Community Corner
Letter: Under the School Bus, Lessons from Cathie Black
Cathie Black has taught us a valuable lesson about mayoral control of the education process – it cannot be absolute.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m sure if I got to know former Chancellor Cathleen Black I would like her – as a person … or not. It never really mattered. What mattered was what she brought to the table – or not – that would help our children. That’s why I was a Petitioner in the legal case to invalidate her waiver. So now – thrown under the “school bus” by her former boss, the third-term arrogant Michael Bloomberg. I have some sympathy for Ms. Black, but she needed to go.
The presumed successor is Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott. Mr. Walcott and I have worked together in the past and I do like him personally. He is certainly more qualified than Cathie Black to serve as Chancellor … but that’s a very low threshold, unfortunately. Honestly, I wish Dennis well in his new role because I want our public school system to succeed.
But there’s the rub … will it? How do we know? How does Mayor Bloomberg know? What are the standards we should be using to assess the appropriateness of a Chancellor candidate or the success of a school system?
Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
As a member of the Deny Waiver Coalition, originally formed to fight Cathie Black’s appointment, I have endorsed certain platform planks that remain unattended to by Mayor Bloomberg and the New York State legislature:
- New York City’s public school system is important enough, large enough and complex enough to require a national search for Chancellor candidates. This has yet to happen under the Bloomberg administration due to the misguided presumption that Mayoral control simply means “Mayoral choice.” To establish a world-class education system, the world must believe that the best possible person is serving as its leader. There is no reason to believe that in New York City – even now. Under “Mayoral choice,” we have nothing to use as a substantive foil to a Chancellor nominee.
- The process of selecting a new Chancellor should always provide an opportunity for stakeholder input – particularly parent feedback. Whether written into the education law or not, the morally correct approach would be to establish an appropriate set of feedback tools to be utilized by parents and community leaders.
- There must be some level of transparency built into the Chancellor selection process – if only to ensure that there are no ethical conflicts. Believe it or not, community school boards used to hold public hearings when Superintendent selections were on the line. Currently, Chancellor nominees are not even required to appear before the City Council – let alone parents or members of the public – and Community Education Councils are treated as irritants.
Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
From under the school bus, Cathie Black has taught us a valuable lesson about Mayoral control of the education process – it cannot be absolute. There is no check or balance on the Mayor – he appoints the Chancellor and he controls the PEP. This dominance must end and it is up the State Legislature to make this happen.
Meanwhile, the Walcott coronation must be put into perspective. First, Mr. Walcott also needs a waiver from the State Education Commissioner to become Chancellor. Walcott’s impressive credentials still do not meet the law’s minimum requirements for service in this position. And Mayor Bloomberg is banking on muted opposition due to the contrast with Ms. Black … and the fact that Walcott is a Black New Yorker.
Furthermore, we must be realistic about Mr. Walcott’s emergence from a “Mayoral choice” selection process.
Do we believe that the New York City Department of Education under Chancellor Walcott will significantly modify its approach to closing schools or siting charter schools in public school buildings? There is no reason to. Walcott could have helped to change those situations already, but he has not.
Do we believe that the NYC DOE inefficiencies and consultant contracts that take money from classrooms will suddenly disappear? Or that co-located charter schools won’t receive inappropriate in-kind benefits from the NYC DOE so that the pool of funds available to the non-charter public school is reduced? There is no reason to. For nearly nine years, Deputy Mayor Walcott has had the power to force such changes ... but they have yet to happen.
Do we believe that parents will be more empowered in a Walcott administration? There is no reason to. The Bloomberg administration, with Walcott as point man, has done very little to substantively empower and involve parents within those schools that would most benefit from such activity.
Do we believe that high-stakes testing will play a lesser role in determining the future of New York City school children? Do we believe that more non-white children will take and pass the entrance examinations to specialized schools? It’s hard to believe these things will happen when the person handling DOE matters for Mayor Bloomberg over the past nine years is now the Chancellor.
Do we believe that PEP members appointed by the Mayor will now be free to vote their conscience? There is no reason to. Under the current model, control is everything.
Do we believe that the demonization of teachers and teacher tenure will be opposed by Chancellor Walcott. There is no reason to. Either Walcott supports Mayor Bloomberg’s attacks or he has chosen not to stand up to the Mayor on this issue.
No matter what happens, it is doubtful that Mr. Walcott will find himself joining Cathie Black under Bloomberg’s school bus. Too much is at stake for this Mayor. In the end, it is the next Mayoral administration that will hopefully follow a modus operandi very different from Bloomberg’s. The first way for this to happen is for our elected officials to unite now and make changes to New York State’s education law. The second strategy is to hold all 2013 Mayoral candidates accountable for changing their attitude towards DOE matters – whether the law specifies such changes or note. The third is for all parents to remain vigilant and active in defense of quality public schools.
Hon. Chris Owens was one of 14 petitioners who sued to remove Cathie Black from her position as chancellor. He is a member of the NY State Democratic Committee and the district leader for the 52ndAssembly District.