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Is This New York City’s Next Schools Chancellor?

By Sam Chaltain — December 12, 2013 1 min read
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Since his surprising victory last month, New York mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has sparked curiosity around the country as to whether his education policies will be the sort that make a progressive like John Dewey proud.

Speculation abounds as to whom he might choose to become the next schools chancellor of NYC -- and recently, I spent a day with one of the leading contenders, Montgomery County (MD) superintendent Joshua Starr, as part of a new web series for Learning Matters called “Follow the Leader.”

I did everything he did -- from 5:30am workouts to three-hour budget meetings. Along the way, I learned a lot about what it’s like to be an urban superintendent, and got a preview of the type of leadership he might bring to the top job in New York City.

Interested? Check out the interview below. And if you have ideas of other interesting people around the country you think we should follow in upcoming episodes -- from urban superintendents to home-schooled teenagers to community activists -- please nominate them in the comments section.

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The opinions expressed in Of, By, For: In Search of the Civic Mission of K-12 Schools are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.