New York State’s Board of Regents, which has endured plenty of political controversy, named Betty Rosa, a former Bronx administrators, as its chancellor Monday, according to local news reports.
Rosa replaces longtime Chancellor Merryl Tisch, who has led the board through pressure from the governor, state politicians, teachers’ unions, and a raucous opt-out movement to make changes to the state’s standards, assessments, and teacher evaluation systems.
This year, the board placed a moratorium on test scores being used for teacher evaluations and soon is expected to rename and revamp state academic standards.
Tisch stepped down Monday.
Rosa, who will be the state’s first Latina chancellor, has served on the board since 2008 and leads B. D. J. & J. Associates, a consultant agency that works with urban districts to turn around failing schools. She previously served as a teacher, principal and administrator in the Bronx, according to her Linkedin profile.
She has been a critic of many of the state’s reforms, including its adoption of Common Core.
“There is a lot of hard work ahead. Yet we are optimistic that students, parents and educators will have a more meaningful voice in fixing New York standards, reducing the burden of standardized testing and creating a fair and objective evaluation system,” New York State United Teaches President Karen Magee said, according to the Associated Press.
Rosa told the board Monday that now is the time to re-evaluate how education reforms are enacted, according to the Journal News, which is based in Westchester, N.Y.
“We need to re-conceptualize the work we’ve been doing,” she said.