What is the Children First Initiative?
Children First is a new agenda for public school education in New York city. Its goal is to create a system of outstanding schools in which effective teaching and learning is a reality for every school teacher and child.
Is the Children First Initiative being funded by the Department of Education?
No. The Children First Initiative is funded by generous gifts from the Broad Foundation and the Robertson Foundation.
Several announcements have already been made about changes that will occur in our schools. What role can I play at this point in Children First ?
For those areas in which changes have already been announced, we need your help in implementing them. We need you to tell us what support your school needs to successfully implement the changes and we need to know those areas that cause you concern. There are also important areas in which decisions have not been made yet and we need you to share your ideas with us in these areas. Children First will continue to reach out to parents, community-based organizations, corporations, foundations, think tanks, institutions of higher education, faith-based organizations, and public officials.
What is the new management structure of the school system?
The new structure reorganizes all aspects of the school system to focus squarely on instruction and to support the goal of improving student achievement in all the city’s schools. The current bureaucracy of 40 district offices will be streamlined to reflect this focus and to drive resources where they should be — into the schools.
The school system will be organized into 10 Instructional Divisions across the city — each of which covers approximately 120 schools. The Instructional Divisions will be led by 10 Regional Superintendents who, together, will function as the senior instructional management team for the school system and report directly to Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning Diana Lam.
Within each Instructional Division, the Regional Superintendent will work closely with 10 Local Instructional Supervisors, each of whom will be responsible for providing 10 to 12 schools and principals with instructional leadership, teacher training, and support to help principals and their teachers implement the new approach and improve the quality of teaching and learning in their schools. Under the new structure, each school will receive greater individualized support and supervision.
In addition, the school system is being transformed from a fragmented and divided system into one with greater curricular and instructional coherence and more effective use of resources. Under the new system, there will be consistency for students transitioning from elementary to middle school and from middle to high school. Students will move from kindergarten through high school in a carefully constructed academic program which builds learning from year to year.
Under the new management structure, who will be responsible for ensuring the new instruction and educational policies are implemented?
The new management structure ensures a clear line of accountability for instruction and educational policy. Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning Diana Lam will work directly with the 10 Regional Superintendents to: (1) develop and implement the new approach and best teaching practices; (2) establish and implement effective professional development programs; and (3) create a culture of high standards and expectations for schools, principals, teachers, and students.
Who are the Regional Superintendents?
The 10 Regional Superintendents are experienced and exemplary educators who, with Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning Diana Lam, will form the senior instructional management team of the school system:
Gloria Buckery, currently superintendent of the Bronx/Brooklyn region of the Chancellor’s District, will head Division Six;
Kathleen M. Cashin, currently superintendent of District 23, will head Division Five;
Judith Chin, currently supervising superintendent for the Center for Recruitment and Professional Development, will head Division Three;
Carmen Fariña, currently superintendent of District 15, will head Division Eight;
Michelle Fratti, currently superintendent of District 25, will head Division Seven;
Shelley Harwayne, currently superintendent of District 2, will head Division Nine;
Reyes Irizarry, currently superintendent of BASIS, will head Division Four;
Laura Rodriguez, currently the deputy superintendent for instruction in the Bronx, will head Division Two;
Lucille Swarns, currently a superintendent in the professional development area of the Chancellor’s District, will head Division Ten; and
Irma Zardoya, currently superintendent of District 10, will head Division One.
What other key educational roles have been established to help implement these important reforms?
The following educators will work with Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning Diana Lam:
Dr. Sandra Kase, currently a Supervising Superintendent of the Chancellor’s District, will serve as Senior Instructional Manager for Government and Grant Programs;
Helen Santiago, Superintendent of District 1, will serve as Senior Instructional Manager for Teaching and Learning; and
Rose DePinto, Senior Superintendent for High Schools, will serve as Senior Instructional Manager for Secondary Schools.
Evelyn W. Castro, Superintendent of District 17, will serve as Senior Instructional Manager for Parent Engagement. She will work with Michele Cahill, Senior Counselor for Educational Policy.
Matthew Bromme, currently Superintendent of District 27, will be a senior manager working with Deputy Chancellor for Operations and Planning Tony Shorris. His responsibilities will include registration, transfer and the implementation of the No Child Left Behind student choice program.
Elizabeth Sciabarra, currently Superintendent for Specialized High Schools, will serve as Chief Executive for New School Development, working with Senior Counselor to the Chancellor for Education Policy Michelle Cahill.
How were the 10 Regional Superintendents selected?
The 10 Regional Superintendents were selected on the basis of their demonstrated leadership in teaching and learning, and their ability to creatively solve the tough problems of systemic reform in public education. Deputy Chancellor Diana Lam spent a significant amount of time visiting schools and speaking with and observing the current leadership. She made recommendations to the Chancellor, who made the final decision.
Will school zones change?
This re-structuring does not affect the current zones for any schools.
What will happen to the district offices in the current districts?
The current district offices will cease to exist. Each of the 10 Instructional Divisions will have a Learning Support Center, which will house the team of Local Instructional Supervisors. Because of geographic and other considerations, three of the 10 Instructional Leadership Divisions require satellite offices. Each Local Instructional Supervisor, working under the direction of Deputy Chancellor Diana Lam and the area’s Regional Superintendent, will be responsible for supporting 10 to 12 principals as they work to improve student achievement in their schools. The Regional Superintendent will continue to exercise existing legal authority within the district.
To better serve students, parents, and caretakers, the Department will establish a Parent Support Office in each of the Learning Support Center sites throughout the city. These offices will be staffed by teams of full-time Parent Support Officers, who will promote parent engagement and respond to parent concerns. In addition to workday hours, these offices will be open in the evenings twice a week and on one weekend day so that parents don’t have to choose between their children’s education and their jobs. For convenience, parents will be able to drop in at any of the Learning Support Centers and receive service.
Operational support to schools, which currently resides in district offices, will be streamlined and located in six operations centers, spread throughout the city geographically. Each operations center will be run by a single Regional Operations Manager, who will report directly to Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm. The Operations Centers will be co-located with six of the Learning Support Centers.
This new structure will ensure that first rate services are provided to parents and students and will ultimately free up over 8,000 classroom seats in school buildings that have been used to house the district bureaucracies.
How many Learning Support Centers will there be and where will they be?
We are establishing 10 Learning Support Centers at 13 sites throughout the city. Because of geographic and other considerations, three of the ten Instructional Leadership Divisions require satellite offices. All Learning Support Center sites, including the satellite offices, will have Parent Support Offices that will offer parents the same services and will be open on the same schedule.
The Learning Support Centers will be located as follows:
Instructional Leadership Division – 1 Fordham Plaza, the Bronx
Instructional Leadership Division – 1230 Zerega Avenue, the Bronx
Instructional Leadership Division – 30-48 Linden Place, Queens 90-27 Sutphin Boulevard, Queens Instructional Leadership Division – 28-11 Queens Plaza North, Queens
Instructional Leadership Division – 82-01 Rockaway Boulevard, Queens 1655 St. Mark’s Avenue, Brooklyn Instructional Leadership Division – 5619 Flatlands Avenue, Brooklyn
Instructional Leadership Division – 415 89th Street, Brooklyn 715 Ocean Terrace, Staten Island Instructional Leadership Division – 131 Livingston Street, Brooklyn
Instructional Leadership Division – 333 Seventh Avenue, Manhattan
Instructional Leadership Division – 4360 Broadway, Manhattan
What offices will be located at the Learning Support Centers and what services will be provided?
Learning Support Center sites will house the local instructional leadership teams, including the Regional Superintendents and the Local Instructional Supervisors, for the Instructional Leadership Divisions in which the centers are located.
Six of the Learning Support Center sites will house Operations Centers that will provide information technology, food and transportation services, personnel management, and other back office support to schools. The Operation Centers will perform the functions which were for many years handled by more than 80 district and administrative offices.
For parents, the Learning Support Centers will serve as a critical point of access beyond their children’s individual schools – into the school system. Every one of the Learning Support Center sites, including the satellite offices, will contain a Parent Support Office offering a wide range of parent services. Parents can go to any Learning Support Center site in any Division to raise issues not resolved at the school level or to take care of school-business matters, including registration and transportation. All Learning Support Center sites will be open six days and two evenings a week to accommodate parents’ different schedules.
Will the Learning Support Centers be able to provide the same services that the current district offices provided?
Yes. The services that have in the past been provided at district offices will now be provided at the Learning Support Centers. The reorganization is streamlining the bureaucracy to provide services in a more efficient and less duplicative manner. Services will not be eliminated as a result of this streamlining process.
How did the Department of Education select the locations for the Learning Support Centers?
A major goal of reorganizing the school system is to drive resources from district bureaucracies into schools and classrooms. Accordingly, in determining where the Learning Support Centers sites should be located, three considerations were weighed: (1) where existing district and other administrative office space could be converted easily and efficiently into either Learning Support Centers or classroom space; (2) where there was sufficient space in district and DOE offices outside schools to accommodate the significant back-office operations needs; and (3) where the sites would be most accessible to parents. It is extremely important that the Learning Support Center sites and as many additional classroom seats as possible are fully functional by the first day of school in September. A premium was therefore placed on space that could be converted with minimal renovation and at minimal cost. Finally, due to geographic and other considerations, satellite offices were designated in the three largest Instructional Leadership Divisions.
What will happen to the current district and administrative offices that are not used for the Learning Support Centers?
A substantial number of the existing district and administrative offices are being converted for use as classrooms. As a result of the reorganization and the streamlining of district and administrative offices into Learning Support Centers, the Department of Education will be able to add 5,000 new classroom seats to schools by September 2003 and an additional 3,000 classroom seats by June 2004. The offices that are not suitable for use as Learning Support Centers or for conversion to classrooms may be closed altogether.
The Department of Education is constantly looking for ways to add capacity, and creating 8,000 classroom seats through the conversion of district and administrative offices will make a substantial contribution to this goal.
Is the Department of Education creating other additional classroom seats?
Yes. In addition to the classroom seats being added as a result of the conversion of district and administrative offices to classrooms, under the Department of Education’s Five Year Capital Plan 15,000 seats will be created across the city through new construction by September 2003 and another 5,000 seats will be created by September 2004.
Where will the new seats from the office conversions and the Capital Plan be located and how were those locations determined?
A map indicating the location of new classroom seats resulting from both the district reorganization and the Capital Plan is available on the Department of Education’s Web site at www.nycenet.edu.
The location of new seats created from district and administrative offices was based on where suitable space was available that could be converted quickly and efficiently to classrooms at an acceptable cost. The seats resulting from the reorganization are spread out across the city in Instructional Divisions 2, 3, 6, 8, 9 and 10. The locations throughout the city of the 15,000 seats which will be available this September through the construction of new schools and school additions were determined by the Capital Plan.
Are there any areas in the city which are not getting any new classroom seats in 2003?
There are a handful of areas which are not getting any new construction this year under the current Capital Plan and in which there was no district or other administrative office space that could be converted into classrooms with limited renovation and, therefore, at an acceptable cost. Some of these areas will have Learning Support Center sites located in them.
What are the advantages of moving from a K-8 and 9-12 system to a K-12 system?
The school system is being transformed from a fragmented and divided system into one with greater curricular and instructional coherence and more effective use of resources. Under the new system, there will be consistency and appropriate planning and support for students transitioning from elementary to middle school and from middle to high school.
When will the reorganization be implemented?
The reorganization will be completed by the beginning of the next school year, September 2003. The Department of Education is already taking significant measures to ensure that these new structures are effectively put into place before schools open in September.
Who will perform administrative functions that were performed by district office personnel?
Most of the administrative functions currently performed by district office staff will be handled in the new operational centers, housed in six of the Learning Support Centers. It is expected that there will be significant efficiencies in handling the support of more schools in one office, as well as clearer accountability. Subject to legal requirements, operational units will report to Kathleen Grimm, the Deputy Chancellor for Administration and Finance.
Does this reorganization give more resources to the schools?
Yes. Above all the goal of the reorganization is to drive resources from unnecessary district bureaucracies into the schools — to focus on teaching and learning in the classroom. Through this reorganization, the Department of Education will be able to use resources more effectively and efficiently to help achieve this critical goal.
Does the reorganization affect special education and District 75?
No changes to special education have been announced. The Mayor has asked the Chancellor to prepare a comprehensive plan for special education reform including District 75. The Chancellor has already indicated that a continuing District 75 is contemplated, and that it will be properly supported.
How does the reorganization affect the Chancellor’s District?
Under the reorganization, the current Chancellor’s District schools will be part of their geographic Instructional Divisions. However, the level of services currently provided to schools in the Chancellor’s District will be maintained.
