Bill de Blasio has learned hiring a schools chancellor is not as easy as it looks — his first choice turned him down, sources say.
Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond — who served as education adviser on President Obama’s transition team in 2008 and was a contender for US secretary of education — rejected the mayor-elect’s offer to run the nation’s largest school system, one education official said.
Her choice to stay in California could explain why de Blasio is now taking his time with the search.
“There are still nominations coming in,” de Blasio said Sunday.
“I think, by definition, education chancellor is one of the most crucial decisions to make . . . By the end of this week, we’ll have some important additional announcements, but it will not necessarily be that one.”
Darling-Hammond denied she had been on de Blasio’s short list.
“It has been reported that I declined an offer to serve as chancellor of the New York City schools. I did not seek nor was I offered this position,” she said in an e-mail to The Post.
“I look forward to learning who the next chancellor will be and to supporting his or her work on behalf of New York City’s children.”
The Washington Post has also reported that Darling-Hammond turned down the job.
Sources said de Blasio could name former Deputy Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina, who advised him during the mayoral campaign, as interim chancellor.
De Blasio has promised to reach out to parents and advocates in the search for a chancellor.
“If Carmen is being thought of as a temporary appointment so there can be a more inclusive process over the next couple months, I would be for that,” said education advocate Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters, and a frequent critic of Mayor Bloomberg.
“We think it’s more important to get the right person for the job than to appoint someone right away,” she said, adding that she’s not backing any one candidate yet for the permanent job.
Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Queens) said Farina had been “very popular” with educators and principals in his district while she was in the school system.
Others being mentioned for the post are Montgomery County, Md., Superintendent of Schools Joshua Starr; New York Board of Regents member Kathleen Cashin; former Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso; Washington, DC, Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson; and Chicago schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett.
The next leader would replace Chancellor Dennis Walcott.