By Kathianne Boniello
Queens Board of Education member Terri Thomson praised Schools Chancellor Harold Levy’s move to reorganize the central administration this week and eliminate jobs as a fundamental change in the focus of the city school system.
“I thought it was great news,” Thomson said this week of Levy’s decision to cut 1,255 jobs from the central administration over the next three years at a savings of more than $300 million.
Levy’s administrative shuffling was in response to the growing school construction budget shortfall, which has expanded to a whopping $2.8 billion since the budget gap first became public in June.
To save money, Levy announced a reorganization of the central Board of Education administration on Aug. 15. Changes include enhanced teacher recruitment and professional development, a 39 percent reduction in administration staff and a push to make instructional policy the focus of the city system.
“The key elements are simple but profound and reflect the work we have done over the past year: management and education decisions must move as close to the front lines as possible,” Levy said. The system “needs to be school-centered,” he said.
Thomson was enthusiastic about Levy’s efforts.
“He really has proposed a change in culture,” she said. “This wasn’t a cost-saving, this really is the next step — it’s a revolutionary thing.”
Thomson said Levy’s changes will help support superintendents and school districts and eventually improve education in the city.
“The chancellor did this in a very methodical way,” she said. “The system should be accountable.”
Levy’s plan was supported by and developed with the help of business leaders throughout the city and includes more than 6,000 hours of consultant work by McKinsey & Co., which Levy has been working with for the last several months.
Levy also used more than 570 interviews with staff in the central administration as a basis for the changes.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
