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Dennis Walcott visited students at P.S. 261 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn on Monday.

For the second time in three months, New York City officially has a new schools chancellor. State Education Commissioner David Steiner approved a waiver for now-former Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott today, clearing him to run the city’s school system, beginning on Monday.

The decision came quickly on the heels of a panel’s unanimous recommendation yesterday that Steiner grant Walcott the wavier. Walcott has a masters in education, but because he does not have a school superintendents license, he needed the waiver to become chancellor.

Obtaining the waiver was vastly easier for Walcott than it was for his predecessor Cathie Black. Last November, the eight-member panel that considered whether to give Black a waiver eventually voted against it. Four panel members voted against granting the waiver, two voted in favor, and two voted “not at this time.” Steiner told the panel that he also harbored serious doubts about whether Black was up to the task. For several days he agonized over the decision before making a deal with the city that would give Black a waiver on the condition that the mayor appoint a chief academic officer.

In his letter granting Walcott a waiver, Steiner writes that although Walcott does not hold a school superintendents license, he does have other qualifications and experience that make him an appropriate choice for the job. Steinder concludes: (more…)