Bloomberg Agrees To Deputy For Black

So we will have Cathie Black to kick around:

The state’s education commissioner, David M. Steiner, and the Bloomberg administration have reached a deal that will allow Cathleen P. Black, a media executive, to become the next schools chief.

A top education official in the city’s schools system, Shael Polakow-Suransky, the chief accountability officer, will be named the chief academic officer to serve as the No. 2 to Ms. Black, according to a person with knowledge of the agreement between the state and the city.

In return, Dr. Steiner on Monday will grant Ms. Black a waiver from the state law requiring the chancellor to have certain education credentials that Ms. Black, the chairwoman of Hearst Magazine, lacks.

Mr. Steiner had expressed reservations about granting Ms. Black an exemption and had made the appointment of a chief academic officer a condition for considering her nomination.

The move is a major concession from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg who typically resists any intrusion into his management of city agencies.

The Bloomberg administration did not dispute the details of the agreement, but refused to comment.

Great - the chief testing guy who was educated at the Broad Academy will be Cathie Black's #2.

His specialty is holding teachers accountable.

Here's the quote on his page at the Broad Superintendents Academy:

“Teachers and principals need to be accountable for student performance and empowered to make the critical decisions that impact their daily work to accelerate student learning.”

He's also logged some time helping to close large schools and open small schools and charter schools in their place.

Clearly it is not a mistake that of all the people Bloomberg could have picked at the DOE to back up Black, he chose the guy who is in charge of "accountability," testing and data and has some experience closing schools and opening charters.

Meet the new Klein, same as the old Klein.