NYC Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza stepping down
Department of Education Chancellor Richard Carranza is stepping down after three controversial years overseeing the nation’s largest school system, city officials said in a surprise announcement Friday.
His last day will be March 15 — and he will be rep🍸laced by current Bronx Executive Superintendent Meisha Ross Porter, according to the DOE.
“It’s been an honor of a lifetime to serve as a chancellor and from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve your and my children,” Carranza said at a press briefing with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Carranza, 54,🌜 grew ꦇemotional as he divulged the reason behind his sudden departure — which comes as officials work to reopen schools to some 1 million Big Apple students amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Make no mistake, I am a New Yorker, while not b🅰y birth but by choice. A New Yorker who has lost —” he broke off, while fighting back tears.
After composing himself, he continued, “11 family and close childhood friends to this 🌱pandemic.♈”
He added, “And a New Yorker who quite frankly needs to take time to grieve. I feel that I can take that tꦡime now because of the place that we are in ✤and the work that we have done together.”
Carranza’s resignation co🗹mes in the middle of what’s been a tumultuous school year for both parents and students — a hybrid of in-person instruction and remote learning as COVID-19 infection rates dipped and surged in the city.
“This is quite a timeꦏ to leave,” a senior DOE administrator told The Post, noting the mass exodus of other high-ranking leaders including Deputy Chancellor Hydra Mendoza, First Deputy Chancellor Cheryl Watson🥂-Harris and DOE Chief Operating Officer Ursulina Ramirez.
“I understand that he has faced some personal challenges,” the source said. “It’s a difficult time for a lot of people. B🌌ut things are incredibly precarious right now on so many 🌌levels. A lot of question marks. Now we have one more big one.”
Asked about 💮why he was opting to leave now with 10 months left in the de Blasio administration, Carranza said it was a personal decision — and had nothing to do with the politics of the high-profile job.
“Look, I’m leaving because I need to take care of me and I need time to grieve, and this city, this school system, deserves a chancellor who 100 percent is taking up the helm and leading the charge to bringing everybody back in September,” he said.
Then the superintendent of Houston, Texas schools, Carranza made his cross-country trek to New York City in May 2018 — after de Blasio’s first pick for schools czar, Alberto Carvalho, who helmed the Miami-Dade public school system, turned the job down.
Carraꦛnza, who also previously oversaw the San Francisco school district,🧸 touted some of the accomplishments under his administration.
“In the largest school system in America, we made true progress in dismantling structures and policies that are products of decades of entrenched racism,” he said. “Like suspending school screens and we finally brought mental health into the spotlight.”
De Blasio thanked Carranza for his service.
“I admire you for everything you’ve done and we thank you and were going to miss you,” Hizzoner said.
Born in South Jamaica, Queens, Porter will become the city’s first black woman to take the helm of the nation’s largest school district.
“What I learned first from my favorite teacher — my mommy — is the importance that one teacher makes in the life of every young person,” she said, also crediting other teachers that made a mark in her life. “It’s my duty and responsibility that I’ve carried with me my whole life to lean forward and lean in and see every student and create opportunities for them.”
Porter said it was top priority for her administration to pursue diversity initiatives to “remove the barriers” in every borough.
“The reality is segregation exists and I’m not going to shy away from the importance of really looking at inequities around admissions processes and really pushing forward for ways we can create opportunities and access for all students across New York City,” she said.
She also said she would focus on reopening high school for in-person learning and readyi𓆉ng a plan ⛎to open all schools in September.
Porter will become the city’s first black woman to take the helm of the nation’s largest school district.
Carranza called his successor a “born and bred New Yorker who eats, drinks, sleeps and thinks all the time about New York and the children of New York.”
“I’m so proud that this mayor has chosen the first African American black chancellor to take the baton,” he said.
Fro💞m the outset of his administration, Carranza pointedly elevated race as a focal point of his administration — a position that drew applause from some quarters but intense opposition from others.
The native of Arizona drew especially fierce opposition from Asian community groups who objected to diversity initiatives thatꦛ would drastically slash their numbers at top city schools.
Carranza’s inaugural controversy arrived🎐 early in his administration when he retweeted a story about a group of Manhattan parents objecting 🦂to a policy shift.
“WATCH: Wealthy white Manhattan parents angrily rant against plan to bring more black kids to their schools,” the posting read.
The tweet was a harbinger of things to come for the remainder of Carranza’s time in New York.
The outspoken schools chief frequently clashed with parents at public meetings — and once abruptly left a chaotic Queens gathering during a heated exchange with a mother ove♍r school safety.
The DOE asserted Friday that Carranza advanced the nation’s largest school system and cited gains in graduation rates and other fundamental metrics as evidence.
But critics have long chaཧrged education officials with diluting academic standards in order to produce 💞attractive statistics — an assertion that predates Carranza.
Carranza has also been panned for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, including when he left parents scrambling at the beginning of this school year by shrinking the window for them to opt their kids out of all-remote learning for the rest of the 𓆏year.
The DOE had initially offered a quarterly window to make the𝓀♓ change.
On Thursday, some middle schools reopened across the boroughs, marking the first time children had stepped foot inside a classroom in months.
Some 🌸70 percenဣt of city kids, however, are still learning fully remotely, even as infection rates are dropping.
In announcing her appointment, DOE officials lauded Porter as an effective DOE vet♌eran with experience at all levels of senior administ﷽ration.
“As a liꦆfelong New Yorker, a product of our City’s public schools, and a career educator, it is the hon🏅or of my lifetime to serve as Chancellor,” she said in a statement. “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.”
But Porter ♏has als✅o seen her share of controversies.
She raised eyebrows in 2019 after throwing herself a $45,000 bash to celebrate her promotion to a top position.
Wearing a tiara, Porter entered﷽ the packed ballroom in a glass⭕ elevator during the event.
Additional reporting by Lia Eustachewich and Nolan Hicks
