Rise & Shine: Meet Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña

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, WSJNY1, 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. (GothamSchoolsDaily 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. (GothamSchoolsNY1)
  • 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 PostHuffPo)
  • School districts across the country still have not replaced the jobs they cut during the recession. (Times)