The Secretive C-30 Selection Process - The Reason Why We Have So Many Terrible Principals.

I have written about the bad principals I have encountered, read, or heard about, mostly in Queens and in the high schools. I also discussed the weakest link in the system, the Superintendents selected by Chancellor Carmen Farina to run the school districts. Far too many of them were awarded their position, based on cronyism and not competence.  Just read about these two Superintendents, Juan Mendez and Amiee Horowitz, The question is how can so many terrible principals land their position without the school staff and the community having any meaningful input in the selection?

The answer is the secretive and unaccountable C-30 selection process.  First, the Superintendent selects the five candidates that the C-30 selection committee will interview.  That's right, the Superintendent makes the decision on who to interview not the selection committee.  How the Superintendent selects the five candidates is also clouded in secrecy but I would guess its primarily based on favoritism and cronyism and not educational excellence.

If that is not bad enough, the C-30 committee's selection is only advisory and the final decision is made by the Superintendent.  In fact, Principal Judy Henry was ranked fourth out of five candidates by the Gateway To The Health Sciences C-30 selection committee but Superintendent Juan Mendez selected Judy Henry as Principal of the school anyway.  More about Judy Henry can be found Here.  For many of the Superintendents, the C-30 selection process is simply a fig leaf for the unaccountable Superintendents who put their favorites in charge of the schools.  Just look at this post! Further, just read Ed Notes Online about the disaster Principal Monika Garg has made of CPE1 in Manhattan.  Read what she has done to the staff at the school. What Superintendent allowed this to happen?

.By contrast in Russia and many other countries the school staff selects the Principal by a democratic vote.  This allows for more effective collaboration between school leaders and staff and  leads to better student academic achievement. That's not the case when it comes to the New York City Public Schools.

Unfortunately,  in the New York City Public School System the Chancellor and her cronies are more interested in protecting each other and scratching each others back then in selecting the best administrators for the schools.  Please read the Daily News Opinion piece by the Queens Borough President Melinda Katz about what's wrong with the C-30 selection process for principals. In the New York City Public Schools its children last....Always when it comes to selecting the best administrators to run the schools.