As city Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña approaches the end of another school year, she is urging the state Senate to keep the mayor in control over the city school system.
However, Fariña is not fully committing to staying in her position, even if Mayor Bill de Blasio is re-elected next year.
The chancellor spoke Tuesday with NY1 Political Anchor Errol Louis, where she did say she is committed to staying the entire four years of the mayor’s full term in office.
Fariña recently traveled to Albany to testify before the state legislature, arguing that de Blasio should continue to have control over the city's school system.
While Fariña said mayoral control is essential for her to be able to plan multi-year initiatives, the chancellor also made clear that her days leading the system may come to an end when the mayor's current term is up.
"Well, I'm definitely staying four years," she said. I think a lot of our initiatives are really important. I've been asked this since I got here. I wasn't trying to be coy, but it was really a matter to see how much we could accomplish. And I'm very proud of what we've done so far. So four years, definitely. Everything else to think about later."
Fariña says having the mayor in charge is important so that parents having problems will know who to complain to.
"You know, I've been in enough systems that everybody had their own brand of accountability," she said. "This is, the mayor's accountable to the people who voted for him, I'm accountable to the mayor. So when people get mad at us, and it happens often, they have one person to talk to. But I also then have full authority to try to fix what has to be fixed."
One recent complaint involves safety in the schools, including recent news reports about students found with guns and knives. Fariña says things aren't as bad as the tabloids have suggested, and she also suggests that parents get more involved in the issue.
"That some of these weapons issues are, we have to start instructing parents. 'What were you thinking? Why was there a gun in the house? Why wasn't it under lock and key? Do you check your children before they go to school?'" Fariña said. "The knives and all the things we are finding are coming from the home."