Temporary Education Commissioner Named as Interim Agency Head

Albany – The temporary commissioner for the New York state education department was named on Monday as the interim head, the agency’s third leader in under a year.

Shannon Tahoe was named by the Board of Regents hours after the panel held their monthly meeting. Tahoe, the department’s deputy for legal affairs, has served as acting commissioner since Nov. 16, when the previous acting commissioner, Beth Berlin, resigned. Berlin herself is an acting commissioner after MaryEllen Elia resigned.

Tahoe’s appointment comes amid record chaos in the independent agency charged with overseeing education policy in the state. As part of her responsibilities, she will oversee any regulations the board imposes on private schools. The disarray, in which several top officials resigned within the span of a few months, has delayed a vote on that that had been scheduled for Tuesday. That vote will not take place until next year, and most likely not until the spring.

The turmoil was prompted by the board’s looking into ending Regents testing that has been a bedrock of evaluating students’ success for a century. A blue-ribbon panel will issue a report within two years.
Tahoe was also named the department’s general counsel. But in a twist, her deputy, Aaron Baldwin, will serve as acting counsel as long as Tahoe leads the agency.