Education Offical Fired While Her Replacement Gets A Raise

The head of the city Education Department's Office of Family Information and Action has been ousted and her successor is getting a salary boost

HuffPost Education is reporting on a story emanating from the Department of Education:

New York City’s Department of Education connection to public school parents is leaving her post in September, after 13 months on the job.

In a statement Tuesday, New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott announced that Jesse Mojica will replace Ojeda Hall as the Executive Director for Family and Community Engagement.

Since Odeja Hall arrived at the Department of Education last August, she has overseen a string of missteps.  Her office, charged with involving parents in schools and in education policy, was caught trying to draft city employees into the political fight over teacher layoffs.  This spring’s election for parent leaders also proved embarrassing with record-low turnout.  Just 2,876 parents voted compared with 25,002 in 2009.

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott called criticisms of the Bloomberg administration’s efforts with parents “a bum rap.”

“When I took the job as chancellor, I made it clear that one of my priorities was to change the tone of the conversation and do a better job bringing families into the educational process,” he said in a statement announcing the staffing change.

Jesse Mojica, who has worked for the Bronx borough president for the last five years, will take over next month, serving on the chancellor’s cabinet and earning $138,000 a year.  This is an increase of $23,000 more than Hall.