Amplify’d from www.observer.com

BREAKING: Panel Declines To Recommend Waiver For Cathie Black By David Freedlander November 23, 2010 | 5:39 p.m The panel advising state education commissioner David Steiner on the appointment of Cathie Black as school chancellor has declined to recommend that she be given a waiver. The panel's recommendation is non-binding, but many people thought that at least the panel was a sure thing for Black, since it included many Bloomberg allies. Three of the panelists have worked for the mayor at the Department of Education. A spokesman for the Bloomberg administration declined to comment. Black, a magazine publishing executive, needed a waiver since under state law she lacks the minimal requirements to head the city's schools, including graduate coursework or teaching experience. Several papers are reporting about conversations with a source close to Steiner saying that the commissioner himself intends to deny the waiver unless Mayor Bloomberg promotes an experience educator to oversee teaching and curriculum. At a news conference earlier today, the mayor said that Black's experience in business was a plus in light of the city's enormous education budget and the coming fiscal difficulties. You want somebody that really has experience in dealing with budgets, business experience, and financial experience. Harder to find, but a lot of people out of habit just don't want to come in to public service. I'm thrilled we've somebody who is willing to do that. We are going to have some very tough budget times ahead...we have to make sure that we can deal with less monies in our school system, making sure that the monies get used as efficiently as we possibly can because we can't walk away from our kids. At the same time the challenges of attracting great people and keeping them to work in our city and our school system is a daunting challenge and that's one thing that Cathie Black has a lot of experience doing. She is a cheerleader. She is somebody that can excite people and bring them together and give them confidence. She has shown that repeatedly. Will update with more information as it comes in. Source URL: http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/breaking-panel-declines-recommend-waiver-cathie-black Read more at www.observer.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/fyff