Chancellor Black visits Queens school

Monday was the first day on the job for new Schools Chancellor Cathie Black.
Black, a former Hearst Magazines executive, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg went on a 5-borough school tour. Their first stop was a Brooklyn elementary school, and then she headed to schools in Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island.
“We wanted to make sure she saw a variety of schools throughout the city,” said Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld, a spokesperson for the Department of Education (DOE). “She plans to visit a lot more schools.”
Black, who is replacing Joel Klein, visited classrooms and talked with parents and staff at North Queens Community High School (NQCHS), a transfer school in Flushing. Transfer schools like NQCHS are academically rigorous, full-time high schools designed to help students who are behind in high school or have dropped out.
The small school with less than 200 students is jointly operated by the DOE, SCO Family of Services and Good Shepherd Services. NQCHS offers an accelerated credit program and each student is assigned an Advocate Counselor throughout their time at the school. The students also participate in employment readiness and skills development programs.
NQCHS got a B for the overall score in the DOE’s 2009-2010 School Progress Report. It got an A in the environment grade, a C in the performance grade and a B in the progress grade.
“North Queens is a transfer school performing very well,” Zarin-Rosenfeld said.
During the tour, Black expressed her enthusiasm for her new job as chancellor of the nation’s largest public school system despite some backlash over her credentials. Last week, a judge dismissed lawsuits that argued Black was unfit to head the school system because she didn’t have an advanced degree or a teaching background. Critics said they plan to appeal the ruling.