The Department of Education’s seven new Borough Field Support Centers, which will provide support for schools and make instruction more consistent throughout the system, are open for business.

The new centers [see box at right] replace the 55 Children’s First Networks. Experienced staff in the centers will provide integrated and tailored support across areas of instruction; student services including health resources and counseling; support for English language learners and students with disabilities; and operational support. They will also offer professional development.

Chancellor Carmen Fariña said the restructured system creates clear lines of authority and accountability.

“We have taken an important step to provide schools the support they need,” Fariña explained. “Borough Field Support Center directors and their staffs will serve as critical partners for our superintendents.”

Each school will work directly with both its superintendent and its support center to identify what the school needs to help raise student achievement.

Basing the centers geographically is expected to help schools get the hands-on support they need more easily.

The UFT had long criticized the 55 networks as unaccountable, convoluted and powerless, leaving struggling schools to sink or swim.

“Chancellor Fariña’s initiative is designed to provide schools with the tools and advice they need to help them become and stay successful,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said.

Officially opened on July 1, each center has approximately 100 staffers headed by a director. The chancellor said she expected the seven directors to have a sense by the first day of classes of which schools in their jurisdiction will require the most support.

During a recent visit to several staff professional development sessions at the new centers, Fariña asked staff to work faster on implementing the Individualized Education Programs of students with disabilities and to identify specific boroughwide discipline and school-climate issues before the start of school.

UFT Vice President Richard Mantell characterized the new school support structure as “one-stop shopping.”

“Each center will be a place to which we can turn to assist our members with certain issues,” he said.