Deb Dillingham, a longtime education advocate from Forest Hills, has been selected as Queens Borough President Melinda Katz’s appointee on the city Panel for Educational Policy. Photo courtesy Deborah Dillingham
Little did Deborah Dillingham know when she first stepped into a Forest Hills elementary school years ago to drop her children off for kindergarten that she would be embarking on a foray into Queens’ educational landscape that has led her to be Borough President Melinda Katz’s recent appointee to the city Panel for Educational Policy.
Almost immediately after dropping her children – who are now 14 and in public high schools – off at PS 101 in Forest Hills to launch their kindergarten career, Dillingham met the school’s Parent Association president – and she quickly became an integral part of the school’s fabric.
“I thought at the time, my involvement was going to be just raising money for the school,” Dillingham said. “I didn’t know what the issues were until then, but I sat on the school leadership team and became intimately involved in the issues. Small class size was one of my initial fights.”
She went on to serve the city’s educational system in a number of different capacities, including as the Queens borough appointee to District 28’s Community Education Council, for which she served as president until last week. Dillingham was also a member of the Queens Borough President’s Parent Advisory Committee, the District 28 Leadership Team, and the schools chancellor’s Parent Advisory Committee.
It is this background that Katz said led her to appoint the Forest Hills woman as her representative on the PEP – a decision-making group dominated by mayoral appointees that votes on education plans for the city’s public schools, including closures and co-locations.
“Through her extensive work with our city’s school system, Deborah has shown she has the knowledge, savvy and commitment necessary to be an outstanding member of the Panel for Educational Policy,” Katz said. “She cares deeply about our children and the schooling they receive and has the track record of making sure our kids get the best education possible.”
Under the mayoral control legislation, which was passed by the state Legislature in 2002, the PEP was formed. During Bloomberg’s tenure, the 13-member group landed scathing criticism from parents, educators and lawmakers alike, who accused the body of being a rubber stamp for the former mayor because he appointed the majority of the panel. The mayor’s appointees never voted against a proposal supported by Bloomberg, while the representatives from the borough president – who each select one appointee for the PeP – frequently fought the administration on everything from slashing principals’ budgets to closing large community high schools, such as Jamaica High School.
The mother of three children – a 14-year-old who attends LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in Manhattan, a 14-year-old who is a student at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Long Island City, and a 12-year-old who goes to the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan – Dillingham said she hopes the new PEP will be more receptive and stressed that she hopes to help parents “navigate this incredibly complex system” that is the New York City public schools.
Additionally, she said she plans to advocate for much-needed funding and the restoration of programming for the borough’s schools, which, under Bloomberg, were forced to make drastic cuts to such areas as art and music and foreign language.
“Each school has its own challenged, and every student has a different need,” Dillingham said. “I don’t believe in a cookie cutter education, but I do believe all children should have a gym and a playground and a music room and a library and a science lab. Most of all, they should have great teachers.”
By Anna Gustafson
