SCHOOLS BOSS QUITS
Teary Carranza ends tumultuous 3-yr. reign
I am ... 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.
“It has been my greatest honor to serve as New York City schools chancellor and I can’t think of anyone who would be better to take the helm than Meisha Porter.” RICHARD CARRANZA
Richard Carranza, the city’s schools chancellor who ignited fiery conversations about race and segregation in education and oversaw the seismic shift to remote learning throughout the coronavirus pandemic, will step down after a three-year tenure, Mayor de Blasio announced Friday.
He will be replaced by Meisha Porter, who currently serves as executive superintendent for the Bronx. Porter will become the first Black woman chancellor of the nation’s largest public school system when she officially takes over March 15.
Carranza’s departure will take effect a year to the day after the hectic Sunday last March when officials shuttered city school buildings in an unprecedented response to the growing threat of COVID-19.
A year later, roughly 250,000 of the city’s nearly 1 million public school students are attending in-person classes.
City officials say Carranza is stepping aside of his own accord and doesn’t have a new position lined up. At an emotional press conference Thursday morning, the schools chief admitted he has suffered a brutal personal toll from the coronavirus pandemic, losing multiple family members to the illness.
“I am ... 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,” said Carranza, who fought back tears as he sat alongside de Blasio and Porter.
“It has been my greatest honor to serve as New York City schools chancellor and I can’t think of anyone who would be better to take the helm than Meisha Porter,” he added.
The highest ranks of the city Education Department have thinned as de Blasio’s tenure starts to wind down, with the second-in-command, chief operating officer, and senior adviser on school reopening all leaving the in the past year.
New mayors typically install their own chancellors, and all of the city’s Democratic mayoral contenders confirmed at a recent forum they would likely replace Carranza.
Carranza’s arrival in the city three years ago followed a shocking about-face from de Blasio’s first choice for the position, Alberto Carvalho, who changed his mind about taking the post on live television.
Carranza, a former superintendent of the San Francisco and Houston school systems, kicked off his tenure on a jovial note.
The Arizona native and accomplished Mariachi musician gleefully told reporters at his introductory press conference “If I am asked to sing, chances are I’m gonna sing. If I’m asked to play, chances are I’m gonna play. And if I’m not asked to sing or play, chances are I’m gonna sing and play!”
Carranza, true to his word, was never shy about vocalizing.
He kicked up long-simmering questions about segregation and race in city schools in a single tweet months into his tenure, posting a story that characterized the complaints of white parents at a meeting on school rezoning as “angrily rant[ing] against plan to bring more black kids to their school.”
Carranza went on to explicitly denounce the policy of screening students for admission to public schools and call for an end to the exam that controls entry to the city’s specialized high schools.
But his outspoken comments on school integration often clashed with the cautious approach of de Blasio, who runs the city school system.
“It is widely understood ... the chancellor was unable to do the kind of equity work he wanted to do because of City Hall,” said one DOE central staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “There were numerous examples of the DOE trying to implement integration work and being stymied by the mayor’s office.”
Carranza’s sharp rhetoric on race and within the Education Department won fervent support from educators and parents who felt he gave voice to deeply embedded inequities, and drew sharp criticism from opponents who felt he was demonizing white
educators and unfairly punishing Asian-American students.
Queens City Councilman Bob Holden, one of the chancellor’s most vocal critics, said in a statement Friday that Carranza “constantly put his own political agenda ahead of our students’ education ... His resignation is the best thing to happen to our city’s students and teachers in a long time.”
The chancellor’s tenure was upended with the swift arrival and spread of coronavirus. The virus killed dozens of education staffers and sent hundreds of thousands of students and their families into virtual classes.
Last summer, de Blasio made reopening city schools for in-person learning a political priority, kicking off a pitched battle over the safety and equity of in-person learning.
Michael Mulgrew, the president of the city teachers union, called Carranza “a real partner in our efforts to open school safely.”
“Too often he had to fight behind the scenes to keep the needs of students, staff and their families ahead of politics,” Mulgrew added. “We wish him well. He will be missed.”
Earlier this week, Carranza encouraged parents to exercise their right to opt out of standardized tests this spring.
Carranza and de Blasio heaped praise on Porter Friday.
“Today is an historic day for New York City schools. Meisha Porter is a homegrown New Yorker who knows what it takes to give every kid the high quality public school education they deserve,” said Mayor de Blasio.
Porter grew up and attended public schools in Queens, served as a teacher and principal for 18 years at the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice, and the became superintendent of the Bronx’s District 11.
She took over in 2018 as the Bronx’s Executive Superintendent — a role that Carranza created to add an additional level of supervision over district school chiefs. Graduation rates in the Bronx rose from 67% in 2018 to 73% last year, officials said.
Porter will earn the same salary as Carranza in her new role: $363,346.
“As a lifelong New Yorker, a product of our City’s public schools, and a career educator, it is the honor of my lifetime to serve as Chancellor,” said Porter. “Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza have laid an incredible foundation for me and I am ready to hit the ground running and lead New York City schools to a full recovery.”