Stuyvesant HS Principal Won't Step Down After All

TRIBECA, NY — The principal of Stuyvesant High School won't be leaving his prestigious post after all.

Eric Contreras, who has led the specialized high school for two years, announced on Aug. 27 that he planned to step down to take a senior job at the city's Department of Education. But just three days into the new school year, Contreras told students and parents he had changed his mind.

“I would like to share that after much deliberation and feedback from our community, I have made a decision to stay as principal of Stuyvesant High School,” he said in a Sept. 7 letter addressed to the “Stuyvesant community.”

Contreras was set to serve as the director of curriculum, instruction and professional development at the Department of Education. He called his last minute reversal "a deeply personal decision and mine alone."

The sought-after high school — and seven others — are in the middle of a debate over how they should admit students. Mayor Bill de Blasio is pushing the state legislature to scrap the Specialized High School Admissions Test as part of an effort to eliminate racial disparities in the schools' admission policies.

The potential change has sparked fierce backlash among parents, alumni and civil rights groups, causing some to speculate that Contreras' decided to leave because the mayor's proposal put him in a difficult situation — roughly two thirds of the school's students were made up of Asians last year, according to Department of Education data.

Yet Contreras, who is the school’s first Hispanic principal, has signaled interest in diversifying entry into the school with multiple options such as using the Specialized High School Admissions Test along with students’ grade point averages, or even state tests.

“I am in favor of mixed metrics,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “I don’t think it should be just the test. Too much is at stake on one day for a few hours for youngsters who are 13."

Contreras made no mention of the controversy in his initial letter announcing his plans to leave, or Friday's letter declaring he had changed his mind. The Guatemalan-born principal said that he was touched by the flood of messages he received after first deciding to leave and is excited to continue working with the school's students and educators, he said in the Sept. 7 letter.

“Over the past two weeks many of you have reached out in person, phone and email to express your gratitude for our shared work,” Contreras wrote. “I was touched by your messages and thankful to be part of our vibrant learning community. The work at Stuyvesant for students, staff and leadership is never easy; it is, however, always richly rewarding.”

Photo courtesy of Peter Kramer/Getty Images