Dennis Walcott

Dennis M. Walcott (born September 7, 1951) was the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. He succeeded Cathie Black, who resigned in April 2011 after only three months on the job.^[1] He was succeeded as chancellor by Carmen Fariña.^[2]

Although Walcott lacks training as a schools administrator,^[3] he served nine years as New York City Deputy Mayor for Education and was a member of the NYC Board of Education. He required a waiver from the New York State Education Department under Education Commissioner David M. Steiner. Walcott is a former employee at Amistad Day Care Center^[4][5] and holds a master's degrees in the education field.

Prior to joining Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2002 as Deputy Mayor for Education, he headed the New York chapter of the Urban League.^[3][6]

Early life and education

Walcott is the son of immigrants from Barbados and St. Croix.^[3][7] He is a native of Queens, New York. He attended Francis Lewis High School, and earned a bachelor's degree in 1973 and a master's degree in 1974 from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. He earned a Master's in Social Work from Fordham University in 1980.^[8]

His early employment was in counseling.^[6] In 1974 he began a one and a half year tenure at the privately run pre-kindergarten Amistad Child Care and Family Center in South Jamaica, Queens.^[9]

Public service work

In 1975, Walcott founded the Frederick Douglass Brother-to-Brother mentoring program. He went on to become president and chief executive of the New York Urban League for 12 years, where he expanded educational and youth service programs. He also served as executive director of the Harlem Dowling Westside Center, expanding services to children and families in need. In 1993 Mayor David Dinkins appointed him to the predecessor agency to the Department of Education, the New York City Board of Education. His term extended into the mayoral term of previous mayor Rudy Giuliani.^[3] He also taught as an adjunct professor of Social Work at York College, and was a talk show radio host on community issues.^[10]

East Ramapo oversight

Walcott was assigned to review the budgetary and academic failures in the East Ramapo Central School District, which is mostly made up of Orthodox Jews. He angered some in the community in December 2015 when he recommended that the state assign a committee with veto power to oversee the school board, and that boys and girls use the same bus services, something not permitted by the community's rabbis.^[11][12]

Personal life

Walcott and his wife Denise have four children and two grandchildren, who have attended New York City Public Schools.

References