In his first term, Mayor Bill de Blasio touted the “Single Shepherd” program, in which the city’s Department of Education assigned counselors to support each student (and his or her family) in poorly performing schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx, as the cornerstone of his education initiative. Back in 2016, he said the program “sends a message” that he and his administration “believe in” and are “investing in” students.
So much for that. Single Shepherd is one of the casualties of the mayor’s proposed DOE budget cuts, needed to close the post-pandemic financial hole. For now, the DOE has reassigned the program’s 130 counselors to other positions, the Daily News reported Tuesday.
Plainly, the program was never truly central to making a difference — but only to making it seem that Team de Blasio was addressing the problems of failing schools.
In this, it’s just a smaller version of his Renewal program, which folded last year after spending hundreds of millions without any real results — except to avoid closing down a few dozen horrible schools because the teachers’ unions don’t like such disruptions.
All this, even as he continues to undermine the charter public schools that do deliver a top education in these same neighborhoods.
De Blasio’s actions show what his real priorities are.