NEW YORK.- The New York City Department of Education (DOE), the largest in the state, recently underwent a restructuring by replacing more than 15 superintendents of different ethnicities, leaving only one Dominican, Manny Ramírez, as superintendent of School District No. 6 in Upper Manhattan.
Superintendents, who are often the face of the school system at local Community Education Council meetings, will soon have additional resources and control over more staff.
“We set out to build a team of superintendents who are empowered in a way they haven’t been in years,” said Chancellor David Banks.
Ramírez, who has held the position since 2014 and has under his jurisdiction 39 schools with a little more than 16,000 students, mostly of Dominican origin, said that in each new local government there will always be changes in the DOE structures, and the new chancellor, David Banks, is implementing a new one.
He specified that among the changes is the one that all the superintendents had to reapply in their positions and until now it is known that several have been replaced. “We were confirmed, so we’ll be around for a few more years,” he noted.
His reaffirmation as superintendent attributes it to several reasons: “first for the support of the community in different conversations with institutions and in any case the community offered its unconditional support to his administration.”
Also, since its arrival (2014) the District has been on a positive slope of academic growth, development, implementation of effective measures and policies within the schools, among other things.
He pointed out that the community will benefit from the restructuring, because when there are changes there will always be opportunities, so we now have to identify the areas where more help, support and resources are needed.
“We are going to be during a week of educational leadership retreat this month, to learn about the new structure, the chancellor’s vision and recognize where we can identify resources and use them in the decisions we are going to make,” he said.
“So we hope to find the opportunities to connect with the community, reconnect again and reinvest money,” Ramírez said.
