Cathleen Black Is Out as City Schools Chancellor

Cathleen Black Is Out as City Schools Chancellor

            Cathleen P. Black was urged to resign as chancellor of the New York City schools.  She was appointed for the position three months ago, and her quick resignation was a surprising as her appointment.  Ms. Black offended many parents during her three month reign, and received the lowest approval rating (17%) that any Bloomberg administration official has ever received.  Ms. Black was replaced by Deputy Mayor Dennis M. Walcott.  Walcott has many connections with the school system.  He taught kindergarten for two years, has spent years in public service, holds master’s degrees in education and in social work, and headed the Urban League for 12 years.  After all of that on his record, he does not meet all of the credentials required under state law, so he must get a waiver from the state education commissioner before he can become chancellor. 

            Three months working as chancellor is not a very long time.  She must have really been unqualified for the job to only last that long.  According to the article she really upset many parents and needed a lot of coaching to understand each separate aspect of the education policy.  The article also says that Ms. Black was a magazine executive with no educational experience before she was appointed.  How is someone who has never worked in education supposed to perform well in her position?  I really feel bad that she was put into this position.  I understand that we need a change in the running of schools in the United States, but I think appointments should be made to people who at least have some experience in education.  It seems like appointing someone without experience is a step in the wrong direction.