To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Last week, the Community Education Council for District 16 held its monthly public meeting, required by state law. And there was a lot to talk about. The district's 8th grade math scores and school attendance rates are the city's worst, and high schools have a 39 percent graduation rate -- 20 percent below the citywide average. But what should be a 12 person council has only two members and only one was at the meeting. It takes six to conduct any business, so on this particular night, nothing got done.

"In terms of us not having quorum and to be able to vote on how we are going to proceed in the future in advocating for our children, I think that is one of the challenges that we are facing now, that we don't have a voice," said District 16 Council Member Lyn Johnson.

The District 16 superintendent was there, along with a top, six-figure salaried Department of Education official, Martine Guerrier, whose job is to increase public participation in the schools. But when NY1 tried to attend the meeting, a security guard was told to keep us out.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein acknowledged it was against the law to shut us out of the council's public meeting, and DOE officials say it was a mistake that won't happen again.

Meanwhile, NY1 has been told that a DOE employee -- the administrative assistant for the District 16 council -- may be making the situation worse. She is supposed to report to the Council president, but there is no president for District 16, and nobody could account for what she does all day.

"We do have a little difficulty with her helping us get certain information that we need to go out and do our jobs," said District 16 Council member Nicole Alford.

There are even allegations from several informed sources that she may be discouraging parents from running for the council. NY1 tried to ask her, but she repeatedly refused to respond or comment.

Council assistants can only be fired or laid off by a vote of at least six council members, so in District 16, that's one more option they don't have.

Two days after being shut out of the District 16 meeting, NY1 was welcomed to the monthly meeting of the District 3 education council, covering part of Harlem and the Upper West Side.

The council members' table, the auditorium and the agenda were all full. The calendar for the next month was also full with committee meetings, workshops and events -- all recourses that parents in District 16 don't have.