Lawrence E. Becker (Larry) attended Albany State University and Brooklyn Law school. He has worked for the New York City Department of Education since 1979 where he started as an attorney in the Department's Office of Legal Services, handling numerous discipline arbitrations and other matters.
In his career at the Department, Mr. Becker served as the Counsel to the Chancellor/Director of the Office of Legal Services, Chief Executive Officer of the Division of Human Resources and most recently as the Chief Executive for Labor Policy.
In his role as Counsel to the Chancellor and Director of the Office of Legal Services Larry supervised a staff of 30 attorneys responsible for all legal issues of the Department including human rights, employee discipline, special education and commercial matters. As head of the Division of Human Resources, he oversaw a 400-person division responsible for a variety of tasks including recruitment and on-boarding of staff, background investigations and health and welfare benefits for Department employees.
During the past several years Larry was a key member of the Department negotiating team for collective bargaining agreements with the United Federation of Teachers and the Council of Supervisors and Administrators working closely with the City Office of Labor Relations.
Larry recently retired but has continued to work for the Department in a consultant capacity. In addition, Larry has been an adjunct professor at Baruch College and Brooklyn College, and is currently an adjunct at Hunter College School of Education.