The Department of Education announced that Dr. Tammy Pate has taken over as community superintendent of District 28 in Queens effective Thursday, Feb. 27.
Pate is coming to the school district stretching Forest Hills down to Jamaica from serving as deputy superintendent of District 10 in the Bronx, the fourth largest district in the city with 85 schools and 55,000 students for the past year and a half. By comparison, District 28 has a student population of about 42,000 across 52 schools.
“I am committed to the success of the talented students and staff of District 28, and am truly honored to serve as Superintendent. Community empowerment is central to my work, and starting today I will be listening to principals, parents and parent leaders across the entire community and providing all of our schools with tools and resources so that our students reach their highest potential,” Pate said in a statement to QNS.
The announcement comes at a time of scrutiny for the southeastern Queens district. A week before, the DOE announced its plan to extend the timeframe of the school district’s contentious diversity plan. The superintendent will play an important role in this undertaking as one of the members of the working group – a body that will write the recommendations for the desegregation process.
Pate has worked in education 17 years, serving as teacher and founding principal of Renaissance School of the Arts in East Harlem and Queens Borough Leadership director. During her year-and-a-half tenure as deputy superintendent in the Bronx, she saw math and English proficiency increase over the 2018-19 school year.
