A commenter at Gotham Schools pulls out this telling quotation from the article:
“Well, too many people will say, ‘I don’t have the money.’ But the smartest principals will figure out ‘How do I reallocate my resources for the things I think are most important in my own school? The teacher evaluation, the … all of the work now in terms of curriculum development, for the core standards.’ This is going to be a game-changer. But it’s a lot of hard slogging, also. Then we have, with the new schools, whether they be charter schools or just new approaches … they’re very exciting. But too many people are afraid of change. They’re very wed to whatever they truly believe in. So obviously there’s a lot of noise about that.”
Huh?
WTF is she talking about ?
I dunno, and she doesn't either.
Geez, put a gag on her.
Or keep her away from the booze.
Or both.
Meanwhile, back at City Hall, Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott explains Bloomberg's rationale for hiring Black:
Yet her main task for the next three years is to win grassroots hearts and minds so that the changes go down more smoothly and the results generate more love for Bloomberg. “The distrust in the system is real. We understand that,” says Dennis Walcott, Bloomberg’s deputy mayor for education and community development. “But at the local level, for the most part, people think their child is doing better and getting a better education. Part of our challenge is to make sure people understand the connection to Tweed and to this administration. Cathie is acclimating herself to this new world, but her style and personality will allow people to see things differently and hear them differently and build trust where people are distrustful.”
Man, Walcott must be drinking the same shit Cathie Black is if he thinks Black is going to engender more trust from teachers, parents and students PK (post-Klein).
So far, what Black has engendered is blunder after blunder, faux pas after faux pas, and comparisons to Sarah Palin.
Not exactly an auspicious start to her chancellorship.
I suspect that Cathie with an 'i' Black will make it through this school year and then, come June, quietly decide that as a 67 year old, she wants to spend more time with her family in retirement and Testbot Shael Polakow Suransky, her deputy chancellor, will take over operations from her.
Doubtful that Testbot Shael will engender any more trust than Black.
But at least he can talk the ed deform jive with tripping over his tongue.
It's very revealing that Walcott uses the term "hearts and minds," with its implications of Vietnam and Afghanistan. In other words, these people truly are an occupying power, and it's not too far-fetched to imagine them referring to those resisting them as "terrorists." That smear they'll probably leave to the editorial writers from the News and Post, however.
ReplyDeleteIn keeping with the occupying empire meme, keep mind that the TFAers whom they propose to staff the schools are always referred to as "the best and the brightest," totally ignoring the fact that Halberstam's book by that name was meant to be ironic.
The diabolical element to all of this "ed reform" movement is the corruption of The Press. The oligarchs are not happy to merely "fight the good fight" on "an even playing field." They have bought,corrupted, gutted, the sacred Press, to gain a keen advantage of propoganda. In reality, they often own the Press, which by definition makes them oligarchs. "Sacred" since The Press, by definition is an integral part of democracy. But with an oligarch (gangster?) Bloomberg overturning democracy for his third term selfishness, why stop there? Of course, The Press was never pristine over the course of American history, often used for special interests, but what is passing for "journalism" in the local papers here would make Goebels proud.
ReplyDeleteI sent Clueless a rather thoughtful email detailing what I thought was wrong with her and the PEP. She did respond, from her Blackberry, no less. However, all she said was that it was obvious that we would never agree on anything, "but thank you for sharing your thoughts."
ReplyDeleteThe woman doesn't have a single independent thought about the school system. All she is is a well-heeled (pun intended) mouthpiece for Bloomberg. And yeah, tacky though it might have been for Mulgrew to say it out loud (although in all fairness it was a single line said in jest that the media made much fun with), Clueless is nothing more than Klein in a dress. With better hair and jewelry.