The big news today is that Cathie Black is out as New York City schools chancellor. The former magazine executive had taken over just three months ago, filling the spot of departing chancellor Joel Klein.
The New York Times is reporting she resigned at the request of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Her replacement will be Deputy Mayor Dennis M. Walcott.
The news caps a string of top departures for the department. Four high ranking officials left the department since Black took over, two in this week alone.
More links:
- New Yorker editor Amy Davidson shares an anecdote that might explain Black’s 17 percent approval rating.
- Dropout Nation predicts cackles from reform critics and excuses from reformers themselves.
- Gotham Schools live-blogged the announcement.
- The Associated Press calls Black one of the “deepest embarrassments of (Bloomberg’s) administration.”
- New York Observer says one borough president likened Black’s tenure to the Titanic, saying “this ship has been sinking with more than one million school children on board.”
- Jeff Bercovici at Forbes has thoughts on why Black didn’t do well in her position, harkening back to her days as a magazine exec.
- Portfolio.com considers why Bloomberg likes people from the business world around him and why that didn’t work out this time.
- Gothamist says Walcott, a former teacher and NYC schools grad, appears to be the “anti-Black,” saying “I’m just a guy from Queens.”
- Union president says Black doesn’t get a grade because “she wasn’t in the class for a semester…”
- DNAinfo.com has a profile of Walcott up already.
- Bloomberg (the news outfit) has a pretty dry piece up. They do point out Walcott will need a waiver like Black (and Klein) did because he doesn’t have school admin experience.
Found an interesting link we don’t have up? Email it to mchenry@tc.edu.
