Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted Monday that schoolchildren shouldn’t be “political pawns” in the battle over mayoral control of New York City’s education system — while standing next to a bunch of schoolkids wearing backpacks.
As de Blasio was speaking in the City Hall rotunda, the children from the Bronx Academy of Letters began to form behind and to the side of him, some of whom were holding signs saying , “PASS MAYORAL CONTROL.”
“One thing I hear all the time …,” he began to say, and then turned around and noticed one boy behind him.
“Come on over here. You too — come on. This is the issue. Here’s what I hear all the time: We don’t want our children treated as political pawns. We want them given the education they deserve.”
Hizzoner even complimented one of the children for applauding his remarks.
“You’re fired up. I like that,” he said.
Principals-union President Ernie Logan — who stood with the kids — initially admitted inviting them, then claimed, “They just came in.”
