Piling On

Unwilling to let go of the Ferrer Fib, the New York Post interviews current Cardinal Spellman students about the candidate’s apparent lack of school spirit:

Fernando Ferrer’s school pride — or lack of it — was the talk of his alma mater yesterday, as students at Cardinal Spellman HS debated whether the mayoral candidate had dissed them by denying his roots.

“He’s grimy. He’s a shysty man,” said Madelene Sagun, 16. “He should say he went to Spellman. It’s a good school.”

But other students said Ferrer’s claim on his Web site’s blog that he went mainly to public schools was no big deal.

“I think it was a mistake,” said junior Rafael Bonilla, 16. “I made a mistake today. I forgot what class I was going to.”

Samantha Crespo, 17, said Ferrer’s fib was brought up by a student in her social-studies class. “It’s not a big deal to us,” she said.

But William Cantine, 16, wanted to make sure, so he looked up Ferrer’s photo in a yearbook.

“I wanted to see if it was true,” he said. “How could he deny Spellman? I love this school. I’m so pissed. It’s really not cool of him.”

Meanwhile, the Times covers Ferrer’s visit to a high school, which may have violated laws prohibiting campaigning in public schools:

For the second day in a row, Fernando Ferrer was on the defensive yesterday about his honesty in the mayoral contest, this time over whether he had campaigned at a public school in violation of Education Department rules.

Just a day after a dust-up with his opponent, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, over whether Mr. Ferrer had falsified his school history in a log entry on his Web site, Mr. Ferrer found himself in another school-related controversy at a time when he is increasingly trying to deflate the mayor’s record on education.

. . .

Mr. Ferrer’s latest difficulties began after he accepted an invitation from Martha Cruz, a social-studies teacher at Flushing High School in Queens, to speak to 12th graders about avoiding political apathy. The invitation came over the summer, but Mr. Ferrer spoke at the school yesterday, a violation of Education Department rules that bar candidates from visiting schools within 60 days of an election. (Public officials who are running for office are allowed to hold or attend events, but only as part of their official duties, the regulations say.)

The plans for Mr. Ferrer’s speech appeared on his public campaign schedule, although the news media were barred from attending because, Ferrer aides said, the principal did not want television cameras in the school. Asked afterward by reporters what he thought of the rule prohibiting campaigning in schools, Mr. Ferrer said, “I didn’t campaign, and I made it a point to talk to these kids about civic participation and my own experiences in it at a young age.” He added, “I talked about some of the things that inspired me.”

But according to students who attended the meeting, Mr. Ferrer also talked about what he would do if elected.

“He was talking about how he was going to get better jobs and stuff out to the Latino community, how he was going to just do much better with the public school system, and that’s basically it,” said Mishelle Severe, 17. She added that he had also talked about lowering the cost of housing, and that she felt he was looking for votes. “But in a good way,” she said, adding, “but then again it’s politics.”

Kids — they say the darnedest things!