In his first major speech, new Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott called for a spirit of “listening and working together” to improve education, but afterward said he’s sticking by Mayor Bloomberg’s threat to lay off more than 4,600 teachers.
“I view my transition to the role of chancellor as an opportunity for us to begin anew, because 1.1 million students are counting on us to get it right,” Walcott told educators at an annual conference at Columbia’s Teachers College.
He praised his own teachers while growing up in Queens, and predicted he’d work cooperatively with the teachers union.
But he was grim later when reporters asked about budget cuts, saying city plans call for whacking 6,133 teacher jobs, including 1,500 by attrition, possibly in time for summer school.
The cuts will increase class size an average one to 1.5 students each, Walcott said.
He also criticized the “poisonous debate” about poor and wealthy, charter schools versus regular public schools, and “who is to blame for the failures of our education system.” He said both sides are “contributing to the current polarized atmosphere.”