Mulgrew Johnny-Come-Lately To Cathie Black Fight

As Chaz noted on his blog last week, the UFT has remained mostly silent on the Cathie Black appointment even as criticism has ratcheted up in the newspapers, on City Hall steps, and in Albany.

The Daily News reports today that Mulgrew and the UFT are finally weighing in:

The teachers union president ripped into the mayor Sunday for naming Cathie Black schools chancellor, calling it "irresponsible" and an abuse of power.

"It's my opinion that the mayor has abused his authority under the mayoral control law," United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew told more than 200 parents gathered for workshops on how to better navigate the school system.

"This is not about Ms. Black," Mulgrew said to applause. "I do not believe that anyone thought the mayor would speak to no one, hide it, keep it a secret, not consult any educational experts and then name someone with no qualifications to be the chancellor of the New York City school system."

Mulgrew said he would not pass judgment on Black until their meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, but he did tell parents, "I would be appalled if a teacher was named the head of the Fire Department of New York City."

Mayor Bloomberg has come under increasing attack for his choice of Black, a media executive with no education experience and no connection to the public school system, after Joel Klein resigned last Tuesday.

Leave it to Mulgrew and the UFT to finally jump into a fight long after it's started and the sides (and odds) are already drawn.

When Mulgrew jumps in, you know that's the sign that the Ms. Black fight has finally turned against Mayor Bloomberg.

Rumor has it, if Bloomberg has to pull the Black appointment back, he will name Harriet Miers in her stead.

How exciting!

We'll see how this plays out.

I still maintain that Steiner is on Bloomberg's payroll and wouldn't dare do something to hurt Moneybags, so I bet Black gets the waiver from the NYSED.

But the list of articles at Gotham Schools this morning shows just how strong the growing opposition to Ms. Black is.

Steiner may be feeling lots of political pressure on the waiver and may just have to tell Moneybags he cannot give it without taking too much heat.

Regardless of what happens in this fight, the mayor is intent upon finishing the destruction of the public school system - there are 56 schools to be closed this year, 100 new charters to be opened in the next several years, thousands of teachers to be laid off at the end of the year, and a teacher evaluation system tied to test scores to be hammered out with the UFT that will give the DOE the right to fire teachers if they are declared "ineffective" two years running.

All of those battles the UFT ought to be fighting, but like this battle over Cathie Black, Mulgrew will wait and see when it's safe to fight before he actually takes anything on.

That's par for the course at the UFT.