On the big changes at City Hall and the Department of Education:
- Vowing to tackle inequity, Bill de Blasio was sworn in as New York City’s mayor on Wednesday. (Times)
- He named Carmen Fariña chancellor. (GothamSchools, Times, WSJ, NY1, Post, Daily News, Capital NY)
- Fariña and de Blasio hinted at broad changes in the future but did not lay out many specific plans. (WSJ)
- Fariña faces hard choices around charter schools, evaluations, and more. (GothamSchools, Daily News)
- De Blasio and Fariña recognize that state law and the Bloomberg legacy will be hard to change. (Times)
- People who have worked with Fariña say she is a master educator and a demanding boss. (SchoolBook)
- Fariña’s vision includes more “joy” for city schools and the people in them. (GothamSchools, Hechinger)
- Fariña’s upbringing as the child of immigrant parents inspired her teaching and leadership. (Daily News)
- Advocates, educators, and officials mostly expressed optimism about her appointment. (GothamSchools)
- Charter school advocates worry that Fariña shares de Blasio’s feelings about their sector. (Capital NY)
- A longtime observer says Fariña has shown she can support schools, not just close them. (Daily News)
- U.S. schools chief Arne Duncan reportedly advised de Blasio against another option. (Washington Post)
- StudentsFirstNY’s chief, saying that chancellor is “the toughest job in America,” offers some tips. (Post)
- A Manhattan Institute official identifies overlap between reformers’ vision and de Blasio’s. (Daily News)
- Juan Gonzalez: De Blasio’s appointment of a veteran educator is a rejection of Bloomberg. (Daily News)
- The New York Times says Fariña’s credentials are strong but the challenges she faces could be stronger.
- The Daily News says Fariña doesn’t need to emulate Bloomberg’s tactics as long as she gets his results.
In other news you missed over break:
- Officials including the new public advocate and likely council speaker sued to halt co-locations. (Post)
- There remain many open questions about de Blasio’s plan to charge rent to some charter schools. (AP)
- New York City’s new teacher evaluation system has gotten off to a rocky start in its first semester. (Times)
- Philanthropists gave $15 million to the East Harlem Tutorial Program, allowing it to expand. (WSJ)
- The city hired a top psychiatrist to train school staff to help troubled students who might lash out. (Post)
- Dennis Walcott visited several schools on his last school day as chancellor. (GothamSchools, NY1)
- The UFT filed an official request for Bloomberg administration education documents. (GothamSchools)
- An official at P.S. 33 in the Bronx was fined for breaking city rules to solve his own child care woes. (Post)
- A DOE investigator resigned after a subject said he offered exoneration in exchange for sex. (Post)
- UFT chief Michael Mulgrew’s sister got an official ethics warning about her education dealings. (Post)
- Amid fraud cases, Gov. Cuomo signed a law allowing audits of preschool special ed providers. (Times)
- The Post says universal pre-K could be a good change — or a boondoggle for l0w-quality providers.
- While construction slowed, the Department of Education built architecturally interesting schools. (WSJ)
- The city’s pricey private preschools have a winter gift-giving culture of extravagance and pressure. (Post)
- Buffalo’s schools chief plans to keep her job despite clashing with the school board. (Buffalo News)
- State schools chief John King defended the Common Core in an end-of-year letter to teachers. (Lo Hud)
- Flawed teacher ratings in D.C. raised questions about the city’s rating system. (Washington Post, HuffPo)
- School districts across the country still have not replaced the jobs they cut during the recession. (Times)