: We have to be monitoring overcrowding in Community Board 1 [Lower Manhattan]. When the kindergarten application process is over, if we end up with another 150 students who don’t have a seat, I want to be sure the DOE has some kind of plan of what to do with those kids who can’t fit into those schools.
WVN: District 2 is such a huge district – do you think it should be reduced in size?
Tanikawa: I am not opposed to that, as it is a little unwieldy. That is a State legislation issue. But now that we have become a less diverse district as a whole, if you further chop it down, some smaller sections will be even less diverse than we are now. That is not desirable since I believe diversity in our student body is critically important.
WVN: There has been controversy and even a law suit around the CEC election process.[Under the current system, only three PTA officers per school vote on CEC candidates.]Should the election process be changed?
Tanikawa: I do think every parent should vote. Now you can be elected with only three votes. That’s not right, and that’s one of the reasons we’re not taken seriously – we’re not considered elected. Also, we still have parents who don’t know what the CEC is. There might be a way to stagger the election so we don’t totally turn over. This year, CECD2 was lucky, because many of the members decided to run again, so there was about half of us who continued on. That kind of continuity is critical.
WVN: Was there a spark that ignited your activism?
Tanikawa: What really got me introduced to other activists was Lobby Day. The Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council hosted lobby day where parent activists worked with the UFT [teachers union]or whoever else had resources to get buses to send parents up to Albany, usually around budget time, to meet with Assembly members and State Senators.
WVN: How do you open doors at huge bureaucracies like the DOE, up in Albany, and with local politicians? Any advice for other activists?
Tanikawa: It sounds simple, but I think being nice always works. Even if you’re angry, if you want somebody to listen to you, you have to put your anger somewhere else. I guess I learned this the hard way working with my teenage daughter. If you want someone to pay attention to you, whether it’s speaking or writing a letter, if you start yelling, people are not going to listen. So I try to live by that rule, to make sure that what you’re saying is being heard.
WVN: Can you see yourself on CECD2 for some more years ahead?
I’m eligible to run until my daughter is in 10th grade, and she’s in 6th grade now, but I don’t think that far.I wasn’t going to run again this term, but I thought, we’re going to have a new Mayor, I have to be here. We ended up with an incredible team on the CECD2. We did last term as well. We can disagree and still be friends. I love that it’s OK not to vote the same way – it’s actually better. There is a diversity of opinion, and we can still go have a drink together.
