Today in WTF: "New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein is resigning to join News Corp., ending an eight-year reign at the helm of the nation's largest school system. In his place, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to announce Cathie Black, chairwoman of Hearst Magazines. She would be the first woman charged with running New York City's 1,500 schools and more than one million students." Did I already say WTF? Because, you know, WTF?
The (private sector) war to capture as much of the (publicly funded) education-dollar is rather clearly on. "Mr. Klein will act as a senior advisor to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch working on 'business strategies for the emerging educational marketplace'" That someone from Hearst Magazines would be replacing Mr. Klein makes perfect sense.
Murdoch: I'm poaching your school superintendant, you lame-duck midget, and I'm going to put a paywall around your schools from the inside and sell the fuck out of my titles in there. Bloomberg: Fine, I'm replacing him from Hearst. We'll have Cosmo and a Bloomberg terminal in every high-school library, you cadaverous fascist.
The education mayor has certainly schooled this city.
Clearly when you have a large surplus population you don't give a shit about, running the schools becomes an exercise in cost minimization and bullshit. Who needs educators to run schools? You need managers with a talent for lying.
I really hope he appoints Si Newhouse to run Sanitation.
Hey! You got your dying media industry in my thankless public sector job! You got your thankless public sector job in my dying media industry!
Two bitter tastes that taste synergistic together.
Think about this as a personnel-cum-PR problem. How can you hire another experienced educator to run the New York school system? Because he or she would have to come from a jurisdiction that is not New York City. Poach the head of the Chicago or Boston or LA school system? Really?
Thus, corporate butts on chairs.
There have been Superintendents from other school systems, but most of the time they spent their time battling the Mayor. This was in the bad old days of the Board of Ed and 110 Livingston Street.
Education is an area of interest for News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch... believes the sector is "ripe for innovation"...
Hmm. Get 'em young.
I don't think Tweed even has a cafeteria.
This was sort of my reaction: what's in it for her? Lifelong ambition to be a tabloid villainess?
The key qualification to head the NYC public school system is not to have school-aged kids, or even better, no kids at all.
But think of the uniforms!
To be fair, our new chancellor does have some education experience. She currently sits on the board of a charter school where teacher attrition has ranged from 42 to 72 percent and the student suspension rate was 62%.
Sulzberger 4 School Board!