NY Daily News - 18 Ed Dept. Bigs Making at Least 190G by Erin Einhorn

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Educrat Marcia Lyles and Chancellor Joel Klein both make over $200,000 - more than the police commissioner.

Eighteen city education honchos were making more than $190,000 a year when classes began this September - up from just two last year, a Daily News salary analysis found.

That's more than Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and the commissioners of major city departments like Health, Housing and Children's Services, who all make $189,700.

The top execs at the Education Department's Tweed Courthouse headquarters are among only 28 noncourt officials in all of city government who have cracked the $190,000 line. Most of the others are deputy mayors.

"Tweed is too top-heavy," said William McDonald, who heads a citywide group of elected parent leaders. "I don't know what it is these people are doing, but it doesn't seem to be getting down to the kids."

One of the 18 execs has since dropped to part-time status, but even with her out of the mix, the total number drawing salaries above $180,000 has surged to 36 from 20 in September 2006.

"Given their responsibilities, the salaries are appropriate," schools spokesman David Cantor said. "You're talking about the top managers of an agency that employs 140,000 people and educates 1.1 million children."

He pointed out that the number of managers making more than $150,000 dipped from 204 early in the year to 194 in September.

School officials yesterday could not provide details on total administrative salary costs this year compared with last year. A consultant hired to cut fat claims $170 million that once went to the bureaucracy is going to classrooms.

Most of the pay increase was part of a one-year 6.5% bump that went to most city managers last year. That's compared with the 2% increase teachers collected from October 2006 to this October.

The total cost of paying the top 100 people on the school payroll surged by 7.3% from September 2006 to this September.

Those 100 execs cost nearly $18 million.

"It's way too much," said Carlton Richardson, a member of the elected Community Education Council in Brooklyn's District 18. "They need to filter that money down to schools."

City Council Education Committee Chairman Robert Jackson said he has "no problem with paying people a good salary as long as they produce."

But school officials, he said, are leading a system where only 50% of kids earned an on-time diploma last year.

"Overall, as a system, that's failure," he said.

eeinhorn@nydailynews.com

With Tina Moore and Benjamin Lesser

Courier-Life: Region 8 Superintendent to Exit - Marcia Lyles Accepts Post as New Deputy Chancellor for Teaching & Learning by Michèle De Meglia...

A top Brooklyn educrat is moving up.

On July 1, Marcia Lyles will vacate her post as the regional superintendent of Region 8 to become the city Department of Education’s (DOE) new deputy chancellor for teaching and learning.

She will replace Andrés Alonso, who was appointed to the position after Carmen Fariña, also a Region 8 veteran, retired. Alonso will become chief executive officer of the Baltimore public school system.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called Lyles “an outstanding choice” for deputy chancellor.

An educator with 30 years experience, Lyles started out as an English teacher at Curtis High School on Staten Island, later became an assistant principal at Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush and, eventually, principal at Paul Robeson High School in Crown Heights.

She also served as a deputy superintendent, community superintendent and local instructional superintendent before being named regional superintendent in 2004.

As the head of Region 8, she supervises schools in Districts 13, 14, 15 and 16, which span Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Red Hook, Park Slope, Sunset Park, and Bedford-Stuyvesant.

“Marcia is an extraordinary leader and educator,” said schools Chancellor Joel Klein. “I have great confidence in her ability to serve our students, teachers and principals in her new capacity.”

“I am excited and honored to take on this new challenge,” Lyles said. “We have seen tremendous progress under the Children First reforms. I look forward to working with my colleagues to build on these gains as we seek to provide the education that every student needs and deserves.”

Lyles was in charge when a middle school fiasco rocked District 15 two years ago.

It was then that more than 500 students were left without schools after the DOE attempted to place fifth-graders by looking at their top three middle school choices.

The problem was that most students applied for the same seats in a handful of popular schools – Upper Carroll School, Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies, New Voices School for Academic and Creative Arts, Sunset Park Prep, and M.S. 51.

At the time, Klein blamed the DOE for the situation saying, “We screwed up.”

After a second application process placed the remaining students, District 15’s Community Education Council (CEC) and Lyles began an outreach campaign to introduce parents to less coveted and often overlooked area middle schools.

The CEC held events where middle school principals were allowed to promote their schools and Lyles addressed parents.

With parents now considering other middle schools in District 15, the application process has been running fairly smoothly.

NY1: Schools Chancellor Gets New Top Aide...

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Schools Chancellor Joel Klein got a new top aide Wednesday.

Dr. Marcia Lyles, currently the superintendent of region 8, will become the new deputy chancellor of teaching and learning, replacing the position previously held by Dr. Andres Alonso. Alonso resigned to become the chief executive officer of the Baltimore public school system.

Klein said he has great confidence in Lyles. He gives her credit for overseeing large gains in test scores within her region.

Lyles has been an educator in New York City for over 30 years.