Michael Elliott, videographer, caught this scene on the streets of Brooklyn, where high school and middle school students demonstrating against gun violence on March 14 erupted in cheers when they saw a group of elementary school children marching across the street. Must watch! One minute!
Archives for category: New York City
When Bill de Blasio ran for Mayor the first time, he sought my help. We met and spoke candidly. He told me he would strongly support traditional public schools. He said he would oppose the expansion of private charters into public school space. He promised to stop closing schools because of their test scores. His own children went to public schools. He would protect them and end the destructive tactics of Joel Klein, who coldly and cruelly closed schools over the tearful objections of students, parents, and teachers.
I enthusuastically endorsed him. The campaign issued a press release. De Blasio was elected in 2013, and re-elected in 2017. I wanted him to succeed and to support public schools against the privatizers.
He tried to stand up to the charters, but Eva’s billionaire backers rolled out a multi-million dollar TV campaign and donated huge sums to Governor Cuomo and key legislators. That ended de Blasio’s effort to block charter expansion. The legislature gave them a blank check in New York City, allowed them to expand at will, and even required the city to pay their rent in private facilities if it couldn’t provide suitable public space. Now his majority appointees to the city board rubber stamp charter co-locations and expansions.
Although the Mayor and Chancellor Farina have tried to support struggling schools, they have not hesitated to close them when they don’t show test score gains.
At the last meeting of the city’s Board of Education (which Mayor Bloomberg capriciously named the Panel on Education Policy to indicate its insignificance in the new era of mayoral control but which is still called the Board of Education in statute), the Mayor submitted a list of schools to close. Sadly, like Bloomberg, he has closed many schools. Unlike Bloomberg, he does not boast about it. There’s that.
At the last meeting of the Board, onee of the Mayor’s appointees, T. Elzora Cleveland, dissented and another abstained, denying the majority needed to close two of the schools on the Mayor’s list. Cleveland has resigned, and education activists assume she was forced out to make way for a more pliable board member.
How is this different from Mayor Bloomberg’s tactics?
During the Bloomberg regime, the Mayor ousted three appointees who objected to his wish to end social promotion. The three members worried that no one had devised a plan to help the kids held back. Bloomberg fired them on the spot, and said, in effect, mayoral control means I am in charge and my appointees do as I wish. At the time, the firings were called “the Monday night massacre.”
I strongly oppose closing public schools, especially those that are historic anchors of their community. Several years back, I was on a panel with John Jackson, president of the Schott Foundation for Public Education. He said he had traveled to many countries to learn how they dealt with struggling schools. In every country, the Minister of Education said, “If a school is struggling, we send in support.” Dr. Jackson asked, “What do you do if you send support, and the school doesn’t improve?” In every case, the Minister said, “We send in more support.”
The bottom line is that accountability lies with the leadership. If a school is in trouble, it is up to the leadership to help, not punish. They control the resources. They decide whether the school will reduce class sizes and have the staff and programs it needs. Accountability begins at the top.
Leonie Haimson is first out with a video of Richard Carranza singing and playing in a mariachi band, as well as a beautiful letter that he wrote to his new colleagues at the Department of Education.
He expresses humility, a love of public education, admiration for the work of those in the trenches. He hits all the right notes. In only a matter of hours, he has made New Yorkers happy and hopeful about the future. Knowing how New Yorkers love to complain, that is quite an accomplishment.
And he plays a good fiddle too!
I have been in touch with friends in Houston, and they say they are sorry to lose him. They were hoping he would change the tone of the district left behind by Terry Grier, known as a topdown manager.
NYC needs and deserves good leadership.
This is what Chalkbeat says you need to know about Carranza.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that he has chosen Richard Carranza, currently superintendent of schools in Houston Independent School District to be the next chancellor of the New York City public schools.
Before starting work in mid-2016 in Houston, Carranza was superintendent of schools in San Francisco for four years. He has also worked in Las Vegas and Tucson.
The good aspect of the choice: Carranza is not a hand-me-down from the Bloomberg-Klein regime.
The worrisome aspect of the choice: Carranza has no experience in the labyrinthine politics of New York City education or New York City politics, or Albany politics. He has a lot to learn.
Frankly, as I wrote again and again during the Bloomberg years, mayoral control is a failed concept. The mayor and his wife made the selection without a search committee. Bloomberg picked a new chancellor that he met at a cocktail party; she last three months.
It is time, past time, to restore an independent Board of Education to the City of New York, where members are not controlled solely by the Mayor and are part of any consequential decision making.
New York City doesn’t need a national search to find a new leader.
First, it needs a search committee that includes parents and experienced educators.
Second, it should recognize that out-of-town candidates will waste a year or two getting to know the system and whom to trust.
My advice: Look in our own backyard.
Two people who are eminently qualified to step in and take charge on day one: Dr. Betty Rosa and Dr. Kathleen Cashin.
They are now members of the the New York State Board of Regents. Both have been teachers, principals, and Superintendents. Both are well-grounded in the bigger picture of state and federal policies. Both have leadership qualities. Both have deep understanding of the needs of students and educators.
Neither is a showboat.
They check all the boxes.
Either would be a great chancellor.
Don’t waste any more time looking, Mr. Mayor.
Set up a search committee.
Those are my candidates.
If you open up the process, my hunch is that these two wonderful, experienced, eminent educators will be at the top of the rankings.
You can’t go wrong with either one.
Arthur Goldstein, a high school teacher in Queens for many years, is ready to take the Chancellor’s job. He has an agenda.
“That’s right, I am volunteering to be Chancellor of NYC Schools, and I won’t accept the 385K. I will do it for half that. That’s appropriate because my first action will be to halve the salaries of everyone and anyone who worked under Bloomberg. If they don’t take the hint, they’re fired.
“We will also turn around the rating system. We will design tests for all educational administrators. We are through with all this effective and ineffective stuff, and Danielson, on her own recommendation, will be out of the classroom for good.
“Administrators will be tested to determine whether they are Not Insane. That will be our highest and only rating. If they miss the rating, they will join me in the 50% pay cut. If they don’t like it, they can always leave, and we will all be better off.
“Next, we will settle the UFT Contract. UFT members get a 20% pay raise across the board. Non-UFT members will no longer be covered by the contract, but we will give all of them $15 an hour, because minimum wage is too low, even for those too selfish or shortsighted to join a union.
“Class size in high schools will fall to 25, as per C4E. At other levels, we will follow the C4E mandates. Any administrators with oversized classes will be personally fined $1,000 a week for each student in each oversized class. If DOE grants them exceptions, their fines will be halved. We are reasonable.”
Why not?
Everyone thought it was a done deal, but it wasn’t.
Alberto Carvalho, Miami Superintendent, changed his mind and rejected Bill deBlasio’s offer to become chancellor of the New York City public schools, the biggest school system in the U.S., with 1.1 million students.
We will learn more later about why he changed his mind. Or we may never know. The search continues.
It would be good if the process were open and transparent, with parents and educators involved.
According to Politico, Alberto Carvalho will be the new Chancellor of the New York City public schools.
“Alberto Carvalho, who has led Miami’s public schools for the last decade, will be New York City’s next schools chancellor, Mayor Bill de Blasio will officially announce Thursday.
“Carvalho will replace Carmen Fariña, who has spent the last four years at the helm of America’s largest school system after de Blasio coaxed her out of retirement in late 2013. He will officially take over as chancellor sometime in the next month. The announcement was delayed because of the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
“De Blasio’s requirements for the role of America’s second-most-important educator were largely unspoken, but obvious: a longtime educator with experience running schools for vulnerable children, a Spanish-speaking person of color, and a New York City outsider who is also considered a rising star in the national education world.
“Carvalho checks every box.
“The current Miami-Dade schools chief is a Portuguese immigrant, and came to America illegally as a broke 17-year-old who had saved up $1,000 for the airfare from Lisbon to New York City. After leaving New York for Ft. Lauderdale and later Miami, he worked as a busboy and a day laborer. Carvalho was the first person in his family to finish high school. Fariña, the daughter of immigrants from Spain, was the first person in her’s to earn a college diploma.
“Carvalho started his 20-year career in Miami’s schools as a physics, chemistry and calculus teacher at Miami Jackson Senior High, where he earned the nickname “Mr. Armani” for his sartorial presence. He went on to be an assistant principal and deputy superintendent. Along with his current superintendent duties, he’s the principal of two Miami schools. He helped earn his reputation for being a savvy political operator while serving as a communications officer and a lobbyist for Miami-Dade’s schools.”
Peter Goodman describes a “debate” of sorts in New York City, whose mayor is searching for a new chancellor to replace Carmen Farina.
Does New York City need a disruptor, like Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee, or a collaborator, following Farina’s tradition?
From what I read, the only voice in favor of a disruptor is a former official in the Bloomberg-Klein regime and the editorial writer of the New York Times.
Turmoil and instability and upheaval are not good for students, teachers, or learning.
I hope the next leader will be an experienced educator who has had experience in the classroom and as a principal and superintendent.
I hope it will be someone who knows the New York City public schools well and who is prepared to reach out to teachers and parents and students to build trust.
Please, no more disruption.
Diane Ravitch's blog 