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Len’s Letter #83 Education Advice for Zohran Mamdani
September 25, 2025
I don’t write much about education these days. My work was as an educator – about 5 years teaching, a couple of years working with a School Superintendent, 25 years working as a school superintendent, a few years consulting and working in a non-profit, and a little more than 10 years in a teacher certification program that I founded.
All this without obtaining a doctorate — though I tried. My advisor had a vision of schools and classrooms where teachers closed the doors to their classrooms and, when at their best, worked their magic autonomously. He understood that schools were not factories.
When I collected data for my dissertation, I discovered, not that I understood what I discovered until years later, that there were some ways in which schools were like factories. If there was an order from on high, for instance, to teach reading for two hours each morning, teachers taught reading during the two hours specified by their school.
What any consideration of schools as factories misses, though, is the fundamental character of teaching and, for that matter, the character of running schools. Schools as factories cannot create the conditions needed that inspire teachers to use their imagination when they teach, to be nimble in the use of tactics and strategies that connect to children and youth and help them learn. Equally important, no matter how clear a school or school district’s central figure is in creating goals and a direction for schools, those goals and directions will not be adopted by those relatively autonomous teachers unless they want to adopt them.
I say this in the context of the New York City mayoral campaign. While I spent most of my working life in rural Massachusetts, I now live in New York City. In the Democratic primary for mayor, I ranked City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams first. I filled out the four remaining slots with Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani fifth. I ranked him so low for the reasons that, as the Democratic nominee, he is criticized. He is relatively inexperienced. Some of his ideas may not be all that impactful. And the most impactful will require resources that are not readily available. I ranked him, though, because I preferred Zohran Mamdani to Andrew Cuomo, who I did not rank at all. The former governor, an angry, hard driving, offensive administrator was so unappealing I did not want him as an alternative. I would take my chances with inexperience.
It is possible that, in some circles, my ranking of Zohran Mamdani disqualifies me from giving him advice. Others might think my experience with tiny school districts disqualifies me from giving advice about the country’s largest school district. I will try anyhow.
The election is in November, 2025. We do not know if Zohran Mamdani will be elected mayor of New York City. He probably will, though. He is leading Andrew Cuomo in the polls – by a lot.
If this were to morph into a two person race, the current mayor, Eric Adams would have to drop out. He will not. The Republican anti-crime fighter Curtis Sliwa of the red beret is, if anything, more adamant that he will not drop out. Andrew Cuomo is certain that he should stay in the race and benefit from others dropping out.
Andrew Cuomo has money to spend on this campaign. He has probed and may have found a weak spot in Zohran Mamdani’s position on education. Momdani’s views are broad and general, vague even. He has said that he does not favor mayoral control of the schools. He prefers a partnership.
Andrew Cuomo, who would control everything if he could, certainly believes in mayoral control of the schools if he is mayor. He has promised a plan built on three pillars he calls excellence, access and innovation. He will close failing schools, expand access to excellent schools, and innovate in order to “align schools with the jobs of tomorrow.”
Andrew Cuomo proposes to require the failing schools to adopt a plan that has been successful elsewhere, and to contract to achieve their goals within five years. He promises access to excellent schools by doubling the exam schools, lifting the cap on charters, and making the remaining schools hubs for multiple services as well as education. Cuomo promises innovations – universal 3K and PreK, internships for all high school students, bonuses for teachers in hard to fill fields.
Cuomo explains mayoral control would allow the mayor to take bold action and denigrates Zohran Mamdanifor wishing away that control.
My advice to Zohran Mamdani.
Choose parents as your partners.
Parents are represented on Community Education Councils in each of the 32 School Districts within the City. On the average, the 32 districts have a population about the size of Buffalo – in the 275,000 range. Currently, the CECs have only one area of authority – they approve school zoning.
Bring the parental partnership to the school level – perhaps with School Community Education Councils for each school. Think of these SCECs as resembling school boards in the rest of the country. Provide them with some authority, perhaps over parts of the school budget, perhaps some responsibility for curriculum. Create a structure within the School District that oversees the relationship with each SCEC – perhaps an Assistant Superintendent working with a cluster of five or six schools and their SCECs.
This does not preclude having an active central authority. Have a team that looks at how schools are doing. Poor school test scores are an opportunity to review what is actually happening in a school. In and of themselves, poor scores do not indicate a bad school. After all, those tests are imperfect measures of what kids have learned.
The decision not long ago to require schools to choose one of three core reading curriculums was not a bad one. The dynamic of a school making that choice in an SCEC partnership with parents would be different. A team of teachers working with the principal would work to persuade the SCEC of the curriculum to choose and the SCEC might vote to adopt. The product of that procedure is, at best, a knowledgeable teaching staff and supportive parents.
That work is challenging. Partnerships are not easy. In some respects, persuading the SCECs is protecting teachers, allowing them to do their work. In other respects what is required of a superintendent working with five or six schools is the capacity to recognize whether the school and its teachers warrant protection. The Chancellor that Zohran Mamdani selects needs to be able to hire supervising superintendents who recognize the difference.
I am glad I ranked Zohran Mamdani on my ballot. He offers a lot of promise for New York City’ a lot of promise for New York City’s schools. I am hopeful that he will fulfill that promise.
And you readers who are hoping that Zohran Mamdani wins. Do more than hope. DONATE. While early money is best, later money also helps. Do not get complacent. Zohran Mamdan’s win is not automatic. See Len’s Political Note #739
