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Deputy Mayor Buery And Chancellor Fariña Name 24 Education Leaders To School Space Working Group

April 4, 2014

NEW YORK—Deputy Mayor Richard Buery and Chancellor Carmen Fariña today named 24 education leaders and experts from across New York City to their school space working group. Hailing from public schools, charters, advocacy organizations, community councils, and the real estate sector, the 24 participants bring vast and diverse expertise in all facets of New York City public education and space planning to the table. The working group will be charged with recommending long-term solutions to alleviate overcrowding, foster positive outcomes in future co-locations, and develop partnerships that make the best use of all of the city’s space and resources for our schools.

The school space working group, led by Chancellor Fariña and Deputy Mayor Buery, will focus on the most acute space needs facing the school system. The working group will partner with district and charter school communities, as well as non-profits, to advise on new approaches to sharing space and tackling overcrowding in school buildings. The group will also focus on methods to further engage parents in the decision-making process and anticipate long-term space needs more fully, including the space needed for schools to have robust arts and physical education programs. Its participants will collaborate with and seek feedback from school leaders, parent groups, and elected officials—including education committees and leadership. 

The space working group will be facilitated by the DOE’s Tom Taratko, executive director of the Office of Space Planning, and Michaela Daniel, senior policy advisor to the Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives, from City Hall. The group will complement the DOE’s previously established Blue Book working group, which will analyze the agency’s “Blue Book” for building utilization calculations. While the Blue Book group will redefine how the DOE calculates available space within a school, the space sharing group will work to qualitatively address challenges and surface best practices to guide future co-locations. Three members of the Blue Book group will also serve on the school space working group.

PARTICIPANTS IN THE SCHOOL SPACE WORKING GROUP

Sandra D’Avilar, Principal, P.S. 9
Joanne Mejias, Principal, Manhattan Charter School II
Roshone Ault, Principal, South Bronx Academy for Applied Media
Joseph Canale, Principal, CSI High School for International Studies
RoseAnn Darche, former Special Assistant for Education, Office of the Queens Borough President
Bob Hughes, President, New Visions for Public Schools
Richard Kahan, Founder & CEO, Urban Assembly
David Levin, Co-Founder, KIPP
Emary Aronson, Managing Director, Robin Hood Foundation
Michele Cahill, Vice President, National Programs, Carnegie Corporation of New York
Maggie Moroff, Special Education Policy Coordinator, Advocates for Children and Coordinator, ARISE Coalition
Gloria Corsino, President, District 75 Community Education Council
Miriam Aristy-Farer, President, District 6 Community Education Council
Alim Gafar, Co-Chair, Chancellor's Parent Advisory Committee
Isaac Carmignani, Co-President and Zoning Chair, District 30 Community Education Council
Eric Greenleaf, member of Speaker Silver’s Overcrowding Taskforce and Professor of Marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business
David Umansky, CEO, Civic Builders
Adam Flatto, President, The Georgetown Company
Jonathan Gyurko, President, Leeds Global Partners and former official, NYC Department of Education and United Federation of Teachers
Ellie Engler, Director of Staff, United Federation of Teachers
Burt Sacks, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, City University of New York
Zakiyah Ansari, Advocacy Director, Alliance for Quality Education
Maria Fernandez, Coordinator, Urban Youth Collaborative
Luis Garden Acosta, President, El Puente

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