NEW YORK, NY July 02, 2009 —After warning that there would be rioting in the streets if his control of the schools was allowed to expire, Mayor Bloomberg is now telling New Yorkers he'll make the best he can with a new Board of Education. WNYC's Beth Fertig reports.

REPORTER: The mayor acknowledged the term rioting was a bit of hyperbole.

BLOOMBERG: We realize the situation. not happy about it. But our responsibility is to make sure that rioting doesn't happen. And hopefully we've taken the appropriate steps.

REPORTER: He said assembling a board that voted immediately voted to keep Chancellor Joel Klein was a band aid, not a solution. Legal questions remain - such as whether the city must recreate 32 community school boards.Technically, those boards must be elected but not until May of next year.

In the meantime, the Board of Education members declined to take any salaries. They made the Department of Education's top attorney their secretary, and Deputy mayor Dennis Walcott their president. And they scheduled their next meeting for September 10th - hoping Albany will resolve the situation well before then. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.