New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s second choice to lead the nation’s largest school system has plunged him into hot water.
De Blasio this month appointed Richard A. Carranza, the superintendent of the Houston district since August 2016, to head New York schools. The mayor’s first choice, Miami-Dade County Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, had accepted the post but later backed out.
Since naming Carranza, though, elected officials, parent leaders, and educators have ripped de Blasio’s choice after a lawsuit alleging sexual discrimination came to light. The suit said Carranza, 51, ruined the career of a female educator in San Francisco after she called him out for flirting with a female colleague while he was the city’s superintendent in 2013. San Francisco school officials settled the suit but denied any wrongdoing on Carranza’s part.
New York officials admitted they knew of the suit before making the appointment—after they refused to say so when questioned earlier.
