“The school is the primary unit for delivery of services to students and parents, and should also be the primary decision maker for all matters large and small. And who better to make decisions about curriculum, instruction, assessment, budget expenditures, purchases, et al than those who know each kid’s name, their families, and the communities they come from each morning and go home to each evening, rather than the teachers.”
Mayor-Elect Mamdani, in one simple sentence in his platform laid out his vision for the NYC school system,
Zohran supports an end to mayoral control and envisions a system instead in which parents, students, educators and administrators work together to create the school environments in which students and families will best thrive—strengthening co-governance through the PEP, SLTs, DLTs, and CECs in particular
Today vacancies on CECs are commonplace, more members on the stage than in the audience, 25 virtually unknown members on the PEP, the teachers have a union, parents are an afterthought, In the pre mayoral control era my district ran SLT training sessions, (budget, special education, testing, curriculum), the school board, in collaboration with parent associations and the union lobbied for funding in Albany and the City Council.
School district governance has followed a top-down factory model for many decades with a few shining stars, unfortunately extinguished by succeeding hordes of school district leaders and resembles kids playing “telephone,” from the eeries of power, perhaps a new reading program or some other perceived magic is trumpheted, from superintendents to principals to assistant principals to the classroom teacher, who salutes and does the best they can until the next leader selects the next magic bullet.
Our mayor-elect “envisions” a collaborative school system, a “positive school culture that fosters student success.” The Education Revolution Association agrees,
Positive school culture is more than a trendy phrase—it is the heartbeat of a successful school. It’s the shared values, norms, relationships, and everyday practices that shape how a school feels and functions.
In schools that embrace positive environments, students feel seen and supported, teachers feel trusted and motivated, and parents feel welcomed and valued.
Moreover, a healthy culture fuels academic motivation, improves behavior, and builds a sense of belonging. When it’s missing, schools can struggle with low morale in both staff and students, discipline issues, and high staff turnover.
Within the leviathan, the NYC Board (Department) of Education over the years schools, the glimmering stars, (Debbie Meier-Central Park East Elementary School) and alternative schools (City-As-School) have thrived, albeit due to politically astute leadership. Without fanfare the Department contracted with six not-for-profit organizations who manage clusters of schools; they resemble Charter Management Organizations; however the schools are public schools operating under the union contract.
In the waning years of the Bloomberg regency the mayor allowed his top deputies to reorganize the school system into non-geographic clusters of schools, sort of speed-dating with wide authority over education decisions called Affinity Districts
Read Norm Fruchter’s excellent must read description of the Affinity District here.
Sadly over the last three administrations, twelve years, our school system has been allowed to meander from one flawed concept to the next, frustrating teachers and school leaders.
The media announced the mayor-elect is interviewing to choose a school chancellor, and, I hope assembling a task force to rebuild educational leadership from the ground up. The mayor has to craft, with the legislature, a new management system and select, for lack of a better term, an advisory task force.
Eric Nadelstern a former deputy chancellor, and an architect of Affinity District suggests a bottom up structure that aligns with your vision.
A LETTER TO THE MAYOR-ELECT FOR BOTTOM UP EDUCATIONAL CHANGE IN NEW YORK CITY
Dear Mayor Mamdani:
Your election portends a once in a generation opportunity to rethink New York City’s public schools from the bottom up as you have promised. Please consider the following as you prepare to better serve our city’s families and children.
The school is the primary unit for delivery of services to students and parents, and should also be the primary decision maker for all matters large and small. And who better to make decisions about curriculum, instruction, assessment, budget expenditures, purchases, et al than those who know each kid’s name, their families, and the communities they come from each morning and go home to each evening than the teachers.
However, the school is too small a unit for purposes of mutual support and evaluation. For that, Affinity Networks are the best example around for the basic building block for rebuilding a post mayoral control school governance structure. Affinity Networks are school support organizations where not-for-profit groups partner with a number of schools that share a common focus, such as serving students with similar interests or needs, or implementing similar instructional and assessment models. Schools in Affinity Networks have consistently outperformed all others.
The central office must be lean with little more than a paired down set of offices to deal with legal matters, press contacts, government relations, union negotiations, grants management, Affinity Networks accountability, managing payroll and benefits, school facilities, and community and parent affairs. Each person in the central office, regardless of functional responsibility, should be part of a team responsible and accountable for the highest levels of student performance in no more than 200 schools.
New York City’s public schools have never been more segregated than they are today. We must more effectively ensure that each school’s student body reflects the full diversity of youngsters served by all of our schools. Undoing school zoning restrictions, allowing kids to apply to any school at all levels throughout the system, and conducting admission lotteries in each school where there are more applicants than seats, would go a long way to accomplish that. Of course, the DOE would have to assume added transportation costs, but wouldn’t it be worth it?
All of this needs to be built on the principles that:
-Teachers and principals, in consultation with parents and the youngsters themselves in the upper grades, are responsible for all decisions that impact their students,
– Schools and Affinity Networks are held accountable for maintaining a diverse student body, and for the academic performance of those youngsters relative to how students in other similar schools and networks perform. Are the kids coming to school, staying in school, making regular progress by passing their classes and performance assessments, getting promoted and graduating, and succeeding at the next level of instruction.
-Parents and students must have voice and choice over which schools their children attend. Within each school, there must be efforts to include parent and student dreams and aspirations as they and school professionals make decisions to determine program design, curricular directions and instructional approaches and content.
– All funds saved by downsizing central and district offices must be directly used to support and improve classroom instruction.
Mayor Mamdani, I fully appreciate and understand the potential and importance of this moment as you and your team transition to lead our city. Your commitment to place schools at the top of the Department of Education’s organization chart, with everyone else in the school system supporting our schools, but not dictating to them, will be instrumental in improving student performance and ensuring their success.
Eric Nadelstern
Former Deputy Chancellor for Public Schools
Windows in time occasionally open, a moment to institute meaningful changes, windows open, and close, For Mayor Mamdani his window is open, it is not a time to be tentative,
Ed in the Apple: Blogging on the Intersection of Education and Politics Title 