WHEN WERE WE EVER INDIVISIBLE? [A REFLECTION ON NYC SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR CARRANZA]
A newspaper in the city recently reported that nine New York City councilmembers have called for NYC schools chancellor Richard Carranza’s firing, saying he’s more focused on “ethnicity instead of efficacy” and prefers to pound the pavement with his “rhetoric.” Since stepping into the role of chancellor, Carranza has intrigued observers of education reform with a bevy of questions, a series of managerial realignments, and a ramp-up of equity and cultural competence talk. He’s even poked the multi-headed hydra we call “gifted and talented,” shaking the rafters of our specialized high schools.
As a 14-year classroom teacher, I struggle with the moment we’re in with respect to our schools. For most – if not all – of my career, education reformers who considered themselves leftist would tout market-based solutions as the revolution necessary to assure our kids an adequate education. They too would use rhetoric that felt inflammatory, but the press coverage often kneeled because the mayor at the time was a billionaire media magnate and supporters felt comforted with shifting the blame towards communities in need of reinforcements for this centuries-long battle for a quality education. Discussing equity is in vogue in education and I perhaps played a part in this movement. Yet, I see how anyone can post the word “equity” to mean anything they want it to mean.
I believe Carranza can actually explain in depth what equity means to him, and that’s turned the usual skeptics into fans.
For a small window of time, we have a chancellor willing to speak directly to the elephants in the halls around him, a mayor who gives him the space to forcefully move forward with an equity agenda, and a CONTINUE READING: When Were We Ever Indivisible? [A Reflection on NYC Schools Chancellor Carranza] | The Jose Vilson
