NYC chancellor exits, citing virus’ toll on him

First Black woman will run largest U.S. district

New York City’s Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced Friday he will step down, citing the coronavirus pandemic’s personal toll on his family.

He will be replaced by Bronx Executive Superintendent Meisha Ross Porter, who will become the first Black woman to lead the nation’s largest public school district.

Carranza, who has spent three years on the job, briefly choked back tears as he announced his decision.

“I know the pandemic has not been easy for you or for any New Yorker,” he said. “And make no mistake, I am a New Yorker — well not by birth, but by choice — a New Yorker who has lost 11 family and close childhood friends to this pandemic. And a New Yorker who, quite frankly, needs to take time to grieve.”

He said that he felt the city’s public school system, with around 1 million students, was stable enough to handle a leadership change.

Porter is set to take over March 15, ready to “hit the ground running and lead New York City schools to a full recovery,” she said.

“We’ll do everything to reopen schools, starting with high schools; we’re ready to go,” Porter said.

Tens of thousands of New York City middle school students returned to their school buildings on Thursday for the first time since city schools were closed in November amid a surge in coronavirus infections. Some elementary school students returned to in-person schooling in December, but upper-grade classrooms have remained closed except for those serving some special-needs students.

Parents of a majority of students

in the school system opted to have their kids attend only remote classes this year.

“My job will be to remove the barriers to direct resources where they are needed most and communicate clearly around our shared goals and commitments, at every school in every neighborhood in every single part of borough,” Porter said as she prepared to take over a district challenged also by stubborn patterns of racial segregation and student homelessness.

Carranza came to the school system in 2018 with a priority of addressing racial injustice. He shared that goal with Mayor Bill de Blasio, but the two sometimes disagreed on how to address the issue, debating whether to end gifted-and-talented programs said to disfavor Black and Hispanic students who comprise two-thirds of students in the district.

“Let me just say, when I came to New York City three years ago, it was because I believed that this mayor believes in equity and believes in tearing down systems that oppress anyone,” said Carranza, who formerly headed public school districts in San Francisco and Houston.

Last month, de Blasio and Carranza together announced middle and high school admissions changes that represented one of the city’s most significant steps in years on school integration.

“Policy is never made in a perfect four-corner box where everybody automatically says ‘Yes, this is a piece of cake,’ and I’m going to love it,” Carranza said. “What I have appreciated about this mayor is that he has allowed all of us at the table to have differing views and to argue those views and to advocate those views and come to a consensus.”

Advocates said an increasingly diverse Department of Education staff under Carranza’s oversight has helped move the department toward racial justice.

The Associated Press file New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, left, has lunch with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and first lady Chirlane McCray in April 2018 at Katz’s Delicatessen in New York City. Carranza announced Friday that he would step down.