Addabbo meets with newly-appointed New York City Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza to discuss a variety of education issues

NYS Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. recently had the opportunity to meet face-to-face in Albany with Richard A. Carranza, the newly appointed Chancellor of New York City Schools, to discuss a variety of critical education issues.

“After he appeared before the full NYS Senate Education Committee to outline his vision for New York City schools, Chancellor Carranza was kind enough to join me in my office to talk about a number of school-related topics,” said Addabbo, a long-time member of the Senate Education Committee. “We discussed safety issues, including my legislative proposal to keep the doors locked during the day at New York City schools – a step to make sure our children and school personnel are better protected from outsiders who might seek to do them harm. We also touched on efforts to improve parental involvement in our schools, potential reforms to standardized testing and teacher evaluations, and the importance of visiting individual schools to learn about their successes and challenges first-hand.”

Addabbo, who is the father of two children in the New York City public school system, recently became a co-sponsor of new, bi-partisan legislation (S.8301) which would eliminate the requirement that standardized test scores be used in teacher and principal evaluations. The use of these assessment scores would instead became optional in evaluating school personnel.

“Since 2015, when the state standardized test scores became part of the yardsticks used to measure teacher and principal effectiveness, controversy has continued to grow over this practice,” said Addabbo. “This legislation would permit the State Education Department (SED) to develop alternative means, beyond student test scores, for assessing the performance of our educators.”

Addabbo said he greatly looks forward to working with Chancellor Carranza, as well as continuing his efforts with SED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, to ensure the best possible educational opportunities for children in New York City and across the state.