2022 Power Players in Education

Dwight A. McBride is president of The New School. An award-winning author and editor, he co-edits the James Baldwin Review and The New Black Studies Series at the University of Illinois Press. McBride is co-founding director of the Academic Leadership Institute and serves on the boards of the Institute for International Education and the Dan David Prize, and is a member of LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education. He holds an A.B. from Princeton University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

What can New York policymakers do to ensure equitable access to quality education?
I encourage policymakers to take a holistic approach to ensure equitable access and consider the whole person, including financial, mental and physical health, educational and cultural needs. Students exist within the context of their families and communities, which therefore must be healthy, safe, empowered, and resourced to support their educational journey. Policymakers may also protect curriculum and pedagogy that are representative and inclusive in all environments. Finally, as the cost of affordable housing becomes more of a barrier for university students, I urge policymakers to remember that NYC is a college town and students are one of its greatest assets.

What conditions or resources are conducive to a safe and effective learning environment?
Fundamentally, we need to ensure that our educational institutions and learning environments are places where all individuals are welcome, valued, and supported on their educational pathways. Part of creating those conditions involves organizing and promoting programming and training to foster equity, inclusion, and social justice. It also includes elevating scholarship and research to develop pathways and policies that break down hierarchy and help move society towards greater equity, inclusion, and civic participation.

Describe a learning experience from your own education that stands out.
One of the most powerful moments in my journey was working with the late Toni Morrison as her research assistant while an undergraduate at Princeton. Early in our time together she told me that I was a talented and strong student, but that I needed to learn to take the life of the mind seriously. At the time that seemed mysterious, but when Toni Morrison says that to you, you set about figuring out what it means. It was an example to me of how transformative encouragement from a mentor can be. To this day I take mentoring seriously.

For nearly four decades, Deacon Kevin McCormack has been a leader in Catholic education. Deacon McCormack served as principal of Xaverian High School, a member of Molloy University’s Theology department, and as co-host of WABC’s Religion on the Line. He is now the superintendent of schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. This position will allow Deacon Kevin to take his passion for education to the 84 elementary and secondary Catholic schools throughout Brooklyn and Queens.

What can New York policymakers do to ensure equitable access to quality education?
We need to focus on the kids and their families, then we need to focus on the teachers and administrators. This is a relationship that cannot be compromised for the sake of any special interest. Are our government representatives offering, especially to our most economically vulnerable families, the ability to have access to the best schools? Catholic school has a proven track record of offering excellent education, great high school to college placement, and family support at a fraction of the cost of the public system.

What conditions or resources are conducive to a safe and effective learning environment?
Safety is never a decompartmentalized part of a school. It isn’t one person’s responsibility; everyone has a role. Each classroom becomes a community of support. Catholic schools are very comfortable with the metaphor of family. Each person has a connection and responsibility to be present — to be a person of service to others.

Describe a learning experience from your own education that stands out.
I have been a part of Catholic schools since 1965. I have had wonderful nuns, brothers, priests, and laymen and -women who helped me to be a writer, a reader, and critical thinker. They also supported me to be a man of faith. My teachers challenged me to struggle and become more than I ever could imagine. Good educators can see who their students can be, and they find a way to get them there.

Danielle McKoy is a highly empathetic visionary, who leveraged her exceptional personal story of homelessness to excel at Princeton University and expand her expertise in advocacy, writing, and leadership development, launching her into equity movements on a local, national, and global scale. After graduating from Princeton University, Danielle served as a vice principal, mathematics department chair and coach in multiple school districts. In 2012, she founded Breaking the Bronx, which provides free academic and personal support to Title I students. And in 2017, she began her global advocacy journey at Teach For All, an international organization working towards educational equity across national borders. At the same time, she was appointed to the Junior Board of Youth Represent, a legal defense nonprofit, and became the co-lead of the New York Princeton Women’s Alumni Network Service Committee. During this time, she also co-founded and currently co-leads New York City’s inaugural Alliance for School Integration and Desegregation.

Peter McNally presently serves as the executive director of the New York State Federation of School Administrators and as chairman of the New York State Administrators Consortium, two groups that advocate for school leaders in Albany. Previously Mr. McNally served as president of the New York State Federation of School Administrators. Peter has held a number of elected leadership positions, such as CSA executive vice president, NYCESPA vice president, School Leaders Network Board of Directors chairman, and on the PBS Celebration of Teaching and Learning Conference Board.

What can New York policymakers do to ensure equitable access to quality education?
Quality education requires sufficient funding. New York policymakers need to allocate appropriate funding in a collaborative effort on a city and state level. Transparency in how that funding is utilized is absolutely essential. Equitable access requires funding to be fairly distributed. Professional development funding for both teachers and supervisors is absolutely necessary on a long list of topics to ensure an equitable education for all .

What conditions or resources are conducive to a safe and effective learning environment?
A well trained staff is absolutely necessary for a safe and effective learning environment. That staff should include professionals that have special skill sets such as special education, counseling, and ELL providers. A successful school always has a principal that has a strong instructional background and is well versed in their various students’ needs.

Describe a learning experience from your own education that stands out.
As an elementary school principal for 23 years, I have realized the importance of ongoing professional development for supervisors and administrators in affecting student achievement, and at CSA I continued to be involved in the union’s professional development branch, the Executive Leadership Institute. On a state level, I was responsible for implementing a NYSED grant, entitled Leading Instruction For Today’s NY (LIFT NY) for the NYC region. I continually advocate for state funding for supervisory professional development.

Crystal McQueen-Taylor has served as StudentsFirstNY’s executive director since August 2022. She started her professional career as a New York City public school teacher in the Bronx. She later joined TNTP, where she led the New York City Teaching Fellows, the largest alternative teacher certification program in the country. Before joining StudentsFirstNY, Crystal served as the regional senior director for Uncommon Schools, a public charter school network, where she managed district charter partnerships, advocacy, parent organizing, and governance. Prior to becoming executive director, Crystal served as StudentsFirstNY’s chief advocacy officer.

What can New York policymakers do to ensure equitable access to quality education?
Families and students are constantly forced into dealing with scarcity in public education. Policymakers need to really dig into looking at the portion of high quality seats (determined by multiple metrics, including family input) in every district compared to the number of students in that district, and they should be fervently working towards policies, regulations, and accountability towards closing the gap between the number of quality seats and children. In a city so large, with so many public education choices, it’s ridiculous that families and students have to compete for a limited number of seats in a few schools.

Describe a learning experience from your own education that stands out.
When I was in the second grade, my mother had to fight for me to take the gifted and talented test. My teacher, principal, and district superintendent would not listen to her pleas to let me take the test because of my strong academic record, so we sat in the superintendent’s office for three days in quiet protest until they finally let me take the test. I viscerally remember the feeling of taking the test in a dank janitor’s closet in the superintendent’s office. Parents shouldn’t have to fight so hard for their kids to get a great education.

Eva Moskowitz is founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, the fifth-largest and highest-performing school district in New York. Success Academy enrolls 21,000 primarily low-income Black and Hispanic students across 49 K-12 schools. For five consecutive years, 100% of SA’s graduates have been accepted to college; 96% received at least one offer meeting full financial need. The mother of three, a former history professor and New York City councilmember, Eva is an unrelenting advocate for parents’ right to choose the school that is best for their children.

What can New York policymakers do to ensure equitable access to quality education?
Lift the cap on public charter schools — allow more families access to the high-quality education they provide. After more than two decades in NYC, charter schools are a respected part of the city’s educational landscape, enrolling 14% of all public school students, 90% of them Black or Hispanic and 79% economically disadvantaged. Black charter school students are twice as likely to be proficient in math as their district peers, and significantly better able to read and write. Yet state legislators will not allow new charter schools to open. It’s time they listen to families, not special interests.

What conditions or resources are conducive to a safe and effective learning environment?
There are many factors: a physical space that is clean, aesthetically pleasing, joyful, and respects the right of all to participate and learn; high-quality books and rigorous curriculum that includes sports, arts, and other opportunities for students to explore their talents; teachers who are well-prepared, set high expectations, and view student voices and ideas as valuable contributions to the learning process; students who eagerly engage in discourse to challenge, probe, and support each other’s thinking.

Describe a learning experience from your own education that stands out.
At the first school I attended, PS 36 in Harlem, I saw how poorly some students were being educated. Every year, we’d spend months relearning math we’d been taught the year before. I was so bored that when I saw that some of my classmates were leaving class to get counseling, I asked to do so as well. Talking with the counselor became the highlight of my day. My learning happened at home when my parents tutored me. My classmates, however, were totally dependent on the inadequate education they were getting.

Michael Mulgrew is the fifth president of the United Federation of Teachers, which represents nearly 200,000 New York City public schools educators and school-related professionals, as well as child care providers, nurses, adult education instructors, retired members and other titles and organizations. He has been president since July 2009. Under Mulgrew’s leadership, the union won two landmark contracts. Mulgrew was a leading proponent of United Community Schools. During the pandemic, Mulgrew led the union’s work to keep students and staff safe and safely keep schools open.

Dr. Anthony E. Munroe was appointed as BMCC’s 11th president and began his leadership role on September 1, 2020. A nationally recognized executive with more than 30 years experience leading education and health care organizations, Dr. Munroe previously served as president of Essex County College, one of the most diverse colleges in New Jersey and a national leader in boosting the social mobility of its graduates. Before that, he was president of Malcolm X College, part of the City Colleges of Chicago system. A first-generation U.S. citizen who grew up in the Bronx and attended New York City public schools, Dr. Munroe holds a doctorate in Education from Columbia University Teachers College with a concentration in health education.

Kwame Owusu-Kesse is CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, a nationally acclaimed, anti-poverty organization that pioneered the field of comprehensive, place-based services. Owusu-Kesse serves as a multi-sector leader across private, public, and social domains with demonstrated expertise in cross-disciplinary management, financial analysis, social innovation, fundraising, community building, and socioeconomic mobility. Prior to HCZ, Owusu-Kesse worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley. Owusu-Kesse received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard College, a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School, and a master’s in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School.