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Home > Collections > Board
of Education, 1842-2002 > Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Files, 1985-1990
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Files, 1985-1990
Introduction
The Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Files, 1985-1990, document portions of the
work of a well-known member of the Board of Education. They comprise Series
391 of the Board of Education Record Group, and are part of the Members of
the Board subgroup. They have been assigned accession number 04-029.
The records were transferred to the Municipal Archives by the Department
of Education in 2004, from the former Board of Education headquarters at 110
Livingston Street.
The series consists of 30.5 cubic feet of records. They were organized and
inventoried by the Municipal Archives in 2005 in a project supported by the
New York State Archives under its Local Government Records Management Improvement
Fund.
Biographical Note
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. was appointed to the Board of Education in 1985 by Mayor
Edward I. Koch to finish the term of Amelia H. Ashe, who died in office. The
Mayor reappointed Wagner to the Board for a full four year term in 1986. The
Board elected Robert Wagner president in 1986 and reelected him three times
in 1987, 1988 and 1989. Robert Wagner left the Board in 1990.
Robert Wagner came to the Board of Education after a long career in the public
arena. Born in 1944 into a well-known New York family--his grandfather, Robert
F. Wagner, was a U.S. Senator and his father, Robert F. Wagner, Sr., was a
three term New York City Mayor--Robert Wagner, Jr., continued in the family
tradition of public service. He held elected office, was appointed to various
public sector jobs by Mayor Edward I. Koch, and studied urban issues.
Robert Wagner earned a Baccalaureate degree from Harvard University in 1965.
While there, he served on the editorial board of The Crimson and was editor
of the Harvard Review. In 1969, Wagner earned a Masters degree in Public Affairs
from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs at Princeton University.
In 1974, Robert Wagner began his public career, winning election as a New
York City Council member from Manhattan. He gave up his seat to run for Manhattan
Borough President in 1977, losing the primary to Andrew J. Stein. Mayor-elect
Edward I. Koch, creating his first cabinet, nominated Wagner as chairman of
the City Planning Commission. As chairman, Wagner proposed revisions to the
zoning for midtown Manhattan.
Mayor Koch appointed Robert Wagner a member to the Board of Directors of
the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1978. Wagner was reappointed in
1979 after the State Legislature restructured the authority. Later that year,
Edward Koch reorganized his administration and appointed Robert Wagner Deputy
Mayor for Policy. Wagner resigned from the City Planning Commission after his
appointment. In 1980, Koch added chairman of New York City’s Health & Hospital
Corporation to Robert F. Wagner’s resume while he continued as Deputy
Mayor.
In 1983, Mayor Ed Koch nominated Robert F. Wagner for Chancellor of the Board
of Education. During his time in the Koch administration, Wagner had many dealings
with the Board, especially regarding its budget proposals. The Board selected
Wagner to be chancellor, replacing Frank Macchiarola, over objections by groups
who desired a minority candidate in the position. Since Robert Wagner was not
an educator, a requirement for the chancellor’s position, the Board of
Education filed a waiver application with the New York State Department of
Education. However, State Commissioner Gordon Ambach denied the waiver, shocking
both the Board and the Koch administration.
After his candidacy was denied, Robert Wagner resigned as Deputy Mayor to
go back to Harvard University for a Fellowship at the John Kennedy School of
Government’s Institute of Politics. In 1984, Wagner moved back to New
York City as chairman of New York University’s Urban Research Center
Advisory Board where he proposed a research program to study the problems of
youth and minority unemployment, homelessness, transportation deterioration
and crumbling housing and their effect on the city’s economic health.
While a member of the Board of Education, he continued to focus on these issues
and their affect on students. In 1986, Wagner accepted the chairmanship of
the watchdog group, Citizens’ Union.
In 1993, Robert Wagner served as a policy advisor for Rudolph Guiliani during
his Mayoral campaign. Wagner endorsed Guiliani in the election. Robert F. Wagner,
Jr. died in 1993 while in San Antonio, Texas researching a book. He was 49
years old.
Scope and Content
The Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Files document the work of a member of the Board,
from 1985-1990. As a dedicated public servant, Wagner appears to have maintained
good records of his activities while on the Board. Few gaps seem to exist within
the papers. His records are organized into two subseries, reflecting the original
structure of the records.
The main body of records are arranged into subseries I, Subject Files. The
subseries comprises policy and administrative decisions the Board made during
1985-1990. These matters include curriculum changes, personnel, school buildings;
including repair and construction, and state and federal legislation. Growing
social issues such as AIDS, homelessness and drugs intruded into the educational
sphere requiring responses from the Board which included sex education, temporary
shelters and prevention programs. Important continuing concerns such as decentralization,
special education, occupational education and dropout rates also appear. Although
Wagner’s term began in 1985, materials dating from the 1960s, 1970s and
early 1980s are included. The New York City school system was shocked by the
case of Lisa Steinberg, a child abuse victim, which resulted in a major homicide
trial. The Board of Education’s Inspector General investigated whether
school officials and teachers had seen the signs of abuse and issued the report “The
Matter of Elizabeth (Lisa) Steinberg.” The report provided recommendations
for procedures in training staff to better detect child abuse.
The second subseries, Community School Districts, reveals the interactions
between the Board of Education and the school boards on the specific interests
of individual local districts. Although Robert F. Wagner, Jr. began his first
term as a member in 1985, the files include material from 1984, perhaps reflecting
the use of Amelia H. Ashe’s records for continuity. Discussions which
took place over the administration of the districts focused on personnel; including
staffing, training and board elections, and financial management of allocated
funds. Local school boards and parents’ grievances and appeals against
the Chancellor’s actions, which superseded local board decisions, also
appear in the records. While some of the issues detailed in these records pertain
to all the districts, communications usually revolved around a local board’s
specific needs.
Series Descriptions
Subseries I: Subject Files (1985-1990), 25 cubic feet
The subseries contains correspondence, memoranda, clippings, statistics,
legal briefs, reports and printed materials. Arranged alphabetically, it spans
the years 1985-1990. Reference materials from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are
included. The files comprise policy and administrative matters of curriculum,
personnel, school buildings and legislation. Included also are important issues
such as decentralization, AIDS, sex education, special education, drugs, homelessness
and its effects on students, occupational education and dropout rates. The
records reveal information about the Inspector General’s investigations,
particularly the 1987 report focusing on the case of Lisa Steinberg, a victim
of child abuse, which resulted in a major New York City homicide trial. The
report provides recommendations for training staff in procedures relating to
child abuse detection.
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Subseries II: Community School Districts (1985-1990), 5.5 cubic feet
The subseries contains correspondence, legal briefs, memoranda, petitions,
plans and reports. Arranged numerically by district and alphabetically, it
spans the years 1984-1990. The files reveal the interactions between the Board
of Education and the local school boards over administration of the districts
on personnel appointments, staffing, training, elections and financial management,
because of decentralization. The records contain grievances and appeals by
school boards and parents against the actions of the Chancellor which superseded
local board decisions.
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