Shelley Jallow, RCSD monitor, resigns from New York City charter school job

Rochester City School District Academic and Fiscal Monitor Shelley Jallow quietly resigned earlier this month from her second job with a downstate charter school network after being criticized by local educational and political leaders.

Jallow had not told anyone in Rochester about the second job, as regional superintendent of Capital Preparatory Schools' New York City schools. It caused a furor when revealed last month by the Democrat and Chronicle; members of the local state legislative delegation and union leaders called on her to leave one job or the other.

In a letter to RCSD Board President Cynthia Elliott dated Jan. 5, Jallow said she had done so. Her resignation from the Capital Prep job, she said, took effect Jan. 1. She is no longer listed on the organization's website.

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"My decision to end my work with the charter school network in NYC became effective January 1, 2022 and should therefore, no longer be used as a ploy to distract from the good work we have done and yet to do," she wrote. "I am convinced our collective energy and expertise represents a unique opportunity to transform the District, and therefore the lives of RCSD students."

Neither Jallow nor Capital Prep representatives responded Friday to requests for comment.

Jallow is a consultant in Rochester, not an employee, and nothing in her contract bars her from doing other work at the same time. But the unclear nature of her Capital Prep position, which she began in August, raised questions about how she could serve both effectively.

She described it as a part-time, short-term consultancy assignment, but Capital Prep documents show she was a direct supervisor for building leaders, and the title of regional superintendent suggested permanency.

She also told the board of directors there that she was ""phasing out of (her) role as the state monitor," though her contract with the state Education Department has her here until June 2023.

Last month, Jallow said she intends to see her work in Rochester through to the end, a promise she repeated in her letter to Elliott.

"My journey to RCSD was very sudden and unplanned, but once the Commissioner and the Chancellor pledged their support to RCSD and my tenure as the state monitor, I have never looked back or thought the task undoable," she wrote. "I have remained diligent in my responsibility to be the best state monitor I can be, for both RCSD and SED. ... I am convinced our collective energy and expertise represents a unique opportunity to transform the District, and therefore the lives of RCSD students."

Contact staff writer Justin Murphy at jmurphy7@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Shelley Jallow, RCSD monitor, resigns Capital Prep charter school job