Schools Chancellor Calls Northeast Queens Town Hall A 'Setup'

NEW YORK CITY — Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza referred to a contentious Jan. 16 town hall in Queens as a "setup" after weathering criticism for not addressing two parents who spoke at the town hall about their children's assaults at a Bayside middle school.

"I will talk to parents, I will meet with parents, but I will not be set up, especially when that meeting couldn’t be controlled," Carranza told reporters Tuesday.

Carranza addressed what went down at the Department of Education's District 26 town hall during an unrelated press conference with Mayor Bill de Blasio Tuesday at a Brooklyn school.

The town hall ended abruptly when attendees started yelling "answer this man" and "let him speak," after a man stood up and started to speak about his daughter enduring months of sexual harassment at Marie Curie Middle School.

"Somebody that stands in the middle of a meeting shouting — not asking questions or asking for answers — but shouting about their situation and revealing personal information ... that's not about getting answers," Carranza said. "That's about creating a show."

Another parent walked up to the dais where Carranza and the district's Community Education Council leaders were sitting and started yelling that “nobody did anything” about a student who twice attacked her daughter at Marie Curie.

Carranza insisted there was no way he could know whether the two speakers were "legitimate" parents and that discussing the matters publicly would violate students' rights to confidentiality.

But he also dodged a question Tuesday on whether he has met with the two parents in question, saying that the parents have been addressed by the school's principal and are working with the district superintendent.

The incidents at Marie Curie are under investigation, according to the Department of Education.

Asked about his abrupt exit, Carranza claimed the Community Education Council leader chairing the town hall was the one to end it after forty minutes. It had been scheduled to last one hour, according to fliers.

Council leaders have repeatedly denied that account, saying in a statement that "the Chancellor chose to end the meeting abruptly due to what he felt as 'safety concerns.'”

@cdec26 stands by our statement.. https://t.co/PRGEjsUf5N
— CDEC26 (@cdec26) January 28, 2020

Watch the full press conference here: