School & District Management

N.Y.C. to Scrap Regions, Give Principals More Authority

By Catherine Gewertz — January 19, 2007 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Four years after undertaking the most profound reorganization of the New York City schools in decades, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg last week announced another round of major changes that will give principals more power, fund schools more fairly, and eliminate the administrative regions he created to slice away at bureaucracy.

In his annual State of the City address on Jan. 17, the second-term mayor, a Republican, said rising test scores and an improving graduation rate in the 1.1 million-student district signal that it’s time to expand on the first generation of reforms, which included new curricula and expanded high school options.

“During our first term, we brought stability, accountability, and standards to a school system where they were sorely lacking,” he said. “With this strong foundation now laid, we can take the next steps forward, creating great schools where all students can succeed.”

The administrative structure the mayor set up in 2003, in a bid to create what he called “one unified, focused, streamlined chain of command,” will be eliminated. City schools were divided into 10 regions, supervised by regional superintendents who oversaw 10 local superintendents, each responsible for a cluster of schools. The city will revert to a system in which 32 community superintendents oversee their schools and report directly to the chancellor.

The mayor said the regional offices had stabilized the school system and were no longer needed. But Democratic state Sen. Carl Kruger, who led a group of lawmakers in a 2003 lawsuit that halted Mr. Bloomberg’s plan to shutter the community-district offices, saw the move as an admission of defeat.

Seen as Retreat

“It’s clear he’s taking a step backward,” Mr. Kruger’s chief of staff, Jason D. Koppel, said of the mayor. “It’s clear that the [regional system] put in too many levels of bureaucracy and took parents out of the equation.”

Mayor Bloomberg said the city would expand systemwide its work to give principals more power over hiring and firing staff, controlling educational programming, and managing their schools’ budgets. Principals can have their schools join the “empowerment” initiative, receiving more authority in exchange for delivering certain performance outcomes, or they can partner with outside groups or district administrators for support in shaping their operations, according to district documents outlining the changes.

In exchange, principals will be evaluated more rigorously by their community superintendents, and their schools will get letter grades based on student performance, attendance, and parent-teacher-student feedback. Schools with higher letter grades will be eligible for bonuses; those with lower grades could be subject to intervention.

Mr. Bloomberg also focused on teacher quality, saying teachers will no longer be able to earn tenure automatically after three years. Instead, their principals will have to certify that they deserve tenure, and those decisions will be reviewed by the city department of education.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the local teachers’ union, the United Federation of Teachers, said Mr. Bloomberg had done nothing more than articulate what is already in the teachers’ newly approved contract.

Noting in a statement that the address was “a speech with no instructional initiatives,” Ms. Weingarten said she hopes the mayor will give some attention to pressing issues such as lowering class size, improving school safety, and giving teachers more authority to shape instruction.

Another cornerstone of the plan is to phase in a funding system that would base monetary allocations on the number and needs of each school’s students, rather than on the number and experience level of its teachers. Mr. Bloomberg intends it to narrow spending gaps between schools.

A version of this article appeared in the January 24, 2007 edition of Education Week as N.Y.C. to Scrap Regions, Give Principals More Authority

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management How One Principal Got Kids to Pay Attention in Class
Utah principal Shauna Haney brought about one of the first classroom cellphone bans in the state.
2 min read
Cellphone wearing a sleep mask. Cellphone policy.
Irina Shatilova/iStock
School & District Management Celebrate Five Years of The Savvy Principal—A Newsletter Just for School Leaders
The Savvy Principal is full of news, insights, and actionable tips on school leadership.
1 min read
Close cropped photo of a laptop, planner and phone with ear phones attached to it. The phone is displaying an edition of Education Week's The Savvy Principal enewsletter.
Liz Yap/Education Week + Adobe Stock
School & District Management Worried About Withheld Education Funding? Here's How Leaders Can Speak Up
Education leaders must communicate the consequences of withheld K-12 funding to Congress and their own communities.
6 min read
Superintendents Dr. Alex Marrero, Alberto Carvalho, and Joe Gothard
Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero, left, Madison Superintendent Joe Gothard, and Los Angeles Superintendent Alberto Carvalho are among district leaders who've pushed for the release of withheld federal K-12 funding. The three have also sought to explain the consequences to their own communities.
David Zalubowski/AP, Andy Clayton-King/AP, Anthony Behar/AP
School & District Management Opinion ‘You’re Woke’: A Former Superintendent Responds to Intense Backlash
My critics hurled “woke” at me like a verbal grenade—but we need education leaders who are wide awake.
Robert Sokolowski
4 min read
Diverse group of multiethnic multicultural people silhouette. The weaponization of woke.
iStock/Getty Images