Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Still No Interviews With Cathie Black

Oprah, Ed Koch, David Dinkins, Saint Rudy of 9/11 and the ghosts of Albert Shanker and John Dewey have all endorsed Cathie Black for NYC schools chancellor, yet the Bloomberg administration STILL won't let her do any interviews:

Mayor Bloomberg told reporters to wait a few weeks before interviewing Black.

Black hasn't granted any interviews since being appointed last week.

"We'll get there," Bloomberg said, when asked when she would be available for an interview. "The woman has got to get up to speed. And it's just not fair to have you ask her questions of a technical thing."

Bloomberg went on to say that Black's job would be to manage the system of over one million students and 135,000 employees, while being guided by policy experts.

"I don't know everything about every agency that I supervise," he added. "My job is to pick the right people, get them here, keep them working together, giving them the support they need and then they use their expertise. That's her job in the Department of Education."

I can understand how somebody from outside education might not be able to talk about technical issues regarding curriculum and the like, but how is it that Ms. Black cannot seem to even talk about general issues in education?

Seriously, she ought to be able to parrot the ed deform crap they play on Oprah or write in the papers.

But given the tight reins that Bloomberg has put on her with the press, it looks like she can't even do that.

The Times reports
that she has been calling NY politicians to introduce herself and garner support for her appointment, but even there she is "maddeningly vague" about education policy and issues:

Almost all of them said it was impossible, even after speaking with Ms. Black, to glean her educational philosophy or determine exactly how she intended to run the school system. When Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, asked why she wanted a job so far afield from her media career, Ms. Black, the chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, replied “that she wanted to make a difference,” he recalled.

A difference how?

Scary.

5 comments:

  1. That they endorsed her before hearing from her says far more about them than it does about her.

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  2. agreed..why would they endorse someone before hearing what she has to say? Because its politically sound?

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  3. Yes, but I heard she was going to make plastic surgery available as part of the DOE health plan.

    That's very exciting to me.

    I think I'll go in for tummy tuck and a facelift.

    I want to look the part of a younger teacher when they start doing the layoffs in June.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maybe I shouldn't retire just yet...I'll tell admin I'm waiting for the plastic surgery option to kick in so I can implement my own EEP, or Eyebag Elimination Program. This, I will remind them, is downsizingly different than my former program, PEE, or Program for Elimination of Eyebags. My old program, decades old, was EERE, or Eyebag Elimination by Rolling Eyes. The program initially was effective, but the positive effects plateaued over time. I will present my research and maybe they'll buy my premise. Oh I forgot...they don't need no stinkin' research...or even experience!!!

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  5. Kathleen, fantastic! That's exactly the kind of innovative thinking we're looking for here at the DOE. And as long as you cocktail with Moneybags or his ladyfriend on the UES we can hire you for a job.

    Otherwise, like the rest of the poor schlubs in the DOE, you'll have to be laid off.

    ReplyDelete