By Jillian Jorgensen and Anna Lucente Sterling New York City UPDATED 3:00 PM ET Feb. 26, 2021 PUBLISHED 10:00 AM ET Feb. 26, 2021 PUBLISHED 10:00 AM EST Feb. 26, 2021
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NEW YORK Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, who runs a public school system that was thrown into chaos nearly a year ago with the start of the pandemic, is stepping down.
In his place, Mayor Bill de Blasio has appointed Meisha Porter, currently the executive superintendent for the Bronx. She is a 20-year Education Department employee who would be the first Black woman to lead the nation’s largest school district.
(Incoming Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter. Photo provided by NYC Mayor s Office)
NYC schools chancellor exits, citing virus personal toll
In this image taken from video by the New York City Office of the Mayor, New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza reacts during New York Mayor Bill de Blasio s media availability, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, in New York. Carranza, who has spent three years on the job, briefly choked back tears at a news conference as he announced his decision to step down, citing the coronavirus pandemic s personal toll on his family. (New York City Office of the Mayor via AP)
New York City Schools Bronx Executive Superintendent Meisha Ross Porter is shown this still image, from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio s media availability, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, in New York. New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, he would step down, citing the coronavirus pandemic s personal toll on his family. He will be replaced by Porter, who becomes the first Black woman to lead the nation s largest public school dis
arrow Meisha Porter Department of Education handout
Meisha Porter’s rise as the next New York City Schools Chancellor is being praised by advocates and lawmakers who see the veteran educator, herself a product of local schools with 20 years of experience at the Department of Education, as an on-the-ground leader ready to reopen the nation’s largest school system still reeling from the pandemic.
With just 10 months before the start of a new mayoral administration, Porter inherits a system in which the pandemic inflamed educational inequities, highlighted by remote learningdifficulties ranging from lack of technological equipment to connectivity issues to disengagement. She’ll have to grapple with school desegregation issues that have dogged Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza for years, in a sprawling 960,000-student system whose enrollment is 41% Latino, 26% Black, 16% Asian and 15% white.
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NEW YORK CITY (WABC) New York City Schools will soon have a new chancellor at the helm.
Current Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced he would be stepping down from the post on Friday during Mayor Bill de Blasio s daily press conference.
The Department of Education, and the mayor, announced Carranza will be replaced by Bronx Executive Superintendent Meisha Porter.
Porter will take over the job starting on March 15.
She is a New York City public school graduate, a 20-year veteran employee, who has led at every level in the system. Porter will be the first Black woman to serve in the role.