#Three top DOE execs have now jumped ‘Titanic’ NYC school system

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza’s top deputy has officially jumped ship, while another top educrat is joining a Department of Education exodus one observer likened to escaping the Titanic.

Cheryl Watson-Harris, Carranza’s first deputy chancellor for just two years, is leaving to become schools superintendent in DeKalb County, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta with 99,000 students.

She submitted her resignation effective June 30, and starts her new job July 1.

Also resigning effective June 30, The Post has learned, is Tomas Hanna, the DOE’s chief human capital officer. The 6,024-student Coatesville, Pa., school district on Thursday named Hanna its new superintendent. Hanna, who makes $218,671 a year in NYC, will get $220,000 in Coatesville, officials said.

Their departures follow Andre Spencer, one of the nine “executive superintendents” whose $209,000-a-year positions Carranza created after becoming NYC’s schools chief in spring 2018. He landed a superintendent’s post in Manor, Texas, with 9,621 students.

Some DOE insiders say Carranza’s executive ship is leaking amid the pandemic, the shaky switch to remote learning, and uncertainty of schools for 1.1 million kids reopening in the fall.

“The Titanic is sinking, and the deck chairs are being moved around,” an administrator told The Post.

Others say the DOE is flouting an external hiring freeze — part of citywide budget-cutting measures — by advertising nationally for candidates to replace Watson-Harris and Spencer.

The DOE says positions are exempt from the hiring freeze if they are legally mandated or “COVID-related.”

According to DOE officials, the first deputy chancellor and executive superintendent positions are “COVID-related.” But a spokeswoman gave no official criteria for that category, saying the roles are “critical … given the complete shift in how schools have and will do their work as a result of the pandemic.”

Some observers call it a giant loophole.

“It just provides a boiler-plate excuse for unrestrained hiring of central bureaucrats,” said David Bloomfield, a Brooklyn College and CUNY Grad Center education professor.

The DeKalb County Board of Education voted 6-1 Thursday to hire Cheryl Watson-Harris as its next superintendent. The dissenting trustee said Watson-Harris had never led a district and is not expected to earn a doctorate until next year.

On her resume, Watson-Harris has boasted “record gains” in NYC test scores in math and English under her watch, a claim testing expert Fred Smith disputed.

Despite Carranza’s disdain for NYC’s selective schools that screen applicants, Watson-Harris enrolled her own children in elite and less diverse schools, The Post reported.

Watson-Harris makes $241,000 a year in NYC. DeKalb County will give her a $325,000 salary, plus perks — a $1,500 expense account, a company car or a $600-a-month car allowance and a $12,000 annual supplemental retirement contribution, the Atlanta Journal Constitution learned from a public-records request.

In an internal memo, the DOE said it will conduct a nationwide search for her replacement.

DOE spokeswoman Danielle Filson said the departures reflect well on NYC: “When strong leaders within our system take their extensive knowledge and expertise to other districts it’s a testament to the skills they’ve learned while in New York City, and we wish them the best.”