Chancellor Carranza Announces Appointment of Hydra Mendoza as Deputy Chancellor for Community Empowerment, Partnerships, and Communications

NEW YORK – Chancellor Richard A. Carranza today announced the appointment of Hydra Mendoza as Deputy Chancellor for Community Empowerment, Partnerships, and Communications. Mendoza joins the DOE after serving as Deputy Chief of Staff for Education and Equity to the Mayor of San Francisco, where she was responsible for: community empowerment and engagement, public affairs, maintaining strong relationships between the city and key stakeholders, developing public-private partnerships, and advising the mayor and city elected officials on education policy matters.

In this newly created role, Mendoza will oversee the divisions of Family and Community Empowerment, communications, external affairs, intergovernmental affairs, and translation and interpretation services, and lead the DOE’s work to empower families and communities, while increasing awareness of and support for key policy issues.  

“Hydra is one of the staunchest allies for public school families that you’ll ever find,” said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza. “I saw Hydra’s innate ability to connect with students and parents firsthand during my time in San Francisco, as she galvanized neighborhoods and communities to strive towards equity for all students. With her unmatched passion for our children, I have no doubt that Hydra will serve as a key resource for our families across the City.”    

“I’ve spent my career empowering communities to fight for equity in education, and I cannot think of a better partner for this work than Chancellor Carranza,” said Hydra Mendoza, Deputy Chancellor for Community Empowerment, Partnerships, and Communications. “The focus must be on equity, but that cannot be achieved without building close partnerships with our students, families and communities. I’m looking forward to diving right into the work and partnering with school communities across New York City to ensure every single child is receiving the education they deserve.” 

Prior to her role as the Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Education and Equity, Mendoza served as Senior Advisor for Education to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newson from 2005-2011. She is a founding member and former executive director of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco, an organization focused on engaging parents and community members around key issues in public education. Mendoza has served as a pre-school teacher, acting director, and parent president of the Miraloma Cooperative Nursery School in San Francisco, where she was responsible for the operations of the school, including developing curriculum and conducting outreach. She is the first and only Filipina elected to office in San Francisco, having been elected to the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education in 2006, 2010 and 2014, where she is currently serving as President.

“Board President Hydra Mendoza has been instrumental in rallying the whole community in support of San Francisco’s public schools. Through brokering strong partnerships with parents, educators, elected officials, community groups and businesses, President Mendoza has brought critical resources to our highest-need students, increased compensation and recognition for our educators, and helped to move our schools closer to our vision for 21^st-century learning,” said San Francisco Schools Superintendent Vincent Matthews. “San Francisco’s loss is New York’s gain.”