Bronx Executive Superintendent Meisha Porter doesn’t officially take the reins of the city’s public schools from Chancellor Richard Carranza until next week. But she is already joining Mayor de Blasio in her predecessor’s place at press conferences, and has begun making the rounds with local media. Porter, the first Black woman to lead the nation’s largest public school system, is from Southeast Queens, where she studied plumbing at Queens Vocational and Technical High School. She began her career as a teenage activist working on redevelopment of the Bronx, and went on to become a teacher, administrator, and superintendent.
Now Porter is tasked with the most monumental challenge the school system has ever faced: reopening schools, addressing the pandemic’s academic and emotional impact on students, building trust among exasperated parents and staff, and -- hopefully, she said -- advancing equity along the way. On Wednesday she spoke with Gothamist/WNYC education reporter Jessica Gould about how she views her job in the months ahead.
The de Blasio Administration has pledged to end the blended learning model for next school year and reopen all buildings for in-person learning. Parents are desperate for clear information about what school will look like in the fall. Can you paint us a picture of a typical school day?
I would like to see us back 100%. I would like every student who wants to be in school five days a week to be able to have that option. I want us to leverage what we've learned from remote learning. I want us to leverage how we use technology to address students’ individual needs. But equally important, I want to see how we are addressing where students are in terms of their social emotional needs, because we can't separate the academic experience from the emotional learning experiences. And in addition to that, I want to really make sure that the curriculum reflects students’ lived experiences and they see themselves in the curriculum that they're experiencing every day.
Will there be social distancing in the classrooms? Will everyone be able to fit back into buildings?
That is our aspirational goal; the health and science experts are going to guide us in making those decisions. We will see what the social distancing requirements look like. We will see where we are in terms of six feet apart. Those things will come.
The goal is to get in person, but we know potentially there will be a remote option for families who don’t feel comfortable sending children back yet. Remote will always be a part of our world … It will be a new way students stay connected to learning on a regular basis.
We have to take into account every possible scenario. I'm looking forward to jumping into planning for September opening as soon as I get started next week.
A lot of parents were frustrated with the reopening process last summer, that they didn’t get enough information or get it soon enough. How do you plan to do a better job informing parents this year?
I'm not interested in informing parents, I'm interested in engaging with parents, I'm interested in being a part of conversations with parents. I'm interested in bringing parents to the table. I said to someone earlier today, one of my parents in the Bronx, "a survey is not a conversation.” And that's what I've heard over and over again from parents, from families, from teachers, from school leaders, from Community Based Organizations, who really want to partner. I've heard all over the city people saying we want to be a part of the conversation. And I think this is the moment to leverage all of the folks across the city who are invested in creating amazing opportunities for young people. This is the moment for us to really wrap ourselves around young people as a collective.
Many teachers and principals are angry with the school system for what they have called a chaotic reopening and closing process that didn’t incorporate their experience on the ground. What do you know from being a teacher and administrator about specific steps you can take to build back that trust?
I've heard those same conversations. And as I enter this role, it's really important for me not to forget my job as a superintendent. As the superintendent it was really important for me not to forget what my job was as a principal. And the same as a principal, never to forget what my job was as a teacher. [I want to bring] all of those experiences into how we make decisions, but also engage with all of those groups about what they experience. Last year was a quick pivot into unexpected, uncharted waters. We've learned a lot from that pivot, and now we have an opportunity to assess our learnings as a system and move forward in a more productive, collaborative way.
Public school enrollment is down. For parents who have left or are considering leaving the system, how can you convince them to come back?
I think families made decisions to transition for a lot of different reasons. It was hard to be in New York City. It's a big city. We live on top of each other. I don't think it was solely the school system.
I want people to know that you can come back. Our schools are safe, our schools are ready. We have done a phenomenal job getting technology and devices into students’ hands. We've also put all of the safety and health measures in place. Our schools, health-wise, are the safest place to be.
I would just also add that this is going to be a collaborative move to open schools and we really want to include parent voices as a part of it.
When we talk about reopening and rebuilding our school system, we hope, I think, to build it back better. Addressing racial segregation is a key part of that. What are policy changes you can make to address the segregation in the school system?
I will tell you that the top of my list is really looking at gifted and talented and really examining how the lifting of middle school screens plays out in practice as we think forward into the next school year.
In terms of Gifted and Talented, are there any cities, schools or school systems you’re looking to that provide a model for enrichment with equity?
That's what we're examining now. There's very limited access, and so I think we need to expand access. We're really looking at the research to see what are the best practices, what are the various ways that systems are addressing gifted students, but also not limiting ourselves to small groups and only certain neighborhoods and certain communities. More to come.
What specifically are students telling you they need most right now?
I got to meet with the Chancellor’s Student Advisory Council, and you know what is so amazing and why it's so important to listen to the voices of young people? Because they are out there thinking the same things that we're saying. They asked me about how we're going to address systemic racism in our school system. They asked me about how I was going to meet students’ social, emotional needs and how I would address trauma in schools. They asked me about seeing themselves in the curriculum, and for me it was really exciting because those are the things that I think are important and have been thinking about. But our young people already have subcommittees that they are working on addressing these things. And we really have to bring their voices to life because they are the ones who experience the school system every day.
I got an email from a seventh grader who said, “I think students should be a part of your transition team.” And you know what? I think she's right.
This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
