Here's the NYT with a profile of Walcott:

He is a former teacher, with an easy rapport with children; a graduate of the city's public schools; "a guy from Queens," he said, whose parents were raised in Harlem and whose grandparents were immigrants, like many of the city's 1.1 million students.

"To me, the great equalizer in society is ensuring that every child receives a quality education, especially a quality public education," Mr. Walcott said.

…Mr. Walcott still lives in the same neighborhood where he grew up, Cambria Heights, a black middle-class enclave in southeastern Queens. His four children graduated from city public schools, and one of his two grandsons attends them. (The other is still too young.)

Mr. Walcott graduated from Francis Lewis High School in Queens, and has bachelor's and master's degrees in education from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, and a master's in social work from Fordham.

He spent two years as a kindergarten teacher in Queens, and eventually joined the New York Urban League, where he was president and chief executive for 12 years.

…On Thursday, in a brief address to Education Department staff members, Mr. Walcott reiterated his support of the mayor's education agenda, including the push to close low-performing schools.

"We have a collective responsibility to continue the reforms we've started over the last nine years," he said.

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Man in the News: Dennis Malcolm Walcott

Schools' New Emissary, From City Hall

By FERNANDA SANTOS

Published: April 8, 2011

www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/nyregion/08walcott.html