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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 19, 2002
PR 335-02
www.nyc.gov


MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG OUTLINES EDUCATION
ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2002

New York City Establishes Foundation to Turn Education System Around

During the first year of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's administration, New York City is poised to improve dramatically its school system and provide New York's children with the first class education that they deserve. The cornerstone of the reform program was the dissolution of the Board of Education and the establishment of the Department of Education (DOE) accountable to the Mayor. In the four months since Joel Klein was named the first Schools Chancellor under this governance structure, the Mayor and the Chancellor have embarked on an aggressive and meaningful program of reform for the City's schools. Improving the City's schools is built on four themes: Creating Accountability, Increasing Efficiency, Strengthening Classroom Education and Encouraging Community Involvement.

"This has been an amazing year of transformation and opportunity for our City's Schools," said Mayor Bloomberg. "For the first time in a generation, New Yorkers can hold their Mayor accountable for the success or failure of their schools. No longer will parents search for who is responsible for educating their children, they can look to one person and one agency and know where the buck stops. The era of finger pointing is over. Joel Klein has the support, autonomy and the accountability to fix our schools. However, the state legislature has only given us the opportunity to fix our schools; now it is up to us to prove that their trust was well founded."

Creating Accountability:

Mayoral Control:
After a six-month campaign led by Mayor Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki signed historic school governance legislation at the Patrick Henry School in Upper Manhattan on June 12th 2002 . Governor Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and the State's Legislators supported legislation to establish Mayoral control of New York City's schools for the first time since 1969. Under the new law, Mayor Bloomberg took responsibility for New York City's public schools and the City has commenced a comprehensive effort to fix a public education system that was neither centralized nor decentralized and suffered from a governance structure with no accountability that yielded decades of inefficiency and failure.

The new structure holds the Mayor accountable for the City's schools, while providing avenues for input from parents, community and advocates. Under the governance law, the new Department of Education has a Chancellor who is appointed by the Mayor and reports directly to him. Also the law, establishes a New York City Panel for Educational Policy with 13 members to advise the Chancellor on educational policy. The members are the Chancellor, seven additional Mayoral appointments and five appointments by the Borough Presidents.

Tweed:
At the beginning of the school year, the Department of Education moved into the Tweed Courthouse and out of the former headquarters of the Board of Education at 110 Livingston Street in Brooklyn. Moving the headquarters for the City's school system demonstrated the Mayor's commitment to improving the education system and instilling accountability into the Department of Education. An open plan design was implemented in the new offices to increase communication and creativity among the staff and foster openness and transparency within the organization. To increase accountability, District Superintendents are required to have a desk in Tweed and report directly to the Chancellor.

In October, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein announced plans for the new Tweed Academy. Tweed Academy will be a first-rate educational center that demonstrates the City's commitment to excellence and achievement in public education and aims to promote literacy among all students. During traditional school hours, elementary and middle school classes from all five boroughs will participate in alternating two-week intensive academic "residencies" at Tweed Academy. While the primary focus of Tweed Academy will be the education of young children and adolescents, educational opportunities will be available for people of all ages and backgrounds. Tweed Academy will open in the spring semester of 2003 with an elementary school program. Eventually, the Academy will serve approximately 200 elementary and middle school students each school day. In order to maximize the number of students and parents involved, the Academy will also conduct multiple programs beyond the regular school day. The roll-out of these programs will begin in February 2003.

In November, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the City is proceeding with plans to sell 110 Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn, the former headquarters of the now defunct Board of Education. The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) will issue a Request for Proposals for the building early next year will call for a mixed-use development. A previous RFP drew significant interest from a variety of potential developers that proposed uses for the building, ranging from condominiums to rental units to dormitory space for local academic institutions. Lower floors may be appropriate for retail or academic uses. Studies have indicated that the building could accommodate as many as 250 apartments.

Improving Superintendent Leadership:
In September, DOE unveiled a new performance-based compensation structure for community and high school district superintendents. The program seeks accountability from the school system's Superintendents, rewards them for success and punishes them for failure. This program is supported by funds from the New York City Partnership. Superintendents who meet objective, quantified goals for increasing student performance will receive bonuses of up to $40,000. Bonus eligibility will be contingent upon districts' meeting specific student achievement targets and effective implementation of other objectives. Eighty percent of the bonus award is based on meeting student achievement targets (40% for English Language Arts and 40% for math), and 20% of the award will be based on meeting other objectives defined by the Chancellor's and Deputy Chancellor's priorities.

In order to be eligible for bonuses, community school district superintendents must improve district academic performance. High school superintendents must reach targets for the improvement of student performance on New York State Regents exams and the reduction in annual dropout rates. To receive a bonus, high school superintendents must achieve a 10% improvement in the percentage of students in a class scoring at least 65 on English and Math Regents examinations. Superintendents must also cut their districts' annual dropout rate by one-fifth.

The Chancellor also announced that superintendents with poor performance on these indicators would be offered support from the Division of Teaching and Learning and put on notice that improvement is required for continued employment.

Strengthening Principal Leadership:
In December, the Mayor and the Chancellor announced a program of training, recruiting and retaining high quality principals. At the core of improving principal leadership is the firm belief that success will require a dramatic change in the current operating culture of the Department of Education- to a new culture that places a premium on real empowerment and true accountability, a culture where leadership is valued, success is rewarded and failure is not accepted.

The program includes the creation of a Leadership Academy, based upon General Electric's John F. Welch Leadership Center, with an initial $15 million grant from the Wallace Funds. The Academy will focus on the importance of a management development system to ensure the performance of current and future leaders, tap the pro-bono services of the executive search firm of Korn/Ferry to recruit principals, and incorporate fast track development of candidates who show great leadership potential, including teachers and assistant principals, to the job of principal. In addition, the Academy will offer intensive training that focuses on core values, instructional leadership and best management practices through real-world internships and continuous on-the job mentoring in the schools. The Department also proposes that principals with outstanding school performance records are asked for a three-year commitment to serve as principal of a low-performing school. Subject to collective bargaining, these principals would mentor an individual aspiring to be a principal who can assume leadership of the school after three years, and will be responsible for gains in student achievement. Under this collective bargaining proposal, the principal would be paid an annual $25,000 bonus for the three years they serve at the school, contingent on collective bargaining.

In addition, the DOE will empower Principals by increasing their autonomy. The Chancellor will appoint high-performing interim principals as permanent and allow principals to hire their own Assistant Principals. DOE will conduct a comprehensive review of the nature of the principal's job to increase focus on instruction and a Leadership Advisory Council will be created to guide the Chancellor on key issues. Finally, the Chancellor's authority to remove principals based on failure to perform will be enforced.

Increasing Efficiency:

Right-sizing the Department of Education:
For too many years the Board of Education's bloated bureaucracy was emblematic of the failure of the City's schools. In light of the City's severe fiscal problems and due to the need to increase efficiency and right-sizing the staffing of the DOE, a wholesale audit of the administrative staff was undertaken and appropriate downsizing was implemented. Nearly one-third of the central and district office positions have been cut, while still protecting the classroom.

Fundamental Reforms in School Construction:
In October, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein announced fundamental structural changes in the way that New York City builds its public schools. Through the merger of the School Construction Authority (SCA) with the construction functions of the Department of Education's Division of School Facilities (DSF), the City aims to significantly reduce the costs of school construction by having one agency accountable for school construction and renovations. As part of the legislation, the Mayor was given the authority to appoint the Chancellor and the other two members of SCA Trustee Board. With the appointment of the new President the following reforms were immediately implemented:

The goal of these reforms is to pay substantially less for new schools, driving down the cost of construction from its current $438 per square foot to $325 or less per square foot while constructing and renovating high quality schools.

Creation of Citywide Public School Transfer Process:
Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein announced that the Department of Education will establish a Citywide public school transfer process for eligible children under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The NLCB law requires parents whose children attend a school that has been identified as needing improvement have the option of sending their children to a better performing public school.

With this announcement, the Department of Education will also centralize the NCLB transfer process - notifying parents whose children are eligible, identifying options within and across home districts, and implementing transfers sensibly and more effectively. By centralizing the process, the Department will be able to provide these options in a more efficient, equitable and cost effective way. In addition, the entire Citywide transfer process will now be coordinated centrally. This assures that NCLB eligible students will get first priority for transfers.

Under the new NCLB process, parents who apply will be notified of their children's transfer before the end of the school year. The anticipated deadline for completed parent requests is mid-May 2003. This timeline allows for a smooth transition to the new schools on the first day of school in September 2003. Letters to the parents of all eligible students will be mailed centrally by early Spring 2003. Comprehensive information will also be available to parents through the individual schools. In addition, the DOE will further increase outreach efforts through advertisements in Citywide and local papers, posters, Internet announcements and other community-based outlets.

Strengthening Classroom Education:

Ending Teacher Shortage:
On June 10th 2002, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and United Federation of Teachers President (UFT) Randi Weingarten announced an agreement on a new contract for 117,000 employees of the New York City Board of Education, including 80,000 teachers. The 16 percent increase, conforming to the City's collective bargaining pattern, significantly increased teachers' salaries, making them competitive with the surrounding counties. Starting teachers now earn $39,000 a year with the top salary increased to $81,231. The much-deserved raise increased both the recruitment of new teachers and the retention of experienced teachers. These raises make our salaries competitive with our suburban counterparts and are attracting a new generation of teachers to our schools. As a result of this increase, the DOE hired over 8,000 certified teachers last year, the largest group ever hired in a single year.

Increasing Classroom Instruction Time:
As a result of the new contract, every teacher will teach an additional twenty minutes per day, resulting in more than a week of extra classroom instruction for our students - over and above the two additional instructional days added by the Chancellor in his first week on the job.

Improving School Safety:
In September, Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Klein announced the creation of the Department of Education's Office of School Safety and Planning as well as the appointment of Benjamin B. Tucker as its Chief Executive. The newly created office works collaboratively with the New York City Police Department and the Mayor's Criminal Justice Coordinator implementing a comprehensive new school safety plan and providing support to all schools on the effective, coordinated use of disciplinary tools, truancy prevention programs, and school safety resources.

The Mayor and the Chancellor also announced a new data-driven strategy, known as Operation Safe Schools, which will focus on those schools with the highest rates of criminal incidents that continue to account for a disproportionate amount of school-based crime. Since the beginning of the school year and as a result of the School Safety initiatives, there has been an 11% decrease in the seven major crimes in schools and a 25% reduction in minor infractions.

Encouraging Parent and Community Involvement:

Office of Strategic Partnerships:
In October, DOE opened the Office of Strategic Partnerships to oversee the development and management of strategic partnerships between the New York City public schools and the private sector. The new Office, directed by Caroline Kennedy, brings together several disparate programs within the Department of Education to ensure a coordinated entry point for corporations, foundations, the arts community, volunteer and mentoring organizations, and the educational non-profit community.

The Office ensures that public-private partnerships are targeted to major reform initiatives and effectively integrated throughout the school system. The Office targets educational needs throughout the school system and then secures private sector resources for reform efforts. Strategic partnerships range from system-wide initiatives, such as those supporting literacy, small schools, or professional development, to individual school-business partnerships, where a corporation "partners" with a particular school, providing in-kind gifts, mentoring and internship opportunities, and financial resources.

Parental and Community Engagement:
To build community and parental involvement, the Department of Education has embarked on a comprehensive outreach effort to listen to the ideas of parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, students, community-based organizations, corporations, foundations, institutions of higher education, faith-based organizations, and public officials. To date, more than 50,000 parents and community members have been engaged in this effort.

Clear and Concise Report Card for Students and Parents:
The Department of Education has undertaken a program to remove the mystery from students' report cards. Instead of the confusing and obscure code system for grades K-6, DOE will grade students based upon a 4-tier level system that is consistent with the City and State test:

In the coming months, DOE will implement a Web-based system that will enable teachers to easily enter student grades into a secure site. The objective is to reduce the administrative burden of teachers while meeting the needs of parents.


www.nyc.gov

Contact:

Edward Skyler / Jordan Barowitz / Jerry Russo
(212) 788-2958

  David Chai (DOE)
(212) 374-5176