Parents, Community Leaders React To Schools Chancellor Compromise - Little Neck, NY Patch

Parents, Community Leaders React To Schools Chancellor Compromise - Little Neck, NY Patch

Parents, Community Leaders React To Schools Chancellor Compromise

A mostly positive verdict on deal clearing way for Cathie Black to lead city's 1.1 million public schoolchildren

By Paul Leonard | Email the author | 3:30pm

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Area residents contacted by Patch on Sunday reacted mostly favorably to a recent deal clearing the way for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's pick for schools chancellor.

Cathleen Black, a former media executive with no background in education, received a waiver from State Education Commissioner David Steiner on Friday. In exchange for the nod, the Bloomberg administration agreed to hire a veteran educator as Black's second-in-command.

"I'm just glad the uncertainty is over," said Irene Yoo, a mother of two boys at J.H.S. 67 in Little Neck. "It's time to move on."

Yoo, like many other parents and some elected officials, said she was "irked" by the Black's lack of classroom experience. However, the appointment of career educator Shael Polakow-Suransky as chief academic officer seemed to allay most of her