By Tom Momberg
Judith Chin, of Little Neck, will join the Queens Judicial District 11 in April as the first Asian American selected to serve on the state Board of Regents in its over 230-year history.
State Assemblyman Edward Braunstein (D-Bayside) had nominated the career educator and announced her selection of Chin Tuesday.
New York state is divided into 13 judicial districts and each one has its own regent. New York City has five regents, or one for each county.
“Ms. Chin, a product of the New York City school system, has received numerous awards in recognition of the work she has done on behalf of our schoolchildren,” Braunstein said in a statement. “She is undoubtedly a qualified candidate and I am confident that she will be an exemplary regent.”
A first-generation Chinese-American, Chin started her career as a teacher in East Harlem in 1972, after which she taught in Crown Heights and joined administrative teams in Chinatown and Chelsea schools, later to be a supervising superintendent. She is currently a program director of the Reading and Writing Workshop at Columbia University’s Teachers’ College, where she will finish out the month.
Chin is also a strong critic of state Common Core Standards as well as New York’s testing and teacher evaluation policies, which regents play a large hand in implementing.
Chin will be replacing Regent Geraldine Chapey, who voluntarily resigned in 2014.
Reach reporter Tom Momberg by e-mail at tmomb
