Cathie Black: How can this be what we need? Part I – No Gaps
[Lynne Winderbaum, retired ESL teacher from JFK, longtime Chapter Leader, and through most of the Bloomberg years, our Bronx UFT HS District Representative, responds to the announcement that Joel Klein is leaving and that Mayor Bloomberg is trying to appoint Cathie Black to replace him. This is part 1 of 3. The second part will appear Friday, and the series will conclude on Sunday.]
I hope there are some people waking up this morning feeling optimistic about the future of New York City school children now that there is a “superstar manager who has succeeded in the private sector” entrusted with our students’ fate and future. But I woke up this morning feeling less hope than yesterday. It is as if all of the failures of the past eight years are considered worthy of replication. Cathie Black’s appointment is a confirmation of blind faith in the direction and policies that clearly have not improved the education of New York City children, created too many ill-conceived organizational changes and uncertainty in our schools, encouraged dishonesty to show pleasing data, and demoralized a teaching force that will need to be counted on as the only constant in an ever changing system.
By reaching into his circle of friends to find a leader for New York City schools, Mayor Bloomberg has