NYC schools chancellor on controversial tweet: 'Video speaks for itself'

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza has been on the job for only a few weeks but has already caused some controversy. He apologized on Monday for one of his social media posts.

Last week, he retweeted a raw story article with the headline "Wealthy white Manhattan parents angrily rant against plan to bring more black kids to their schools."

"If that has caused any kind of anger, I apologize for that—that is not the intent," Carranza said. "However, the video speaks for itself. The video of the comments that were made? I don't know how anybody can be okay with that."

The article includes a link to a video of a Spectrum New York 1 News story that shows some of the parents at P.S. 199 objecting to a proposal to diversify the school. The plan, which is just an idea at this point, would allow a quarter of P.S. 199's population to be made up of underperforming students.

This is what one of those parents said during last week's meeting: "You're telling them, 'You are going to go to a school that's not going to educate you in the same way you've been educated—life sucks.'"

The parent's reaction upset the principal, who said that the idea that advantaged children need to be kept away from underperforming students is "tremendously offensive to me."

Mayor Bill de Blasio said he supports the chancellor.

"I might phrase it differently, but the most important point here is he's speaking from a place of integrity about the fact that if we are serious about diversification we're all going to have to work creatively," de Blasio told WNYC Radio.

Carranza said he is committed to diversifying New York City public schools and believes it has to start with the community. He added that he does not plan to shy away from the subject.