With three weeks until the Democratic mayoral primary, William C. Thompson Jr. is hoping to pivot the conversation to New York City’s schools, a topic he believes will allow him to rise above his rivals. In a 30-second advertisement, “Mother Teacher,†which began being broadcast on Tuesday, he uses the story of his mother, Elaine Thompson, a public-school teacher, to indirectly attack Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s record on education.
Mr. Thompson can rightly look to his mother for wisdom on the inner workings of schools â€" she taught in public schools for three decades, including at Public School 262 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. But his criticism of the state of schools is missing some nuance. It is true that Mr. Bloomberg has closed many neighborhood institutions â€" some 164 schools in total since 2002. But in those buildings, as well as in newly constructed ones, he has opened 656, though many of those schools were small in size and did not always serve the same student populations.
On the question of teachers, it is correct that many educators â€" and the labor leaders who represent them and have endorsed Mr. Thompson â€" feel mistreated by Mr. Bloomberg. They point to the mayor’s efforts to weaken some union protections and his inability to negotiate a new labor contract (the old one expired in 2009). But things were not always so bad. Mr. Bloomberg won wide praise early in his tenure when, in 2002, he awarded raises to teachers of 16 percent to 22 percent over 30 months.
The idea that test preparation has replaced rigorous learning is a common complaint across the school system. And with test scores being used as an increasingly important tool in schools, some teachers and principals contend that the pressure to perform is too high. Mr. Thompson does not mention that in the last school year the state adopted a new set of tougher exams, meant to do away with rote memorization in favor of analytical skills.
Mr. Thompson has presented an endearing entree into education issues by using the example of his mother. But he does not always present a full accounting of Mr. Bloomberg’s educational policies. And by focusing on the mayor, rather than his rivals, he gives up an opportunity to explain how his approach to education would be unique.
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