Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio signaled a sea change in city schools Monday — appointing veteran progressive educator Carmen Fariña as chancellor.
Fariña, 70, is a former city teacher and principal who retired as deputy chancellor in 2006 amid Mayor Bloomberg’s push to give the schools an overhaul inspired by the free market.
Her appointment reflected de Blasio’s desire for an educator who can lead the city away from controversial Bloomberg policies such as closing failing schools, handing out letter grades to schools and relying heavily on standardized testing.
The new chancellor, who replaces Dennis Walcott, has already promised a bottom-up approach — emphasizing parent involvement, which critics consider a casualty of the Bloomberg-era reforms. She hit the ground running, visiting Department of Education offices at Tweed Courthouse hours after her appointment.
“This progressive agenda says we know there are things that need to happen, but they need to happen with people, not to people,” said Fariña, who has known the mayor-elect since he was a member of the Park Slope, Brooklyn, community school board 15 years ago.
“We are going to have a system here, where parents are seen as real partners,” she added.
De Blasio made the hotly anticipated appointment after a national search.
“Every time I looked at different people and different options, I kept coming back to Carmen Fariña,” the mayor-elect said. “Nobody knows the schools system better.”
Fariña denied speculation that she will only hold the post for a couple of years. She said she does not do anything halfway, adding, “They tell me 70 is the new 40.”
The new chancellor will overhaul the Department of Education’s Division of Family and Community Engagement starting Monday. She will soon meet with parents who are the presidents of the city’s community education councils .
Many praised de Blasio’s choice.
“That’s a huge change from the outgoing administration,” said teachers union President Michael Mulgrew. “You’re going to have much more of an approach of working with teachers and parents.”
But others were more hesitant. “She is an educator who cares,” said Eva Moskowitz, CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools. “The question is, will she protect and expand public charter school options for families who need and are demanding them.”
At the hourlong press conference to announce Fariña’s appointment at William Alexander Middle School in Park Slope, a student standing on the stage fell backward off the riser.
The girl was uninjured, a de Blasio spokesman said. She was invited to the mayor-elect’s inauguration.
