Who is Meisha Ross Porter, new NYC Schools Chancellor?

NEW YORK - Meisha Ross Porter, who was named as the new New York City Schools Chancellor, has most recently been the Bronx Executive Superintendent.

Porter will become the first Black woman to lead the nation's largest public school district. There are approximately 1 million students in the district.

A native New Yorker raised in South Jamaica, Queens, Porter is the daughter of a teacher and brings 20 years of Department of Education experience to the job.

"This is the first Schools Chancellor that we have in recent memory that actually worked in our public schools," City Council member Ben Kallos said about Porter.

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As Bronx Executive Superintendent she was in charge of community school districts 7-12, covering the entire borough and its 361 schools and 235,000 students.

Porter is a lifelong New Yorker and graduated from the city's public schools.

She started as a teacher at the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice.

After 18 years at the school, where she became principal, she spent three years as Superintendent of District 11, serving the Pelham Parkway, Eastchester, and Woodlawn neighborhoods of the Bronx.

She has been Executive Superintendent since 2018.

"I promise we will do everything to re-open schools starting with high schools we are ready to go. We will expand the learning opportunities and do more to address trauma and academic needs because we know that is very real," Porter said at a press conference on Friday.