Carmen Farina Named New York City Schools Chancellor
ByNew York City's mayor-elect Bill de Blasio named veteran educator Carmen Farina as the city's next school chancellor, the Associated Press reported.
With 40 years of experience in the city school system, former deputy chancellor Farina will "bring a wealth of insider's experience" and fresh ideas to the position, the AP reported.
"She knows it because she's lived it," de Blasio said at a news conference on Monday. "Carmen has worked at nearly every level of this school system. She knows our students, teachers, principals and parents better than anyone and she will deliver progressive change in our schools that lifts up children in every neighborhood."
CBS News reported that none of Farina's four predecessors had a background in education.
"It will be a powerful statement particularly to our teachers to see one of their own raised to the rank of chancellor," de Blasio added.
Farina, a longtime adviser to de Blasio, has helped inform his education platform including his signature proposal to offer universal pre-kindergarten and to expand after-school programs for middle school students, Fox News reported.
The new school chancellor has stated that she was looking forward to working for a mayor with a "progressive agenda."
"True change happens not through mandates and top-down decision-making, but through communication, collaboration and celebrating the successes along the way," Farina said. "Raising the success rate of our students is the only goal. I anticipate the entire city will aid us on this effort."
Farina has held several positions within the city school system. She was once a teacher at Public School 29 in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn and later a principal at P.S. 6, a high-achieving school on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
She eventually became deputy chancellor under Joel Klein, Bloomberg's first chancellor. She retired in 2006 but supplied informal guidance to de Blasio's mayoral campaign.
De Blasio will take office on Jan. 1. Farina will also take over the city school system, which educates more than 1.1 million students, next year.