Posted on May 21, 2019

NYC Schools Chancellor Is Accused of Pushing Out White Administrators in Favor of Less-Qualified Non-Whites

Keith Griffith, Daily Mail, May 18, 2019

The chancellor of New York City’s public schools has been accused of promoting the concept of ‘toxic whiteness’ by white administrators who are preparing to sue the city.

At least four top Department of Education executives, all white women who are veterans of the department, have signed on to file suit against the city in the coming weeks, a source told the New York Post.

‘There’s a toxic whiteness concept going on,’ the source said, adding that the women believe they have been pushed out of roles of responsibility in favor of less qualified people of color.

Department insiders say that under Chancellor Richard Carranza, who was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, administrators are subjected to endless lectures and workshops critiquing ‘whiteness’ and attempting to root out ‘white supremacy’ in the workplace.

Chancellor Richard Caranza

The DOE has contracted Pacific Educational Group Inc for $775,000 to run workshops about racism in the workplace, paying out $582,603 so far.

The company defines ‘whiteness’ as: ‘The component of each and every one of ourselves that expects assimilation to the dominant culture.’

‘There’s been a lot of discussion of white supremacy and how it manifests in the workplace, conversations about race, and looking at how the white culture behaves,’ one white executive who received the training told the Post.

‘White supremacy is characterized by perfectionism, a belief in meritocracy, and the Protestant work ethic,’ the exec said.

White employees who object when accused of deep-rooted bias are called ‘fragile’ and ‘defensive,’ according to the exec.

‘Can you imagine if we scrutinized blackness or brownness? We’re being trained in anti-bias not to stereotype blacks, but they’re fostering a stereotyping of whites.’

Under Carranza’s leadership, sources said, whites, in some cases, are being told they must give up power or lose responsibilities no matter how well they have performed.

A DOE spokesman denied the allegations in a statement to the Post.

‘We hire the right people to get the job done for kids and families, and any claim of ‘reverse racism’ has no basis in fact,’ said spokesman Will Mantell. ‘We’ll continue to foster a supportive environment for all our employees.’

Carranza became chancellor in March of 2018, less than one week after Miami schools superintendent Alberto Calvalho, backed out of the position while on camera, on the same day his hiring was announced.

Within a month, Carranza ignited a racial firestorm with a tweet attacking ‘Wealthy white Manhattan parents.’

The tweet linked to a story from the rawstory.com website, and included the following auto-generated text: ‘WATCH: Wealthy white Manhattan parents angrily rant against plan to bring more black kids to their schools.’

The linked article included a video originally shot for NY1 News, showing parents at PS 199 reacting to a proposed plan for the Upper West Side’s 17 middle schools to be required to reserve 25 percent of their seats for children scoring below grade level in statewide English and Math tests.

Carranza has also come under fire for plans to ‘diversify’ the city’s elite specialized schools, which currently admit students based solely on their performance on the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test.

De Blasio, who this week announced plans to seek the Democrat nomination for president, has championed a plan to toss out the test requirement for entry to the schools, saying: ‘It’s not fair. It’s not inclusive. It’s not open to all.’

Currently, the student bodies at the eight elite specialized schools is 62 per cent Asian, many of them from low-income and immigrant families.

The plan to eliminate testing in order to increase the schools’ black and Hispanic share of the student bodies has angered some in the Asian community.

‘This policy causes chaos in the Asian-American community and we’re here to reject this policy,’ John Chan, head of the Coalition of Asian-Americans for Civil Rights, said last year.