Meisha Ross Porter is the newly appointed, by Mayor DeBlasio, Chancellor of the New York City Public School System (DOE). She will oversee the educations of over 1.1 million current students and manage a budget of over 34 billion dollars. So, what exactly are her leadership, business or success experiences to qualify her for such mammoth responsibilities? In our eyes, zilch, none. Her black-racial and political clout together with the current sprint to achieve “equity” at the expense of “quality” are the reasons why she will soon be raking in nearly $400,000 yearly in her newly acquired position.
Her work experience in the classroom, to actually face kids, to teach them, to learn about their needs as students, to work and share with teachers, was minimal to say the least. She spent merely 1 1/2 years in the classroom before being promoted to supervisor. And this without a permanent teaching license, leading many fellow educators to question her ability to do justice to the kids for whose futures she’ll be responsible. We’d love for Ms. Porter to show proof of passing exams for teacher or supervisor in the system or for the classroom write-ups, by her supervisors, indicating her teaching abilities while in front of kids. According to the New York Post, quoting a skeptical Brooklyn principal, “How is she qualified to be a chancellor? Under the current guidelines, she couldn’t even become a principal, given her lack of experience. She was a super fast track.”
Porter’s 2019 birthday/job promotion extravaganza at a flashy Bronx nite-spot also raises questions about her financial wisdom. The lavish $45,000, 400 guest, $111 per person shell-out affair raised the eyebrows of many who questioned her sense of propriety as a community leader in a low income community. She’s a queen in her own eyes. But more troubling are her goals to work along racial lines, to focus on racism as the obstacle to learning. Porter once told a Fordham University audience that she is motivated by the drive to “disrupt and dismantle systemic racism.” And she is burdened by two separate lawsuits that accuse her of creating a hostile work environment in her former job, one for an older white, Jewish educator and one for an Afro-Latina superintendent. Rafaela Espinal, said she was fired without explanation after repeatedly refusing to do the “Wakanda Forever” salute, a “black power and black solidarity” gesture. Will students have to perform this rite each morning in class?
Ms. Porter, in her new role, will surely try to dismantle the selection process for admission to the top high schools in the city: Stuyvesant, Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Tech. Her quote: “The reality is segregation exists, and I’m not going to shy away from the importance of really looking at inequities around admissions processes.” That surely means that there will be a quota system for entry into these top notch schools which will signal their demise as such. Perhaps there will also be an “equity” solution to our schools’ sports programs with the doing away with the competition requirements that now have only the best, most qualified, talented kids selected to represent their schools in track, football, basketball and whatever on the fields, courts and tracks. We’ll wait and see if Chancellor Porter has her eyes on qualifications in all areas. Don’t hold your breath. Right now, her appointment to lead the already crumbling NYC school system has many parents scrambling, searching for private schools to educate their kids.
