The election process for the New York City Parent Education Council has encountered significant turmoil, with technical glitches, voting mistakes, and apparent breaches of campaign regulations causing confusion.
Parents in District 1, covering the Lower East Side and East Village, were informed on Friday that some candidates were inadvertently excluded from the ballot.
“We’re asking everyone who voted before the updated ballot to clear their votes and cast a new one by logging into their NYC school account,” an email from the CEC election team instructed.
Rodney Lee, a parent and social worker who previously served on the advisory board in 2021, found himself removed from the list of candidates for the district’s forum.
“They are disadvantaging the families in District 1,” remarked Council President Noah Harlan during an interview with the Post.
Shortly after voting kicked off last Friday, the system experienced problems and was taken offline for “maintenance” amidst these reports.
Those who had already voted received notification this week to revote by May 13th.
Harlan criticized the Department of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) at the City Department of Education, which oversees the elections.
“There’s a lengthy history of mismanagement at FACE,” Harlan stated. “Once again, they’ve really missed the mark.”
FACE reportedly spends over $5 million on elections every two years, yet only about 2% of public school families have participated in recent votes.
Harlan, along with other parents, is pushing for an audit of the election.
Leaders from the Accelerated Curriculum and Education group, known as Place NYC, called for an inquiry into the “causes and extent of voting errors” from the first day of the election.
“The integrity of parental voices is being compromised,” stated Place co-president Yatin Chu.
Additionally, FACE sent out an email on Thursday regarding complaints about candidates who were allegedly undermining others near schools, particularly in District 2, where activists have sought to marginalize conservative contenders.
“Such actions pose a serious threat to fairness and integrity in the election,” read the email.
The Department of Education has yet to respond to requests for comment.
