Safety threat vs. Carranza
Added security for schools boss
Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza has increased his personal security detail after receiving threats to his safety, the Daily News has learned.
Carranza, whose outspoken style and aggressive proposals on school diversity have made him a lightning rod in charged city schools debates, is traveling with two bodyguards after receiving menacing messages, he told parent leaders at a meeting of the Education Council Consortium last week.
“He said the safety concerns have become really serious,” said one parent who attended the meeting.
Education spokeswoman Miranda Barbot said the agency was taking the threats seriously.
“We continue to work closely with the NYPD and will make any adjustments necessary to ensure the chancellor’s safety,” she stated.
The department declined to elaborate on the details of the threats.
The security woes come amid Carranza’s tour through the city’s 32 school districts for open town hall meetings, some of which have sparked controversy and rancor.
At a recent meeting in Bayside, Queens, two parents demanded answers about assaults they said their middle school kids endured.
Meeting organizers declined to cede the floor as the event descended into a shouting match, and Carranza made an early exit. His departure drew rebukes from critics and spurred a war of words with lawmakers, eventually prompting the schools chief to apologize to parents.
Carranza, who hails from
Arizona and is the son of Mexican immigrants, told reporters at a recent unrelated press conference that he’s been the target of racist attacks — calling him “Taco Carranza” — and told to go back to where he comes from.
The chancellor has a vocal group of critics — including many Asian parents — who attend meetings to denounce Carranza’s proposal to scrap the single test that currently determines admissions to the city’s specialized high schools.
The protesters have also slammed the chancellor’s handling of an elected parent leader who referred to Asians as “yellow folks” in a group email, accusing the schools chief of reacting with less urgency because the slur was directed towards Asians.
Carranza has condemned the language but said he won’t remove the parent leader.
Carranza was castigated again this week after the Education Department tried to change the location of an upcoming town hall in a Chinatown middle school to a venue in Chelsea, citing the need for a school with a larger auditorium.
But as critics cried foul Thursday, a department spokeswoman said the event would stay in Chinatown as originally planned.