NYC Department of Education Allows Acting Superintendents to Advance in Hiring Process Amid Community Outrage – New York Daily News
Superintendents of New York City Schools handed over their pink slips last week as part of a citywide administrative shuffle.
Banks asked all 45 serving superintendents to reapply for their posts and opened up the position to other applicants in a major bureaucratic shake-up.
Last week, Ministry of Education officials began notifying candidates whether they had moved on to the next stage of the interview process, where finalists for each position will participate in a town hall meeting with parents and community members.
Some serving superintendents who have re-nominated — including a beloved school principal from District 30 in Queens — have been told they haven’t made the cut and should step down as superintendents. ‘ here on June 30, a decision that has outraged some parents and elected officials who said they should at least have the chance to formally participate in deciding whether or not to retain experienced superintendents.
In response to the uproar, the Department of Education reversed course on Monday, allowing all incumbent superintendents who reapply to advance to the mayoral stage.

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“After listening to community feedback, we invite all tenured superintendents to be interviewed as part of the community process,” Banks said in a statement. “The central pillar of this administration is parent and community engagement and we have worked with members of the CEC and Council of Presidents to create a historically inclusive hiring process.
“When I make the final decision of who will best serve all students in each district, that decision will combine passionate feedback from parents and community members and each candidate’s ability to articulate a holistic vision for the future.” , he added.
It was not immediately clear how many of the 45 serving district superintendents reapplied for their positions or how many were notified last week that they had not made the cut. Education officials said about 130 candidates, in addition to serving superintendents, took part in a first-round interview with Vice-Chancellor Desmond Blackburn. Two or three candidates from each arrondissement had presented themselves to the town halls.
Outrage over the early layoffs has been particularly fierce in Queens’ District 30, where parents and elected officials have argued that 40-year Education Department veteran Philip Composto, who has led the district for decades years and led a grassroots initiative to create kindergarten students with college savings accounts. , should not be removed at all – and especially not until parents and community members have had a chance to provide feedback.
“Our community is deeply distressed by the approach taken by your administration, which does not even appear to give due consideration to Dr. Composto or the community he works with,” wrote Senator Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), member of the Zohran Assembly. Mamdani (D-Queens) and Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán (D-Queens), in a joint letter to Mayor Adams and Banks last week.
The superintendent’s reshuffle — which will also expand the responsibilities associated with that role — is part of Banks’ effort to reshape the vast bureaucracy that underpins the nation’s largest school system.
Town halls are scheduled to begin this Thursday and continue into next week after delays due to difficulty finding language interpreters, according to DOE communications reviewed by the Daily News.