June 6, 2025

Dear Families,

I will be retiring from the New York City Public Schools at the end of the next school year, on July 1, 2026.  Approximately thirteen months from now, CPE1 will have a new principal.  

Announcing early allows time for great candidates to emerge.   While our current staff has teachers who could be excellent administrators, this is not the right time in their careers to leave the classroom.  Instead, our staff will support a new principal as they supported me when I came to CPE1 eight years ago: they will assist with extra tasks, offer sound advice, and help the new administrator learn details that make the school run well.

In New York City Public Schools, superintendents appoint principals.  I am glad that Dr. Kristy De La Cruz is our superintendent.  She and our deputy superintendent, Dr. Lisa Reiter, understand the community’s deep investment in finding a good fit to be principal of CPE1.  I believe that our district leaders will select a principal who can build on the school’s established practices and develop new strengths.

The best job I've ever had is being principal of Central Park East I. Now, word can spread: The best job that the future principal will ever have can be found at a small school in East Harlem. Meanwhile, for the rest of this school year and all of the next, I will keep working hard in my favorite job, alongside a staff I love, in a school I adore, until my final, proud day.