New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott has served in his current position since April 2011. Before that, he was a deputy mayor under Mayor Michael Bloomberg who was focused on education. With just a few days left as the top school administrator in New York City, Walcott reflected on his accomplishments.
In an interview with GothamSchools, Walcott said he hoped his work and the Bloomberg administration would be remembered for beginning the transformation of New York City's public schools:
GothamSchools: We have a new history [now] of what was going on 12 years ago. What do you hope that people will be saying about your administration 12 years from now?
Walcott: That’s interesting.That we laid a solid foundation for the future success of our children. That we shook up the system to improve outcomes for our students. And that they were not afraid to tackle very difficult and thorny issues and not worry about polls.
[That] they were not hesitant as far as the belief in trying to provide quality choices for our students. And looking back and having a very whimsical smile on their face on the meetings that lasted until four o'clock in the morning but at the same time, it was worth it. Because looking from 12 years back, if shows that they were truly committed to withstanding a variety of different types of pressures to really focus on children.
