Posted on by arotherham

Black Tuesday! Update: Bringing Sexy Back!

Not too much more to say than this about Joel Klein’s tenure in New York City.  When you cut through the rhetoric you’re hard pressed to find anyone with a serious argument that the schools are not better today in New York than a decade ago.

Cathie Black is a forceful leader with an interesting career behind her, buckle up!

Update:  He brought sexy back? In the NY Times Joe Williams says Klein made education sexy again. Seems like a throwaway line but actually there is a lot to that sentiment.  Klein has an influential network in a variety of fields including politics, government, the law, and business.  So, when he was attacked and called all these crazy things and accused of this and that it rebounded against the very people launching the salvos.  Klein’s network knew Klein and knew that the various accusations just didn’t ring right and it changed how they looked at things.  So while it may have been politically complicated in terms of the ins and outs of New York politics, Joel leading the New York City schools changed how a lot of influential people in this country thought about education issues.  Absent Joel you would not have seen the same rapid pace in the shift in coverage and emphasis that you have or some of the informal signaling around the issue.

8 Replies to “Black Tuesday! Update: Bringing Sexy Back!”

  1. why wasn’t michelle rhee hired?

    and

    what’s with News Corp. picking up Klein and wanting to enter the “education marketplace”? Fox News for Kids?

    strange times in reform-land? or just a new revelation?

  5. I think what Joe meant was that Klein — with a lot of Bloomberg help — put education on the City’s celebrity front burner. Let’s face it, there’s no business like show business and Mayor Mike brought education to Broaday — and the front pages. I like to remind people that my interview with the Mayor for an Education Next story was cut short by Shakira! And she was there to talk about poverty! Only in New York.

  6. DFER statement: “The last thing we need is someone stepped [sic] in a culture that for far too long tolerated mediocrity and placed harmony ahead of progress.While Ms. Black’s style may differ from Chancellor Klein’s, we firmly believe that Mayor Bloomberg’s unwaivering [sic] commitment to reform will shine through.That is what our schools need.And given her proven ability to manage people, manage large organizations, and implement change, the skills and approach she will bring to the job far surpasses [sic] any statutory preference for someone with a history in the education world.”

    Great grammar and spelling!!! So, DFER writers were past grads of NYC high schools and were showing the low standards in the pre-Klein era?

  7. Well, it appears Ms Black will continue the sexy.
    “Click here for her iPod Sex Position OTD app.”

    “Are you going to charge for that sex tip of the day?” the host, Frank Sesno, asked.

    “Yeah, $2.99,” Ms. Black replied, as the host and other guests erupted into giggles. “$2.99,” she repeated. “Cheaper than a hooker,” she continued, before adding, “I didn’t say that, did I?”

  8. El Diario doesn’t care too much for the selection of Mrs. Black:

    Bloomberg’s private players club
    | 2010-11-12 | El Diario NY
    Mayor Bloomberg shuffled his private player list to select a chancellor to guide the future of 1 million public school students.
    Most people, including top level folks at New York’s Department of Education (DOE), were blindsided by Joel Klein’s sudden departure to a News Corp position that seems to have been created for him.
    Bloomberg didn’t bother with consulting educators as he secretly handpicked Klein’s successor, Cathie Black, a wealthy publishing executive who lives on Park Avenue and in Connecticut. His selection of Black has provoked a host of questions and concerns, which Bloomberg and his supporters are quick to dismiss as naysaying.
    Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson claimed that Bloomberg did not announce Klein’s departure or a search because he didn’t want to destabilize the school system. But if Bloomberg was so concerned about a seamless transition, then it stands to reason that he could have plucked a seasoned leader from the ranks of the DOE.
    This decision is a complete deviation from his claim to choose people based on merit and qualifications—a response he has given to questions around diversity in the largely white City Hall. It appears that the standards change on whim.
    Black, who indeed may be a fantastic manager in the business world, comes with no background in education and has had no substantive contact with public schools. Not even as a corporate partner or volunteer. For all the criticism of Klein, his formation was relevant to the population he served. He is a Queens-bred New Yorker who attended public schools, worked in public interest law and was involved in civil rights litigation. That background at least made it seem that he was sensitive to the needs of children in an inequitable school system.
    It seems cynical to put the future of New York City’s public schoolchildren (overwhelmingly our Latino kids) in the hands of someone the mayor could only describe as a dear friend. It is even more cynical to have his buddies in the mainstream media jump quickly on board to support his choice unconditionally. Perhaps it’s different when the children of your top editors and writers are not condemned to a dysfunctional system.

    http://www.impre.com/eldiariony/opinion/2010/11/12/bloombergs-private-players-clu-221957-1.html#commentsBlock

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