District 9 Team Member Spotlight

Anthony Rivera, Deputy Superintendent

A son, brother, father and friend, I’ve spent the last 18 years directly serving the very community where I was born and raised. A product of NYC public schools, I was "taught" that higher education was my "ticket out". Drawn to serve, I spent the first 7 years after college working for the NYS Legislature where I gained invaluable insight and perspective. It was during that experience, at the State level, that I learned the power of objectivity, the art of negotiation & compromise and the force of an engaged community.

I would soon realize the fault in some of what I learned growing up and came to understand the harm that resulted from discouraging children from reinvesting in the communities they are from. As a result, I joined my mother, sister and soon-to-be wife, in education. Entering the ranks of the NYC Teaching Fellows, I began my career in education serving children with special needs. With the confidence of my students, families and colleagues and through the expertise of my mentors and peers, I learned how to create an environment where growth and development were expectations within reach. The joy and success that resulted from my work as a teacher enticed me to imagine impact at a greater scale.

Selected to participate in the largest national cohort of New Leaders for New Schools, I was trained and supported by some of the leading voices in educational leadership and served as resident Principal of Greater Newark Charter School. In 2009 I formed and led a team through the design, defense and development of a new small school just a stones throw from where I once sat as a student. Over the next 12 years, I worked to build a school, the people who keep that school moving and the children and families who trust that school to do the most important work of our time. Under my leadership, children and adults demonstrated persistent growth and the school established a long standing reputation for the quality and care that characterize learning and teaching. The gains that we maintained over time translated to the school being recognized as one of the highest impact schools in the district.

I have served under two administrations on the Chancellor’s Principal Cabinet, District 11 Superintendent’s Cabinet, Principals Advisory and District Equity Team. I’ve established myself as a resource and partner for colleagues within and across district lines. In the Spring of 2021, I was selected to participate in the City’s inaugural cohort of the Aspiring Superintendents Bootcamp which prepared me to take on the next best chapter of my professional life as Deputy Superintendent of District 9. Every single day, I bring with me a commitment to children and families, an insatiable desire to learn from and alongside others and the authentic joy that comes from the privilege of calling this my work.