Department of Education Changes
NYC Department of Education Changes
Chancellor Fariña and Mayor De Blasio have provided a sharp contrast in tone from the previous administration. Now we are starting to see policy changes take root. We will follow these changes as they happen, so be sure to sign up for our once-a-week email and stay in the loop. As always, we strive to bring you all the most important NYC Education news in small, manageable chunks. We want to make it easy for you to catch up or even (gasp) stay right on top of all of the goings-on at Tweed. Department of Education changes affect us all, and we’ll help you figure out what they mean for you.
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Department of Education Changes
The excellent reporters at the Chalkbeat blog have a series detailing the changes at Tweed — Bloomberg-era education leaders are stepping down, as the new Chancellor asserts her vision. Among the changes:
- Sonia Park, who ran the city’s charter schools office, has left to work at a charter school.
- Melissa Silberman, head of career and technical ed, has left for a college prep program.
- Andrea Coleman, head of Innovation Zone, the city’s tech-centric experimental initiative, has left to join Bloomberg Philanthropies.
- Josh Thomases, who headed the rollout of the common core, is also out. Chancellor Fariña has criticized the handling of this rollout, so that’s no surprise.
Other departures signal a change in tone, like the merging of certain offices, and the CEO of the city’s school Networks. The Chancellor has hinted that there’s a new support system coming. One change in the networks is that the superintendents now report to Dorita Gibson. But as the system moves forward, the task for restructuring the Networks will fall to Josh Wallack, Chief Strategy Officer for De Blasio, who’s also tasked with the Pre-K rollout. So he’ll be busy for a while.
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Biggest moves
Deputy Chancellor Dorita Gibson has announced that the charter schools are now under her oversight.
Perhaps the biggest of the Department of Education Changes is the Learning Partners Program — Fariña modeled this on a smaller program she implemented as a superintendent. She used demonstration schools to highlight best practices. “You learn best when you learn together,” the Chancellor said. The program got a nod from CSA President, Ernest Logan, who noted that this is not the Bloomberg-era letter grades. This is collaboration.
Schools are already participating, hosting 10-16 session before the end of the year. By the fall, the city hopes to have 72 participating schools, and is open to applicants, including charters.
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