A Queens schools superintendent who once initiated a controversial diversity plan announced her retirement Monday, The Post has learned.
Mabel Muniz Sarduy, executive superintendent of Queens North, told her principals in an email that she is stepping down from her post effective this week, or exactly two years since she took the helm.
“I want to encourage everyone to have the strength and fortitude to continually build out students’ social emotional well-being and their critical-thinking skills to lead them through the 21st century and beyond,” Sarduy wrote in her farewell missive Monday.
As head of Queens North, Sarduy oversaw Districts 24, 25, 26 and 30 — all of which boast several top Gifted and Talented programs and screened schools.
District 30’s Bard High School is considered one of the premier academic bastions in the city.
Sarduy formerly led District 28. While there, she secured a grant for a diversity plan that was met with intense backlash from some parents who said the proposal failed to adequately engage the community.
“Even though we are diverse as a district, many of our students from different ends never get to know or interact with one another,” Sarduy wrote at the time.
“In addition to considering admissions practices that encourage integration, we hope that this grant can help us develop strategies to connect students with different backgrounds and celebrate what they all bring to our community.”
The initiative — which has since been put on pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic — led to several raucous meetings in late 2019.
Sarduy left District 28 in the midst of the controversy to assume the newly created executive superintendent position that expanded her sphere of authority.
The DOE thanked Sarduy for serving in a variety of roles over more than three decades with the agency.
“Executive Superintendent Sarduy served the young people and communities of New York City for 35 years in roles ranging from parent coordinator to district leader,” said First Deputy Chancellor Donald Conyers. “While her retirement is well-deserved and we are deeply appreciative of her service, her leadership and deep community focus will be sorely missed.”