After a forum sponsored by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) last Saturday, New York City schools chancellor Dennis M. Walcott has said he is not impressed with any of the Democratic mayoral candidates’ vision for the City’s schools. According to the New York Times, the candidates have openly spoken about moving away from Mayor Bloomberg’s focus on test scores, charter schools, and the strategy of closing failing schools to replace them with higher-performing ones.
Chancellor Walcott shared his opinion of the candidates’ statements on New York City’s schools with the New York Times:
Calling their words “unconscionable,” Mr. Walcott accused the candidates of harming the reputation of Education Department employees by questioning gains in test scores during Mr. Bloomberg’s 11-year tenure.
“They are either not aware of what’s going on or want to misstate the facts,” Mr. Walcott said.
