Vito F. Lanza Et Al. v. Robert F. Wagner

Prior to the summer of 1961, the Education Law of this State provided that the Board of Education of the City of New York was to consist of nine members appointed by the Mayor (§ 2553, subd. 2). During the early part of August, the Mayor asked those then serving on the board to resign, and all except three tendered their resignations. On August 21, the Legislature, convened by the Governor, met in an Extraordinary Session for the purpose of dealing with conditions in the school system of New York City. Finding and declaring that ""The conditions existing in [such] school system * * * have shaken public confidence, cause * * * grave concern and call for prompt corrective action"" (§ 1) -- in short, finding that ""this is a time of crisis for the New York city schools"" (§ 1) -- the Legislature passed the statute, now before us, under which the city's Board of Education was to be reorganized and reconstituted, the method of effecting appointments to the board materially altered (L. 1961, ch. 971).