Is It Possible that 2 + 2 = 5 for Cathleen Black?
The timing may just be coincidental, and the interrelationships may be just as coincidental, but it is difficult to ignore their convergence. Is it possible that Mayor Bloomberg, or perhaps Joel Klein himself, engineered a recent appointment of Cathleen Black to the National Leadership Board of Harlem Village Academy's (HVA's) charter school network in order to strengthen her otherwise nonexistent education experience in advance of naming her as Joel Klein's prospective successor?
Consider first that Ms. Black's prior education credentials, as now being reported in the New York Times, appear to consist of having once attended a mentor day with Michelle Obama at a Detroit school, and having once been the figurehead "principal for a day" at a Bronx school. Add to this the fact that she just joined the HVA National Leadership Board "a few months ago" and has yet to actually attend any meetings. Throw on top of that the information that the co-chair of this advisory board (along with singer John Legend) is Rupert Murdoch, a multi-million-dollar contributor to HVA, and top it all off with the announcement that Joel Klein is taking an education industry, strategy-related position at Murdoch's News Corporation.
Considering the somewhat greasy incestuousness of it all, combined with Mayor Bloomberg's penchant for "keeping it all in the multi-millionaire,