ABSTRACT
In May 1989, as David Dinkins headed for his primary showdown with Edward Koch and his slim victory over Rudy Giuliani, New York schools' chancellor Richard Green died of an asthma-induced heart attack. An assessment of how the school system fared while David Dinkins served as mayor is decidedly mixed. Joseph Fernandez, who served as chancellor for three and a half years of Dinkins's term with the mayor's approval from the start, implemented important structural changes. Violence in the school system declined modestly on Fernandez's watch according to the board's official statistics, but incidents of robbery and assaults increased according to a report from the mayor's director of operations. More metal detectors appeared at high schools, programs were initiated to maintain discipline during the rush of teenage humanity that descended upon city streets and subways. Still, the number of serious crimes—assault, robbery, drug use, weapons possession, and sex offenses—that occurred annually measured in the thousands.
