NEW YORK – Harvey B. Scribner, the former New York City schools chancellor who presided over the system during a period of tumultuous change in the early 1970s, died Monday in Waterville, Maine. He was 88.

Scribner became chancellor in 1970, one year after the State Legislature decentralized control of the city public school system by creating 32 community school districts.

The Legislature also replaced the superintendent of schools with a chancellor who had direct control over high schools and support services.

During his nearly three-year tenure as chancellor, Scribner, a fierce advocate of local school control, clashed often with the Board of Education, which initially barred him from attending meetings during which important budgetary and personnel decisions were made. When he announced his plan to resign in December 1972, he cited a “widening gap of confidence” between him and the Board of Education.

As chancellor, Scribner held teachers to high standards, encouraging continued education and criticizing tenure rules that he considered overly generous.

He also charged commissions with investigating whether the city’s elite high schools offered admissions exams that were biased against black and Hispanic students.

Born in 1914 in Albion, Maine, Scribner was a teacher and administrator for two decades in Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Jersey.