NYC Wants the Chancellor Fired. Now.

NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio and NYC Chancellor Richard Carranza

Well, now it seems that there is an official "Hands Off" policy which forbids anyone from investigating either the NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio or NYC Chancellor Richard Carranza, exactly as we wrote in our prior post. This block seems to be state-wide.

See:
NYC ALERT: Do Not Criticize Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza

This is alarming. Our tax dollars pay the salaries of these two ($$258,750 for Mayor De Blasio, and $ $345,000 goes to Chancellor Carranza every year). For photo opps just like the one at the top.

Richard Carranza spars with Rep. Grace Meng on Twitter: ‘No more politics’

What we have seen in the past few days is how broken the NYC public school community is. The Mayor needs to repair this, but we don't see any accountability by Carranza for causing any of it. That is unfortunate.

 

What I do not condone is belligerent, insulting and hysterical comments by anyone to anyone. So, if Carranza is not responding to parents calling him names and insulting him, I think he may have reason to ignore them. However we are looking at all of Carranza's actions, including hiring improper staff for high positions, allowing cheating and assaults of teachers and students without trying to put a stop to these events, and basically looking down at anyone who criticizes him. The total sum equals zero. He must go.

We urge the Mayor to fire Chancellor Carranza, and replace him immediately with a person who can heal the broken community of people in the New York City public school system, the biggest in the country. Please Bill, it's time.

Former NYC School Chancellors On Carranza Playing Race Card: ‘Put On Your Big Boy Pants’
January 29, 2020 at 11:15 pm

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Former city schools chancellors spoke out Wednesday about allegations by the current education czar that he’s been the subject of racial attacks as he tries to reform the school system.

Some told CBS2’s Marcia Kramer they’re stunned.

It has been a way of life since, well, pretty much forever — schools chancellors on the receiving end of the wrath of public school parents.

MORE: Schools Chancellor Carranza Says He Has Been Victim Of Racist Remarks Due To His Policies

Cathie Black got skewered over proposed school closings. Carmen Farina was attacked over the Common Core English exam. So Richard Carranza is no exception, though he sure doesn’t seem to be weathering the storm as stoically as his predecessors.

“Just look at the abject racist things that are said about me: ‘Go back where I came from,’ ‘taco-eating Carranza,’ ‘fire Carranza Ai Yi Yi,’ with the exclamation points in Spanish. Absolutely, they’re racist,” Carranza said recently.

There have been nine full-time chancellors in the last 30 years. Six have been African-American and Latino. Kramer spoke to some of the former school bosses and they told her they were frankly stunned by Carranza’s attitude.

“Put on your big boy pants,” one former chancellor said.

“Playing the race card is [expletive], a cop out,” another said.

Carranza’s incendiary charges came in response to questions about why he walked out of a recent public meeting in Bayside, Queens, when emotional parents demanded answers about a number of disturbing incidents at their middle school, including a violent lunchtime brawl, a reported case of sexual harassment, and an alleged sexual assault in a bathroom.

“Walking out on the parents at the Queens school was dumb,” charged one of Carranza’s predecessors.

Carranza’s sulking over the ongoing criticism, his public pity party, had a predecessor offering advice.

“Don’t personalize things. You’re the chancellor of New York City schools. You should expect to be beat up. It’s New York City. You get paid to take it,” the former top educator said.

The chancellor’s ability to deal with public criticism and parent protest is expected to be challenged again Wednesday night. Sources told Kramer protests are scheduled before and during a meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy, which Carranza is expected to attend.

What will it take for de Blasio to fire radioactive Richard Carranza?

NY POST Editorial Board, January 29, 2020

Carranza’s Failure -  The callous chancellor must go

Karol Markowicz, NY POST, January 27, 2020

 

Coward! Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza (c.) walking out of a town hall with parents outraged over violence in their children’s schools.

Betsy Combier
Editor, ADVOCATZ.com
Editor, ADVOCATZ blog
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials 

City blocked investigations of de Blasio, Richard Carranza: whistleblowers

by Susan Edelman, NY POST, November 23, 2019

Hands off.

An explosive whistleblower complaint sent to three city councilmen claims the agency charged with investigating wrongdoing in city schools has blocked probes of Mayor Bill de Blasio, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza and their allies, The Post has learned.

The Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI) for city schools is sitting on nine cases of waste, fraud and corruption involving the upper echelons of City Hall and the Department of Education, according to a type-written, four-page letter that catalogues the wrongdoing in detail.

One of cases cited involves first lady Chirlane McCray’s embattled $850 million mental health program, Thrive, which has a large school component.

The insider document blames Special Commissioner Anastasia Coleman, who was appointed in February 2018, after prevailing in a power struggle with former Department of Investigations Commissioner Mark Peters, an aggressive prober of the mayor’s administration and city agencies.

“Under Coleman, SCI is continuing to hold or redirect investigations into City Hall, Chancellor Richard Carranza and de Blasio allies with business or that are connected to the DOE to protect de Blasio’s image while he runs for president,” says the anonymous Aug. 20 letter signed by “SCI Investigative Staff.”

De Blasio dropped out of the presidential campaign on Sept. 20.

Other mothballed cases included a probe of possible mayoral interference in an investigation of Orthodox Jewish yeshivas that get city funds but skimp on required secular education; contract spending on de Blasio’s aborted “Renewal” program for failing schools; and allegations about Carranza and his top aides.

“SCI investigators assigned to investigations involving executives at the DOE and City Hall, including the Mayor, have been directed to instead focus on matters not related to the mayoral administration, his allies, etc,” the letter says.

SCI agents, it adds, “have been denied support in conducting these investigations and their independence in pursuing leads . . . that point towards City Hall and top-level executives at the DOE.”

In response, SCI said that Coleman “is aware of the anonymous complaint as well as its recipients,” adding that the letter was forwarded “to the appropriate agency for review” — referring to the city Department of Investigation.

Coleman denied the accusation her office has protected the powerful. The statement says, “the Commissioner added, unequivocally, that SCI has not, and will never, slow-walk an investigation based on the subject or the subject matter of the complaint.”

Jane Meyer, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said, “Any Implication that  City Hall directed SCI  to slow walk Investigations is untrue and ridiculous. We respect the Special Commissioner of Investigation’s independent authority.”

Coleman was at the center of a battle between City Hall and former DOI chief Peters. In February 2018, Peters tried to seize control of SCI. He fired Coleman after she reportedly resisted his attempts to have more say over SCI investigations. That led de Blasio to issue an executive order giving only the mayor power to hire or fire SCI commissioners.

The mayor canned Peters, a former close friend and campaign treasurer, in October 2018, after a series of damning DOI probes of city agencies, including major problems at the Administration for Children’s Services following a toddler’s death.

In a letter after his ouster, Peters accused Hizzoner of axing him in retribution for past probes and to stem ongoing investigations. Peters said the mayor had screamed at him in a late-night call, accused him of trying to bring his administration “down,” and demanded he keep the January 2017 ACS report under wraps.

The recent incriminating missive was sent to City Council members Ritchie Torres, chairman of the oversight and investigations committee; Mark Treyger, chairman of the education committee, and Robert Holden, who has called for a federal RICO investigation of academic fraud in city schools.

Holden said he forwarded the letter to the Queens District Attorney’s office, which is overseeing a probe of grade-fixing at Maspeth High School.

Both Torres and Treyger told The Post the letter raised red flags they have already recognized.

“The letter confirms what we’ve long known: The SCI, as constituted, appears fundamentally ineffective at overseeing the DOE,” Torres said. “The overseer needs oversight of its own.”

He added: “It’s strange that the DOE — the behemoth of city government — is subject to the least amount of oversight.”

The DOE’s $34 billion budget makes up about a third of all city spending.

Treyger agreed: “The largest department in the city of New York deserves a robust watchdog that can effectively do its job.”

Torres and Treyger have met with Coleman and stressed the need for SCI to conduct pro-active, systemic investigations of the DOE, and offered to help with funding if needed.

Since then, the  SCI issued a review of the DOE’s training to combat student-to-student sexual harassment. In September, SCI issued a blistering report finding that the DOE paid nearly $9 million for 6,000 school-bus GPS units while up to 80 percent were never turned on. The bungling also prevented the city from obtaining Medicaid reimbursements for special-ed services.

But the SCI has punted on academic misconduct. The agency received 880 complaints of test-tampering and grade fraud in the past three years, but sent 823 to the DOE to investigate itself. The DOE won’t give the results.

Naftuli Moster, executive director of YAFFEDJ.C. Rice

On the yeshiva issue, frustration has plagued Naftuli Moster, executive director of YAFFED, an advocacy group that triggered the DOE’s investigation in July 2015. Still waiting for the probe’s completion, Moster has long suspected the mayor’s office made DOE drag its feet to pander to Orthodox Jewish leaders.

“Now it appears the investigation into possible mayoral interference is also being stonewalled,” Moster said. “We need to get to the bottom of this.”

Torres complained that SCI has ignored big issues.

“The NYCHA inspector general had a leading role in exposing the lead crisis in public housing.  By contrast, SCI had no role at all in exposing the lead in city schools,” Torres said.

“SCI is MIA.” 

Former NYC Chancellor Richard Carranza Makes It Official, Shacks Up With Former NYC DOE Senior Administrator

 

Raquel Sosa-Gonzalez and Former Chancellor Richard Carranza

When Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Richard Carranza, who was, at the time, schools boss in Houston Texas, as NYC Chancellor after  Alberto Cavalho suddenly turned down the job did anyone think that the choice of Carranza was legitimate? 

I didn't think so.

Lawmakers, parents blast de Blasio for selecting schools chancellor pick accused of sexual discrimination

First, this is New York City. Grabbing someone from Houston Texas rather than NYC where there are thousands of worthy people was already suspicious. Second, the word out on Carranza was not good and never changed. Rumors of his separation and divorce were heard very soon after he started. 

Raquel Sosa, his girlfriend, was brought by Carranza from Houston to NYC as senior director of ELL (English Language Learner) students in December 2018 at a starting salary of $149,000. In October 2019 Sosa got a raise to $156,274 and a new title as "senior director for development, support and implementation in the Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Learning", whatever that means. The NYC DOE is notorious for giving people titles that have no job descriptions or duties to match.

But hiring someone with whom you are in a relationship is frowned upon in NYC, but the NYC DOE does not seem to be very good at sifting out those who should not be on the payroll.

See here:

David A. Hay, NYC DOE Deputy Chief of Staff is Arrested

Richard Carranza accused of waiving rules to give pals high-paying jobs

Carranza did not care, and neither did Mayor de Blasio. As far as we know, Carranza was not reprimanded.

See this Post article published September 9, 2021

Carranza + Gal Pal's Tex 2-Step

The whole Carranza thing smelled fishy even after Carranza resigned suddenly in March 2021, mainly because a majority of NYC residents do not trust or like de Blasio anymore, calling him the worst Mayor ever. (worse than "Boss" Tweed?)

Now we have proof that something very wrong was going on, thanks to Sue Edelman and the NY POST, see below. 

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com
Editor, Advocatz.com
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials

Ex-chancellor Carranza shacking up with staffer he hired for six-figure job

by Susan Edelman, NY POST, September 4, 2021

Ex-NYC Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza has left his wife for an administrator he brought from Houston to New York for a six-figure Department of Education job.

Raquel Sosa, who quit the DOE just last week, and Carranza now list the same luxury high-rise condo in San Antonio, Texas, as their current address, records show.  

Their relationship appears to confirm a complaint that Carranza used his powerful position to favor pals, but one that city school investigators did not touch.

In December 2018, eight months after Carranza became NYC chancellor, his administration named Sosa, a Houston elementary school principal, “senior director of ELL (English Language Learner) newcomers and students in temporary housing” with a starting $149,000 salary. 

In October 2019, Sosa got a lofty new position — “senior director for development, support and implementation in the Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Learning,” officials said. Her salary increased to $156,274 in 2020.

Sosa worked remotely until mid-July. Her last day was Aug. 31, said DOE spokeswoman Katie O’Hanlon. 

Carranza quit his $363,346-a-year chancellor’s job in March — with schools still in session amid the pandemic — after leading the nation’s largest school system for nearly three years. He explained he had to mourn loved ones lost to COVID-19, but promptly took a job with an ed-tech vendor with millions of dollars in DOE  contracts

Last week, Carranza and Sosa posted the same cheek-to-cheek Facebook profile photos

Carranza, 54, makes no secret of their romance. He has commented on various photos of Sosa, 47, making remarks such as “Absolutely gorgeous mi vida!!!!”

On Aug. 12, when Sosa posted a video of a Mariachi concert, Carranza wrote,  “Thank you for joining me, mi amor. Te amo.”  

Sosa met Carranza when he served as Houston’s school superintendent. Formerly Sosa-Gonzalez, she was already divorced when she moved to NYC. 

Richard Carranza and his wife, Monique, filed for divorce in Brooklyn Supreme Court in
August 2020. [photo:Matthew McDermott] 

Carranza was married. His wife, Monique, filed for divorce in Brooklyn Supreme Court in August 2020, and eventually moved back to California while he remained on the job in the city. They have two children. She did not return calls. The divorce is not final, according to court records.

The hiring of Sosa and two other friends from California, where Carranza was schools superintendent in San Francisco, generated a complaint in early 2019 to the Special Commissioner of Investigation for NYC schools, The Post revealed.

A whistleblower letter said DOE put them on the payroll in 2018 “at the direction of chancellor Carranza,” without advertising the openings, as usual, and without interviewing other candidates.

At the time, Carranza called the criticism a form of bias against him as “a man of color.”

The SCI said this week, “This case has been closed,” and  “no further information is available.” 

A spokeswoman refused to say whether SCI investigated the allegations, or why it closed the case. She insisted that Mayor de Blasio had no influence on its decisions.

Another woman named in the complaint to SCI, Martha Martin, was a San Francisco teacher who met Carranza when he was that city’s schools superintendent. Hired in October 2018, the DOE named her associate director for community and family empowerment in the Division of Multilingual Learners, with a $119,587 salary. Martin resigned in October 2019, the DOE said. A spokeswoman gave no reason.

Also named was Abram Jimenez, then vice-president of Illuminate Education Inc., a California ed-tech firm doing business with NYC schools. He was named “executive director of continuous school improvement,” a newly created title that now doesn’t exist. Jimenez quit that  $205,416-a-year job in July 2019 as The Post prepared to reveal he held stock in software vendor Illuminate Education, an apparent conflict of interest.

Carranza and Sosa did not respond to requests for comment.

The NYC Department of Education Refuses to Investigate Claims of Corruption and Fraud Against Former Chancellor Richard Carranza

Richard Carranza

 The corruption just keeps getting worse. We know that Richard Carranza resigned after a sob story about family COVID hardships which I doubt ever occurred. Then he moved to Texas to work for an organization he was prohibited from working for due to rules of engagement with a company that does business with the NYC DOE. Then, we find out his wife was ditched for a woman who Carranza hired for a lot of money to work for the NYC DOE in a title that is an unofficial writeoff, and Carranza never was approved by the Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) to hire this woman, Rachel Sosa-Gonzalez, and others, in the first place. Finally, our wonderful Mayor Bill de Blasio has blocked any investigations into any of this.

Raquel Sosa-Gonzalez and Former Chancellor Richard Carranza

 But SCI's job is to do just that, and there are many stories of corrupt people being investigated while at the NYC DOE (see the case of Peter Quinn, February 22, 2021). Add this substantiated report to the others, cited in this blog - David Hay, SCI report on David Hay, Miosotis Ramos, Maspeth High School, etc. But Richard Buery was not given any fine. SCI Reports. 

DOI (Department of Investigation), what have you to say about this? Taxpayers and parents want to know....need to know...have a right to be told what happened, and whose pockets were lined other than Mr. Carranza and Rosa Sosa-Gonzalez.

Such a disgrace for the Mayor and all of us for electing him (I did not vote for him).

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com
Editor, Advocatz.com
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials

City mum on Carranza corruption complaints, no probe for affair with underling

NY POST, Conor Skelding, September 11, 2021

City investigators are not probing whether ex-Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza had an affair with a subordinate he hired — and won’t say if they are still looking into multiple corruption complaints filed previously against the former Department of Education boss.

Carranza was accused of hiring several pals from around the country for six-figure DOE jobs that were never posted publicly in 2018, the year he arrived in NYC.

Carranza is now shacked up in San Antonio, Texas, with one of those pals, Raquel Sosa. The pair met years ago in Houston, when Carranza was superintendent there and she was an elementary-school principal.

It isn’t clear just when their relationship became more than professional, but Sosa moved into Carranza’s Texas home months before she quit her DOE job in late August. She registered to vote from the Lone Star love nest on March 20, just five days after Carranza stepped down in NYC.

The city charter prohibits financial relationships, such as cohabitation, between superiors and subordinates.

Carranza, 54, is still technically married. His wife, Monique, filed for divorce in August 2020. Sosa, 47, formerly Sosa-Gonzalez, was divorced by the time she moved to New York in 2018.

When Carranza quit the top DOE job, he said he needed time to mourn relatives who died with COVID-19. Less than a month later, he took a job at an educational technology company with millions in city business, IXL Learning.

The city charter prohibits government employees from soliciting, negotiating or accepting a job at a city vendor while in city service. It also limits how former public employees working for city vendors can interact with the city.

Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) called for an investigation into Carranza’s job negotiations by the Conflicts of Interest Board and the Department of Investigation in April. DOI said at the time it referred the matter to the Special Commissioner of Investigation for schools, or SCI.

Holden said he also lodged a formal complaint against Carranza’s hiring of cronies — and SCI confirmed to The Post Friday that this case was closed and no action taken.

Regina Gluzmanova, an SCI rep, told The Post that “during the course of his tenure, and in the immediate aftermath, SCI received numerous complaints regarding former-Chancellor Carranza and his administration.”

She said that “certain matters” have been closed, while others may be pending. She refused to say which other matters were open.

Gluzamanova said SCI never received a complaint regarding Carranza and Sosa’s relationship, and would not be investigating it.

“SCI never received a complaint regarding Chancellor Carranza’s romantic involvement with Ms. Sosa, or anyone else for that matter, nor did any allegation of such involvement surface during the course of a previous investigation,” she added. “As Sosa and Carranza are no longer employed by the City, nor do either reside within the jurisdiction, we feel that the best use of our limited resources is to continue with the important investigations that benefit the students, families, and taxpayers of New York.”

SCI has in the past investigated ex-Department of Education employees.

“It stinks to high heaven,” Holden said, demanding that the Carranza/Sosa affair be probed. “The fact that the mayor’s not interested speaks volumes about his administration.”

A DOI rep, Diane Struzzi, refused to comment on the Carranza probes, or lack thereof, referring The Post to SCI.

A COIB rep, Chad Gholizadeh, said that confidentiality rules prohibited him from discussing complaints or investigations.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has blocked SCI investigations into Carranza, whistleblowers alleged in 2019. The mayor’s office didn’t return a request for comment.

Former NYC Chancellor Richard Carranza Takes a Job With IXL, Ignoring Conflicts of Interest Board Guidelines

Ex-chancellor Richard Carranza's new gig with a DOE vendor raises serious
conflict-of-interest concerns. photo: Paul Martinka

I actually feel sorry for DOE spokeswoman Danielle Filson. She has to support the NYC Department of Education as a public agency that puts children, the law, and ethical employment policies in place when this is so obviously untrue.

See the story about Deputy Chief of Staff David Hay, just one example; another is the harm that Francesco Portelos has done to children, co-workers, everyone who crosses his path and yet remains a permanent teacher paid with a sweetheart deal by the NYCDOE.

Lucio Celli, who in November 2018 threatened to stab to death three judges in the Federal Courts, was put in jail then released on bond paid by his parents with the condition that he is prohibited from using the internet (and thus cannot have any contact whatsoever with kids or anyone) and he cannot leave his parent's house ....yet remains, throughout 2020 according to seethroughny.net on salary at $118,000.00:

Celli's criminal trial starts on May 17, 2021, in the Eastern District Court in Brooklyn.

My work centers around helping teachers who are being charged with acts they never committed and are being placed into 3020-a arbitration disciplinary hearings where the DOE's focus is on termination of employment. So many of these educators are innocent. Lucio Celli however has never been brought to a 3020-a. Francesco Portelos was and received a $10,000 fine with a warning to stop his harassment of co-workers. He ignored this and set up UFT Solidarity, which in my opinion is a hate group that attacks anyone who someone says did something bad, without proof. I and others call this libel and defamation.

Teachers are picked randomly to be charged and terminated, but one common theme is that no one can say anything bad about a principal or higher-ups in the DOE leadership (except, it seems, for Portelos and UFT Solidarity):

NYC Education official likened Stuyvesant High to Chinatown: lawsuit

It is interesting that an educator no longer works at the DOE after reporting a "derogatory" statement with the word "Chinatown" in it? Huh?

What is most worrisome is the fact that politicians in NYC are not doing anything to change the policy of "hands-off" to the unethical hiring practices or actions by the DOE.

The press secretary to Comptroller and Mayoral hopeful Scott Stringer is quoted below as saying,

" “The DOE often spends beyond registered contract maximums before submitting amendments or extensions to the comptroller’s office,” said Hazel Crampton-Hays, press secretary for Comptroller Scott Stringer."

When Mr. Stringer was Public Advocate, he also looked the other way when I brought information to him about NYC DOE policies that harmed parents and students, such as the case involving Johnnie Mae Allen and her son.

Without any consequences to bad acts, those people who choose to commit bad acts will continue to do them. The New York state legislature should pass legislation holding the Department and the Mayor accountable for misconduct and actions which are improper or wrong under state laws and common sense.

Betsy Combier
Editor, ADVOCATZ.com
Editor, ADVOCATZ blog
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials

Richard Carranza’s new firm made millions off COVID-19 pandemic in NYC

by Susan Edelman, NY POST, April 10, 2021

The California ed-tech firm that hired ex-schools Chancellor Richard Carranza cashed in on the COVID-19 pandemic in NYC, reaping millions of dollars from the Department of Education under his reign, records show.

IXL Learning, Inc. — which named Carranza its chief of strategy and global development — has been paid $3.3 million by the DOE in the past two years alone. 

The Silicon Valley outfit has collected $2.1 million in NYC taxpayer funds this school year. That nearly doubled the $1.2 million it made last school year as the DOE expanded remote instruction, according to records compiled by the city comptroller’s office.

Observers expect IXL’s windfall to grow with Carranza as its salesman.

He “brings to the table a wealth of contacts and people who owe him favors” in New York, Houston and San Francisco, where he has led school districts, said Alina Adams, a Manhattan mom and writer who runs the website “NYC School Secrets: Parents Helping Parents.”

“Some of the people in charge of deciding whether or not to buy IXL products will be the same people that Carranza hired.”   

Carranza’s new gig as a top executive for a DOE vendor raises serious conflict-of-interest questions.

Under NYC laws, city employees may not seek jobs — including submit a resume, discuss opportunities, or interview — with a company they are dealing with as part of their city job, the Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) states.

Carranza announced his resignation on Feb. 26, saying he needed time to grieve 11 loved ones lost to COVID-19.  IXL announced his hiring in a press release dated April 1, less than three weeks after his last day as chancellor.

The company did not respond to questions about when they began negotiating with Carranza. The DOE said Carranza “followed all job-hunting conflict and recusal rules while securing his job with IXL”

Other rules prohibit former city employees in the private sector from disclosing or using “confidential information” for personal advantage. They can’t communicate with their former city agency on behalf of a new employer or business for a year. And they can “never” work on a matter, such as a contract, for a non-city employer if they worked on it for the city.

“It’s a judgment call on what inside information falls within the prohibition,” said Brooklyn College and CUNY Grad Center education professor David Bloomfield. “It will be hard not to use the information [Carranza] has to benefit his new employer.”

DOE spokeswoman Danielle Filson said, “Former Chancellor Carranza has pledged to follow all conflicts rules and will not engage with DOE or NYCDOE school officials on behalf of IXL for one year.”

IXL provides educational software on math, language arts, science, and social students for grades K-12, and tools such as Rosetta Stone, the foreign language program IXL acquired, Filson said.

The DOE has paid IXL about $5.6 million since 2011, the comptroller’s records show.  In 2016, under former Chancellor Carmen Fariña, the DOE awarded IXL a seven-year contract at a maximum cost of $1,041,869, but payments have exceeded that — against procurement rules.

 “The DOE often spends beyond registered contract maximums before submitting amendments or extensions to the comptroller’s office,” said Hazel Crampton-Hays, press secretary for Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Since last year, the DOE has installed IXL software, among others, in some 500,000 city-purchased iPads for students to study remotely due to COVID-19. This did not cost extra, the DOE said.

The IXL Learning website says: “1 in 5 NYC students use IXL. In the past school year, they have collectively mastered 240,046 skills and become proficient in 344,062 skills!” It adds: “14,130,041 questions answered by NYC students.”

The DOE could not vouch for the numbers and IXL would not explain their basis.

Many online reviews by students and parents nationwide blast IXL software, which “gamifies” instruction, for a point system that brings some kids to tears.

“I once walked into my daughter’s bedroom to see her poised to SMASH her computer on the floor after 3 hours of IXL,” a parent wrote.

A 17-year-old said in a post that nine of 10 kids “not only hate IXL but would rather read a hardcover book. That’s not normal for this generation.” He added, “I’ve also found that while answering questions in IXL people tend to get anxious, angry, upset, frustrated, and sometimes depressed.”

From the NYPOST Editorial Board April 13, 2021:

Carranza’s new gig: Working for company that won big contracts when he ran NYC school

As chancellor of the city’s public schools, Richard Carranza talked endlessly about equity. But maybe he was using the job to build his own “equity.”

In late February, Carranza announced his exit as of March 15, tearing up as he said he needed time to grieve 11 family and close childhood friends lost to the coronavirus.

Now comes news that Carranza has taken a job with California firm IXL Learning, an e-learning company that landed $3.3 million in contracts from the city Department of Education on his watch, and about $5.6 million since 2011.

The Post’s Susan Edelman reports that the Silicon Valley firm collected $2.1 million this school year and $1.2 million the year before, profiting greatly from the DOE’s rush to make remote instruction work.

IXL sells educational software on math, language arts, science, and social students for grades K-12, programs now installed in some 500,000 city-bought iPads handed to students as the pandemic shuttered schools (and the United Federation of Teachers kept them closed).

Hilariously, ethics rules mean Carranza can’t work on IXL’s accounts with the city for a year. Yet cynics will suggest he’s already gotten plenty of value out of New York for the company, which surely made it easier for him to get the new job. Indeed, its income from the DOE was rising on his watch even pre-COVID.

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a Democrat running for city comptroller, is calling for an independent investigation into any conflict-of-interest rule-breaking or bending of procurement rules here. “It’s outrageous that millions of taxpayer dollars were awarded by the DOE to a company whose learning programs have been blasted by parents and students at the same time that the former school chancellor was interviewing for a high-powered position at that same company,” she told The Post.

It stinks to high heaven that IXL Learning’s new “chief of strategy and global development” was in charge of city schools at a time when the company made out like a bandit. Current Comptroller Scott Stringer and/or the Conflicts of Interest Board should certainly take a look.

If it turns out to be perfectly legal, then the city needs better protection against such incestuous games.

Carranza’s new gig: Working for company that won big contracts when he ran NYC schools

City councilman calls for investigation into Richard Carranza’s new job

Richard Carranza was fined for taking his wife, Monique, to see "Hamilton" on Broadway
using a Department of Education ticket.[Matthew McDermott for NY Post]

Richard Carranza fined for taking wife to ‘Hamilton’ with special DOE discount

By Selim Algar

, NY POST, April 22, 2021

He was a bad actor.

Former schools Chancellor Richard Carranza improperly took his wife on a Department of Education outing to see the hit show “Hamilton” — and the abuse of power got him slapped with a $1,100 fine, it was revealed Thursday.

The departed administrator, who landed a private-sector job with a California education tech firm that does business with the DOE, brought his spouse to a special production for employees in April 2019.

In a statement, the New York Conflicts of Interest Board said Carranza should not have purchased a special $10 discounted ticket for his spouse since she was not a DOE employee.

“The Chancellor used a ticket for his wife that typically would have been distributed to DOE employees,” the agency said in a release. “He paid $10 for the ticket, which was the price listed on the tickets for DOE students and chaperones.”

The former city school's boss told the board it was an honest mistake.

In his case disposition, Carranza claimed his chief of staff erroneously told him at the time that he could take his wife as long as he paid for his ticket. 

“I attempted in good faith to comply with the applicable rules,” he said.

The board ruled the purchase constituted a “misuse of city position” and demanded that Carranza cough up a fine.

“In using the ticket for his wife, the Chancellor used his City position to benefit his wife, a person with whom he is ‘associated,'” the agency said. “The now-former Chancellor paid a $1,100 fine to the board.”

The Richard Rodgers Theatre event was emceed by a cast member and included student performances, a question-and-answer portion with “Hamilton” performers, and a matinee performance.

“We hold all of our City employees to the highest possible ethical standard,” said DOE spokesperson Danielle Filson. “The former Chancellor has acknowledged his mistake and the Board determined the penalty.”

After three rocky years at the helm, Carranza left the DOE in February. He cited the loss of friends and family to COVID-19 as a contributing factor and said he needed to heal emotionally.

He soon landed a gig with IXL Learning, a firm that has long done millions of dollars in business with the DOE.

City Councilman Robert Holden on Thursday escalated his push to probe Carranza’s private sector move.

Holden called for a federal investigation in a letter to acting Eastern District US Attorney Mark Lesko.

“Considering the short timeframe in which Chancellor Carranza was hired, please investigate whether negotiations between then-Chancellor Carranza and IXL took place while New York City still employed the Chancellor,” he wrote.

The DOE has said that Carranza’s transition was above board.

“Former Chancellor Carranza has pledged to follow all conflicts rules and will not engage with DOE or NYCDOE school officials on behalf of IXL for one year,” a DOE spokesperson said of Holden’s concerns.

Richard Carranza leaves in the middle of a crisis — and NYC is better off without him

NYPOST 2/26/21

Richard Carranza’s Last Stand

New York Magazine, April 13, 2021