QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, December 28, 2017 Page 14
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Fariña to retire by end of school year A nationwide search is underway; Moskowitz has some suggestions by Anthony O’Reilly
Federation of Teachers, which did not have a contract since 2009, in their first Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña on few months in office. “Carmen has a lot to be proud of during Dec. 21 confirmed her intention to retire by the end of the school year, bringing a her tenu re,” U FT President Michael close to her 50-plus years in the education Mu lg rew said i n a st atement. “Her decades of experience in the system gave field. “I came into this job to be respected her a deep understanding of how our and to be understood so that people would schools work.” Fariña was also tasked with overseeing then be motivated to do what I think is important for the children of New York,” the Renewal Schools initiative, which Fariña, 74, said at a City Hall press placed extra resources and established longer school days at failing institutions conference. A nationwide search is underway to three years ago. The city announced Dec. find her replacement, according to pub- 18 that nine schools in the program that lished reports. City Hall officials told failed to make significant progress will reporters last week a replacement should close next school year. Two a r e i n Q ue e n s , b ot h i n t he be in place by the time she leaves Tweed Rockaways. Courthouse. Fariña also led the charge to decrease This is Fariña’s second retirement — the number of susthe f irst being in pensions, par ticu2006 after she larly those against served for decades he proceeded to do minority students. as a teacher, princiI n a sitdow n pal, superintendent something miraculous.” interview with the and deputy chancelChronicle in August lor i n t he publ ic — Mayor de Blasio on retiring 2016, Fa r i ña said school system. Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña she used the same But she was philosophy as chancalled back to work by Mayor de Blasio in 2014 to take charge cellor as she did when she was principal of the la rgest school system i n the at city public schools — figuring out the cause of a student’s problems, rather than country. “One thing I did not know about Car- just punishing them for their actions. She added raising academic standards men at the time was that she would take on the role with the kind of energy you could help solve behavioral issues. “If you actually raise the curriculum, a can only call superhuman,” de Blasio said at City Hall. “When someone’s coming student is more likely to behave in class,” out of retirement to take on one of the Fariña told the Chronicle. The city is looking to add more comtoughest jobs in the country, you wouldn’t blame them if they just worked like any- puter science, algebra and Advanced one else. She proceeded to do something Placement classes across the city through the “Equit y and Excellence for All” miraculous.” Fariña worked alongside Deputy Mayor program. Councilman Danny Dromm (D-JackRichard Buery, who is also leaving City Hall in the coming weeks, to roll out de son Heights), chairman of the Council’s Bla sio’s sig n at u re Un ive r sa l P re -K Education Committee, told the Chronicle in an interview last Thursday her biggest program. The chancellor and the mayor also achievement was “giving respect back to worked to strike a deal with the United teachers. Editor
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Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced last Thursday that she will retire by the end of the FILE PHOTO school year. “What she did was treat them like people and not just look at them or the students as data,” he said. The councilman and for mer public school teacher said she found success as a chancellor because she was a for mer educator. He believes Fariña’s successor should also have experience in the classroom. And while Dromm didn’t give any specific examples of whom he’d like to see lead the city’s public schools, charter school leader and frequent Fariña critic Eva Moskowitz released a list of 14 candidates. Moskowitz wrote in a letter to the mayor “Of the many people coming to, leaving from, or moving within the de Blasio administration, none will likely have a longer-lasting effect on the lives of New Yorkers than the new Schools Chancellor.” The Success Academy founder and CEO — who has feuded with de Blasio and Fariña on co-locations and other issues — said “not all of the leaders
highlighted below are char ter school supporters. “All of the leaders below are individuals with the experience and skills to run New York’s schools, and are the types of candidates that all New Yorkers should hope this Mayor can attract,” Moskowitz said. De Blasio told reporters last Thursday, “I want to make a formal public pledge — I will not hold her endorsement against any of the candidates. “I have not seen her list, and we will be generating our own list.” Dromm said he would not be against looking at the Moskowitz’s candidates. So what’s next for Fariña? “I am going to go out to dinner and not have to respond to any emergencies,” she said at City Hall. “I’ve already started thinking about at least one vacation with each of my daughters and their children, so I do not see anything in my life that is going to put me in an area of big responsibility.” Q
Hit-and-run collision kills Forest Hills man by Christopher Barca Editor
A Forest Hills man died last Thursday after a hit-and-run collision on the neighborhood’s border with Glendale. According to authorities, 47-year-old Thomas Kelly was discovered unconscious, unresponsive and suffering from severe trauma close to the left turn lane of southbound Woodhaven Boulevard just north of Metropolitan Avenue — just steps from his Alderton Street home — shortly after 10:30 p.m. The Forest Hills man was taken to Jamaica
Thomas Kelly was struck on Dec. 21 Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a few hours after he arrived. Police said Kelly’s injuries were consistent with being struck by vehicle, but the motorist who hit him had f led the scene before the authorities arrived. According to reports, Kelly was a popular figure on Alderton Street and had many friends on the block. One of them, Jessica Alvarez, told the Daily News that he was a big sports fan who
would talk with anyone willing to lend an ear. “He was a great person,” Alvarez said. “He would sit outside and talk to my husband about sports. He would sit outside in his little blue chair and basically talk to everybody that walked by. He was a very friendly guy.” According to the Daily News, Kelly was a plumber, but a series of health issues, including a stroke seven years ago, had left him unable to work and in
need of a live-in caretaker, Moira Lopes. Lopes told the newspaper Kelly was a “great friend” and a “wonderful person.” “He would warm to anybody,” she said. “I just cannot believe that he was struck by a car that left him there to die so close to home.” No arrests have been made in connection with the fatal hit-and-run, but the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about Kelly’s death is asked to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1 (800) 577-8477 or submit a tip online at nypdcrimestoppers.com. Q