Mayor Michael Bloomberg shocked the city on Tuesday, November 9 by announcing the sudden resignation of Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and his immediate appointment of Cathleen (Call me "Cathie") Black as his replacement.
His decision was met with a cacophony of caterwauling critics. They were almost sputtering in their rush to point out her weaknesses and especially her lack of education experience.
They beamed when they discovered that neither she nor her children attended public schools as if that was a bad thing. Sometimes a fresh perspective on an old dysfunctional institution is a good thing.
The battle lines formed rapidly. All those officials and unions who hated Klein over his eight years of restructuring the Board of Education and the city’s school system transferred their frustration and anger to oppose Black too.
We realize that the learning curve for Black will be steep and her detractors will not be patient as she gets up to speed with the issues facing the school system.
We are glad that she has never been a book-trained educator or educrat. But we advise all who would defame her before she begins – successful executives are as much teachers, educators and inspirational leaders as any teacher trying to survive a career moldering under the weight of a dysfunctional system.
Black is a successful media executive and brings her private-sector perspective and skill set to the task of providing a better school system to our 1.1 million students.
Corporate America demands of its executives that they learn to innovate and lead their employees by setting performance goals for them. Sounds good to us.
We hope that she gets the same waiver from the State that Klein was granted.
The stakes are enormous – the fights over charter schools, monitoring teacher performance, shuttering of failed schools, programs for children with disabilities and overcrowding need to be resolved rapidly.
Our children cannot wait for the system to heal itself. Every last student has to be prepared for employment and success via four-year college, community college, the armed forces or straight into the job market.
The mayor – not a Board of Education – runs the show. His priorities ought to be the chancellor’s priorities.
We wish Black good luck and grand success.
