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A senior Education Department official who helps oversee Mayor Eric Adams’ sweeping literacy curriculum overhaul is stepping down to help run a new Brooklyn school focused on students with reading challenges.
Jason Borges, executive director of Literacy and Academic Intervention Services, will leave his post at the end of the month according to an internal message obtained by Chalkbeat.
In his new role, Borges will help spin up a school that city officials are planning to open this fall. He will serve as program director of School Planning at the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy, which is slated to be the second city-operated public school exclusively devoted to students with dyslexia and other reading issues.
He is expected to become the school’s principal, said Naomi Peña, director of community and family engagement for the Literacy Academy Collective, a nonprofit organization that will support the program.
“I think we were all surprised initially because he was leading the [literacy] work” at the Education Department, Peña said. She said his leadership of the school would be “massively valuable” given his experience atop the Education Department’s labyrinthine bureaucracy.
Borges has been responsible for implementing Adams’ signature education initiative, which requires elementary schools across the city to transition to one of three city-mandated reading curriculums. His departure represents the latest leadership transition for the program, known as NYC Reads. Last year, city officials disbanded the division of teaching and learning, which coincided with the departure of a deputy chancellor involved in implementing the curriculum changes.
Borges’ transition to an individual school from a senior management position left some literacy overhaul supporters feeling nervous. Susan Neuman, a New York University literacy expert who serves on a literacy advisory group for the city’s Education Department, said Borges was involved in a wide range of elements of NYC Reads, offering the group updates on issues including distributing curriculum materials to educators and student assessments.
“Of course I’m worried about the continuity,” Neuman said. “This is just the first year of enactment for so many of our schools. Who is minding the store?”
Department officials indicated that Meghan Duffy, who serves as director of Academic Intervention Services, will temporarily assume some of Borges’ responsibilities, including oversight of NYC Reads, in addition to her current role.
“While his leadership and steadfast commitment to the success of NYC Reads will be greatly missed, we are confident he will make a significant impact at CBLA,” Miatheresa Pate, interim executive chief for Academics and Instruction, wrote in an internal letter. “We are confident that under Meghan’s capable leadership, the department will continue to thrive.”
Borges did not respond to a request for comment. Although he has classroom experience, Borges has never served as a principal.
The Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy has not been formally approved to open. The Education Department’s proposal for opening the school hinges on the closure of M.S. 394 in Crown Heights, which has struggled with declining enrollment, so the new program can take over its space.
But after families and educators at M.S. 394 voiced concerns about the closure plan, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy, which must sign off on closures and school openings, postponed a scheduled vote on the plan last month.
The city will consider alternative options to open the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy if the closure is not approved, a department spokesperson said, though that may delay the timeline for opening the school.
Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
