Marc Kagan, age 68, taught Zohran Mamdani twice at the Bronx High School of Science, including an advanced world history course. Kagan spent years working for the city's transit system as a mechanic and later as a Transport Workers Union local activist and leader. After a falling out with union leadership, Kagan entered a city program that trains career changers and began teaching at 47 at A. Phillip Randolph Campus High School in Harlem, later transferring to Bronx Science. Zohran Mamdani publicly named Kagan among his most influential teachers, calling him one of the best and crediting him with teaching excellence and hard work. Kagan is the brother of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, a connection he largely avoided mentioning.
Kagan, now 68, taught Mamdani twice at the Bronx High School of Science, one of the city's vaunted specialized high schools, including an advanced world history course. At the time, Kagan was not a veteran teacher. He spent years working for the city's transit system, first as a mechanic and later as a union activist and leader for the Transport Workers Union local.
After a falling out with the union's leadership, he joined a city program that quickly trains career changers to fill hard-to-staff roles in public school classrooms. At 47, Kagan began his teaching career at A. Phillip Randolph Campus High School in Harlem. Two years later, he transferred to Bronx Science. "I thought that I could do something useful and productive in the world" by becoming a teacher, Kagan said in an interview with Chalkbeat.
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