Mamdani’s transition committee for education: Who made the list?

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Of the nearly 40 people Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani tapped for his youth and education transition committee, notably absent were principals, teachers, and students who are currently in New York City’s K-12 system.

Mamdani, who announced the names to his transition teams Monday, centered his campaign on an affordability agenda, including free child care, but had little to say about improving the nation’s largest school system.

Several advocates from the world of child care policy and school integration made the list, along with higher education leaders and some former high-level officials from Bill de Blasio’s administration.

The members of the 17 transition committees will work on helping Mamdani’s new administration make personnel decisions and provide policy guidance, so the 34-year-old Queens state assemblyman can hit the ground running when he takes office on Jan. 1.

Whereas Mayor Eric Adams tapped several Bloomberg administration officials on his education transition team, Mamdani’s list includes some Education Department officials from de Blasio’s tenure, including Josh Wallack, who oversaw the city’s massive free prekindergarten expansion; Edie Sharp, who served as Chancellor Richard Carranza’s chief of staff; and Karin Goldmark, a deputy chancellor of school planning and development who now runs GreenLink Education, a nonprofit that helps schools tackle sustainability efforts.

Some other notable committee members include: teachers union President Michael Mulgrew; Mark Dunetz, a former high school teacher and principal who now runs the New Visions for Public Schools network; and Sharon Greenberger, the president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater New York who was the head of the School Construction Authority and then the Education Department’s chief operating officer under Bloomberg.

Mamdani, who has mentioned concerns about school segregation in a city with among the most segregated schools in the nation, also tapped for the committee Nyah Berg, the director of Appleseed New York, an integration advocacy group, and Matt Gonzales, of New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools. Gonzales previously served on de Blasio’s School Diversity Advisory Group, or SDAG, which advised phasing out gifted and talented programs and curtailing selective admissions. Mamdani referred to the group several times on the campaign trail and also voiced interest in eliminating gifted programs that start in kindergarten, though the Bronx Science alum has walked back previous comments about addressing racial segregation in specialized high schools.

(Mamdani’s favorite Bronx Science teacher, Marc Kagan, who retired from the social studies department in 2014, was tapped for the transportation, climate, and infrastructure committee.)

Higher education leaders on the committee include SUNY Chancellor John King and CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez.

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Child care and after-school policy experts made the list, including Susan Stamler of United Neighborhood Houses, Tara Gardner of the Day Care Council of New York, and Rebecca Bailin, who started the grassroots advocacy movement behind New Yorkers United for Child Care.

“I’m most hopeful about the tremendous opportunity we have to help shape a transformative policy to support families, strengthen our child care providers, and bolster our city’s economy by putting New York on a real path toward universal child care,” said Grace Rauh of Citizens Union, which is home to the 5BORO Institute think tank that has examined the importance of affordable child care.

Terrence Winston, who runs the Coalition for Community Schools Excellence and works with nonprofits who partner with public schools to provide wraparound services to students and families, felt encouraged to see several familiar names across different sectors and hoped this would be a “genuine opportunity to supply innovative input and insights that will influence the mayor-elect’s first 100 days in office.”

He added, “There will, however, need to be a committed investment in these collaborations — especially when things get difficult.”

Here’s the list of who will help shape Mamdani’s vision for youth and education:

Tazin Azad [former Brooklyn Borough appointee to the Panel for Educational Policy]

Rebecca Bailin, New Yorkers United for Child Care

Nyah Berg, Appleseed

Evelyn Castro, Medgar Evers College

Jason Cone, Robin Hood Foundation

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James Davis, PSC-CUNY

Marielys Divanne, Futuro Solutions

Mark Dunetz, New Visions for Public Schools

Kesi Foster, Partners for Dignity & Rights