#DOE exec who ditched NYC schools for Georgia recruits staffer

Another Department of Education exec is jumping ship — and this one was poached by an official who also ditched NYC schools, The Post has learned.

Melissa Harris was promoted in May by Chancellor Richard Carranza’s first deputy Cheryl Watson-Harris to be her chief of staff.

A month later, Watson-Harris resigned amid the pandemic to become schools superintendent in DeKalb County, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta with 99,000 students.

Now Watson-Harris has hired Melissa Harris to serve as her deputy in Georgia.

The ongoing exodus of Carranza’s team is troubling, said David Bloomfield, a Brooklyn College and CUNY Grad Center education professor.

“It seems to be a failure of leadership on the part of the chancellor,” he said. “These departures are further destabilizing the system at a time of crisis.”

The others who left include Tom Hanna, chief human capital officer; Karin Goldmark, deputy chancellor of school planning and design; Ursulina Ramirez, chief operating officer; and Alison Hirsch, Carranza’s senior advisor on school reopening, who quit before schools reopened.

In May, just before her departure, Watson-Harris appointed Harris as her new chief of staff, making $194,573 a year, the same salary Harris collected as chief executive of the Office of School Design and Charter Partnerships, officials said.

Last month, Mayor de Blasio announced that 9,000 managers citywide, including in the DOE, would be forced to take furloughs to save $21 million.

Harris, who never worked as a teacher or school administrator, last year entered a two-year fellowship with the Broad Academy, an organization that trains education professionals.

In a statement via the DOE press office, Harris said, “It has been the honor of my life to serve at the New York City Department of Education for the past 15 years. I’ve learned so much from the greatest education leaders in our country, and I’m ready for the next chapter in my life.”

A spokeswoman for DeKalb County schools said Harris still start on October 19, but would not divulge her salary.

Watson-Harris, who made $241,000 a year in NYC, gets a $325,000 salary in DeKalb County, plus thousands of dollars a year in perks.