STATEMENT FROM MAYOR DE BLASIO ON NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR SEARCH MARCH 1,2018

  In a media availability today Mayor Bill de Blasio had the following to say about the hiring of a new public school chancellor, and the resignation of the new public schools chancellor.

 We had an extensive nationwide search as a lot of you reported when the announcement was made – a candidate who was very impressive and had done a lot of good work in Miami. I had offered Mr. Carvalho the job and Dean Fuleihan had follow-up conversations over a week ago and he had accepted.

We talked to him yesterday afternoon about formally putting the information out via the Politico article. We agreed on a phone call with Eric Phillips and I. I spoke to him again last night, I think it was around 8:00 pm and we discussed the next steps for his announcement here in New York City.

So you can imagine how surprised I was to get a phone call from him a few hours ago.

I’ve been doing this work a long, long time. I’ve hired a lot of great people. I’m very proud of the people who serve in this administration and a lot of people I’ve hired before that – never have had a situation like this before.

But look, we move forward. Our nationwide search has resumed. We have been immediately reaching out to candidates and will continue the search and we will have a new announcement soon as we continue the transition at the Department of Education so we can move forward.

I’m very confident in our school system. I’m confident in our teachers. I’m confident in our principals, all our educators, and all our staff. They have been outstanding and they will continue to be.

Let me also tell you, I spoke to the Chancellor. The Chancellor will be continuing her role until the end of March and I want to thank her, of course, for all she has done for this city and all she will continue to do.

So, the bottom line is what makes this school system great is our educators, our parents. Everyone who is a part of this school system will continue to do good work and we will have a new Chancellor soon.

Editor's Note:

The Mayor got a grilling from reporters on the subject of having to find another candidate to be public schools chancellor. He said that there would be one in place by the end of March, his original timetable. 

Let's see if this time the mayor can find a local educator such as the retired CUNY administrator who was mentioned at one time, instead of having to go out of town to find a new schools chancellor.