GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

It would be reasonable for Schools Chancellor Cathie Black to be alarmed by the rapid exodus of the Department of Education’s top deputies.

After all, when her predecessor Joel Klein handed over the reins last November, he declared, “I also am comfortable in saying I’m leaving you the best team ever assembled in education.” Mayor Bloomberg also emphasized that he was confident that Black could get past her lack of education experience by leaning on her deputies.

Now four of those deputies have left or are about to. John White, deputy chancellor for talent, labor, and innovation, is set to be named superintendent of schools in New Orleans. Santiago Taveras, deputy chancellor for community engagement, left earlier this week for the private sector. Eric Nadelstern, a top educator who had been with the department for nearly 40 years, retired abruptly n January. And Photeine Anagnastopoulos, the department’s finance guru, tendered her resignation the day after Klein’s.

But Klein said earlier this week that he is not worried about Black’s ability to recruit new talent to the department. In fact, he said, the exodus could be a boon for Black, if she sells it right. “The message is come to New York and you’ll be on your way to a superintendency,” he said. (more…)

The city’s first-ever community engagement czar is the latest in a string of high-level departures from the Department of Education since the departure of Chancellor Joel Klein.

Santiago Taveras, deputy chancellor for community engagement, is leaving the department to become a vice president at Cambridge Education, the consulting firm that originally conducted quality reviews in city schools. Taveras is the third member of the chancellor’s leadership team to resign since Cathie Black replaced Klein in November.

Taveras, who worked for the city schools for 22 years, was deputy chancellor for teaching and learning from May 2009 until April 2010, when the DOE eliminated its teaching and learning division. He then became the city’s first community engagement chief, managing the way the department explained proposals for policy changes, such as school closures, to the public. In recent months, he had become the voice of the department at public meetings, sometimes staying long after other officials to take questions and speak with parents and school leaders.

A former principal, Taveras was one of the aides Eric Nadelstern name-checked as someone trained to pick up the slack after the former chief schools officer resigned in January. In addition to Nadelstern, whose position was eliminated after he left, the department also replaced finance director Photeine Anagnastopoulos, who quit the day after Klein announced his departure. The department is looking for a replacement for Taveras, according to the city’s press release.

Here’s the city’s press release: (more…)

A top advisor to former Chancellor Joel Klein who resigned shortly after Cathie Black took office is embarking on a new career as a professor to principals.

Former Deputy Chancellor Eric Nadelstern, who hinted last month that he’d been offered a teaching position, is taking a job at Columbia’s Teacher College as a professor of practice in educational leadership. Nadelstern told me today that he also has plans to author two books — one about the lessons he’s learned in urban education reform and one about his time as a principal and deputy chancellor.

Nadelstern, who left the Department of Education last month, was the most senior educator among Klein’s top advisors. He began teaching in 1972 at Dewitt Clinton High School, the high school from which he graduated, and has since worked at almost every level of the city’s education system.

He was also the subject of much speculation when Klein stepped down last year, as many thought Nadelstern would be named chancellor. But when Mayor Bloomberg appointed Black and and Deputy Chancellor Shael Polakow-Suransky was named her second in command, Nadelstern’s departure seemed inevitable to many observers. (more…)

After 39 years, Deputy Chancellor Eric Nadelstern is leaving the Department of Education just as new Chancellor Cathie Black is beginning her tenure. In a brief interview with GothamSchools on the day he announced his retirement, Nadelstern gave his take on why he’s leaving and what he’s leaving behind.

What’s the right greeting here?  Congrats?

Well, it’s congratulations and good luck.

So why are you retiring now? And where are you off to?

After almost 40 years I’m ready for new challenges. I’ve had a number of very interesting offers — public, private, not-for-profit — all around my area of expertise. I haven’t decided yet, don’t want to rush it. I may wind up teaching at a university…very strong offer along those lines. Had an offer from a state education department outside of New York…I’m sure when the time comes, my dance card will be full.

In December you were telling people that you’d stay through the year. What changed?

That was my intention. A couple of things really — I turned 60 in October, hopefully you’ll have a chance to find out how reflective [you get] when you reach that milestone.

I had a pension consultation recently and there were financial advantages to making the decision sooner than later. That and talking it over with my family thinking about the kinds of things in life after the DOE. It seemed like the right time.

Does this have anything to do with Chancellor Cathie Black’s arrival?

It’s completely independent. In the weeks I’ve worked with Cathie I’ve not only come to admire her, I’ve come to like her…There’s an enormous amount to learn. I think in an earlier point in my career I [would have liked to work with her]. I think at this stage there are really other things that I’d like to do. (more…)

Following the retirement of Deputy Chancellor Eric Nadelstern, the Department of Education is combining the office in charge of helping schools improve with the office that holds their feet to the fire.

The Division of School Support and Instruction, which Nadelstern oversaw, will merge with the Division of Performance and Accountability, to create the Division of Academics, Performance and Support. Chief Academic Officer Shael Polakow-Suransky will oversee the combined divisions, a move that frees the department from having to replace Nadelstern and effectively doubles the range of issues that Polakow-Suransky is responsible for.

This is the second reorganization affecting the Division of School Support and Instruction in less than in a year.

Last April, the city folded the teaching and learning office into the school support office under Nadelstern. As a result of the move, Deputy Chancellor Santiago Taveras became the first-ever community engagement czar. He now manages how the department publicly presents proposals that are set to come before the city school board, known as the Panel for Educational Policy.

After nearly 40 years working in New York City schools, Deputy Chancellor Eric Nadelstern is retiring.

As a top aide to former Chancellor Joel Klein, Nadelstern was the architect of many of the city’s key initiatives, including the move to give principals greater freedom to run their schools as long as the schools met the city’s performance standards.

Nadelstern is the Department of Education’s most senior educator in an administration that has often been criticized for being filled with officials who lack experience in schools. He began teaching in 1972 at Dewitt Clinton High School, the high school from which he graduated, and has since worked at almost every level of the city’s education system.

Speculation that Nadelstern might leave the DOE has been mounting since Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he was replacing Klein with Hearst publishing executive Cathie Black. Nadelstern had been often suggested as a potential successor to Klein, and many observers thought he would be an obvious choice for the new Chief Academic Officer position created to secure Black’s appointment. That position went to a younger Klein deputy, Shael Polakow-Suransky.

It’s unclear why Nadelstern is leaving mid-year. In December, Nadelstern told a group of school network leaders that he planned to stay “at least through June,” which prompted speculation that he would leave at the end of the school year. (more…)

Deputy Chancellor Eric Nadelstern is raising suspicion that this school year may be his last.

Nadelstern told school network leaders at a meeting earlier this week that he plans to stay with the Department of Education “at least through June,” leading them to speculate that the DOE’s most senior educator may be planning his exit.

Nadelstern, a 39-year veteran of the city school system, had been broadly considered a potential successor to outgoing Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. After Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave that post to publishing executive Cathie Black, some noted that Nadelstern was a natural choice for the new Chief Academic Officer position created as part of the deal that sealed Black’s appointment. That position went to another of Klein’s deputies, Shael Polakow-Suransky.

After the city’s deputy chancellor for finance and technology Photeine Anagnostopoulos resigned the day after Klein announced his departure, some DOE staff speculated that other departures were on the way.

The Division of Teaching and Learning is set to disappear under the latest reorganization at the city’s education department.

The move is part of a slate of changes intended to streamline the department’s organization, according to spokesman David Cantor. He called the changes, which include the creation of a deputy chancellor for community engagement position, “an organic next step” in the series of administrative shifts that have taken place under Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.

The teaching and learning office, which is on its fourth leader since 2007, is getting folded into the Division of School Support, which contains the network structure that currently manages how schools receive administrative assistance. The new office will be called the Division of School Support and Instruction and will be headed by Chief Schools Officer Eric Nadelstern, giving him authority over the central piece of schools’ business for the first time.

“Obviously the aim is to make instruction as effective as can be, but I don’t think anyone’s going to see any kind of sudden shift in the way we go about teaching kids, and nor do we want that,” Cantor said. “The point is just to help do what we’re good at better.”

Under the changes, which will finish taking effect by July 1, the current head of teaching and learning, Santiago Taveras, will become the first-ever community engagement czar. Leaving behind his instructional past, Taveras will manage how the department presents to the public proposals that are set to come before the city school board, known as the Panel for Educational Policy. (more…)

Call it early spring cleaning: the city’s Department of Education is planning its third official reorganization of how schools receive support services in eight years.

Support organization leaders say the new plan involves decentralizing the city’s large service centers, which offer schools assistance with writing their budgets and handling the mountains of paperwork that pile up. Since 2007, a Brooklyn principal would call the Brooklyn Integrated Service Center for help with these tasks; now, she’ll turn to a small group that’s assigned to work with her school through her support organization.

The groups, called Children First Networks, are part of a model that has been quietly piloted for several years by Eric Nadelstern, the DOE’s chief schools officer. About 300 schools are already part of the CFNs, an expansion that took place last year and is now being extended to all of the city’s public schools. The networks are small — each has a staff of 13 staff members — and are meant to personalize the way schools receive non-academic, logistical support. (more…)