Michelle Rhee back again

Former Chancellor of the Washington, D.C., Michelle Rhee is flexing her muscle again, leading a newly created political advocacy group Students First. She hopes to raise $1 Billion to promote "transformative reform" in education by supporting laws , politicians, school board candidates, and members of   Congress, hoping to cash in on new changes in campaign finance laws that would allow billionaire philanthropist to pay for her advertisement bills as long as the public ignores the scandal involving her fiance former NBA star Kevin Johnson. Okay, so she doesn't have a squeaky clean background and allegedly covers up things for her long distant beau, but she's Michelle Rhee allowed some dalliances with public education. She worked two years at the Harlem Park Elementary School in Baltimore, Maryland an inner city school where she taped the mouths shut of her black 3rd grade students as she led them to the cafeteria in silence. When the children approached the cafeteria  they  started to pull the tape off their lips along with pieces of flesh as  blood oozed out.
"Yo", I'm not attempting to denigrate the  queen of privatizing public education here she conveyed this story herself to fresh recruits into the Teach for America program that launched her own career in 1996. After teaching two solid years she founded a special program soliciting corporate sponsorship, the New Teacher's Project that provided studies to the Chicago Public Schools on how to recruit the best teachers to inner-city schools. Former D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty  who Billionaire Bill Gates supported lost his re-election bid in November while simultaneously the scandal about Rhee's long distance beau erupted in the pages of the national media along with the child abuse stories. So when the rumors circulated throughout the district about the shady personal life and early public school career of the controversial chancellor she resigned though  her beau's sex scandal and reports of child abuse helped to end her career as a school leader. It is unclear if Ms. Rhee is able to work in a school system due to the child abuse cases later lodged against her when she admitted to taping the mouths of poor black children. So that's why she found another way to rake in money from philanthropist as she has been doing since her early days in the New Teacher's Project.

On the StudentsFirst website and blog it cites, "Right now, teachers all over the country are losing their jobs not because of what they do every day in their classrooms, but because they are newer to a district than others," and they call it "bad educational policies." And one "issue she would tackle, she said, was the practice of laying off teachers, according to their contracts, by seniority rather than classroom effectiveness in the NYTimes story of her "come back." 
She is unfit to be around children yet wants to be the mouth piece of the powerful school privatizing groups paying her the quarter million dollar salary she had grown  accustomed to earning once again pimping herself out for them touted as a big "come back" in the media.
 How else is she going to pay for her extravagant wedding in California to the scandal ridden NBA beau with  President Obama his best man, an aficionado of basketball while U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan chauffeurs the presidential limousine.

Due to bad education policies, great teachers are losing their jobs | StudentsFirst.org

It's the bomb! Cathie sends out an e-mail to all NYC principals

Her appointment still up in the air, a parent initiated a lawsuit this week alleging Cathie Black does not have a Master's degree, a requirement for the position she does not possess, therefore, her waiver should be annulled.  And other lawsuits pending, and questions of whether the waiver is valid considering neither Commissioner David M. Steiner or Mayor Michael Bloomberg followed the procedures in State Education Law to issue her a certificate as a school district administrator. Yet Black's response to  those protesting her secretive appointment is  "let's put all of that aside.  I've this position. Let's "move forward."
And she is moving forward. On Saturday, December 4, the South Bronx School Blog in  "Cathie Black's Baffling Email to Principals" posted the email she sent out to all principals in the NYC Schools.  Black sent out the email on Tuesday,  with the subject "Hello from Cathie Black, thanking the principals for welcoming her into the DOE (Department of Education).  Yet, Art McFarland, a channel 7 newscaster who interviewed Black on Friday reported many of those same principals upset with her appointment as the new chancellor and her lack of credentials in education.
A prominent hedge fund investor Whitney Tilson had received a copy of the e-mail as well, sending it out to all of his hedge fund people,  and his charter schools buddies, having answered too the prayers of the blogger hoping to get a copy of it.
Black started the email by saying, "Now that the State has officially approved the waiver," she "is eager to immerse herself in the exciting work ahead." She said, she is "fully committed to our mission to provide every child in NYC with a high-quality education," though she lacks one herself. And the last thing many of those principals want to hear is that she "took the job--to build on the...progress...of Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein. What progress? In what areas?
She writes how in "four decades I devoted my professional life to blazing trails in the magazine and publishing industry." What does it have to do with education?  Why would a highly educated cadre of school administrators want to listen to someone  that for forty years "devoted her life to...magazines and publishing industry?" What trail blazing has she done in education?
While she writes she "intends to proceed in the same way"  in her "up-coming tenure at the DOE (Department of Education) as she did in her former job as a magazine executive. She sees it as her "most important mission." So she needs them (the principals) over the next three years as she transforms the system to put children first.
And she writes, "as you know, I will appoint Shael Polakow-Suransky as Senior Deputy Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer. Hmmm, wonder if she understand the title to create it in the first place. She explains his duties and how he "will serve as my counselor..." She mentions Sharon Greenberger "as my Chief Operating Officer...also serve as my key advisor... Over the next few weeks she'll be working with...all of them to make sure this is a seamless transition." She's excited about getting involved...and beginning to identify areas of improvement...She acknowledges she has "a lot to learn about the inner workings of the system, but confident...her fresh perspective, combined with their deep experiences will help us rise to the challenge of preparing all NYC public school students for college and careers." She "thanks you for your support..look forward to getting to know you."
I'm sure just as bloggers in education are having a field day with the e-mail, the principals are likely scratching their heads saying, huh? And she didn't  mention the teachers in the e-mail only sent it to her underlings, the principals most of them disconcerted about her appointment. In her interview with Art Mcfarland she said  the budget constrained and she doesn't believe in seniority or  tenure and doesn't like the idea of younger inexperienced teachers (she called the one with the fresh ideas ) "last in first out." And in this previous e-mail  casually written she is used the word hello never used the title chancellor sounded as though the principals all her buddies.

Mayor Bloomberg has to appoint another chancellor Cathie Black can not be sworn in as the NYC Chancellor in January

 The Panel for Educational Policy "...the lawless Panel was set up in 2002. Bloomberg did away with a vote for school boards and local school boards. We, the public, have no representation by election of any person currently sitting in positions of deciding our children's futures," wrote Betsy Combier in the NYC Rubber Room Reporter.
If Mayor Bloomberg did away with the board of education the Legislature still "continued" in the Act to amend the Education Law of 2002 and 2010, and the Panel for Educational policy he created has no legal authority because it is not the "board of education" named in the law, the certificate the Commissioner of Education issued to Cathie Black is open to legal challenges and invalid.  The only way for a certificate to be issued to her is through an entity specifically named the "board of education" in the Act to amend the Education Law of 2002 and 2010.
Since Joel Klein steps down at the end of December, the Mayor has to appoint another person that fully has the education and training the Education Law stipulates where an alternative route is not needed as is the case with Mrs. Black who does not meet the qualifications. The request can not come from the Mayor, the procedure set up in Education Law stipulates it has to come from the "board of education" the one dissolved in 2002 replaced with the Panel for Educational Policy.
Commissioner Steiner erred in accepting the request from Mayor Bloomberg to issue a professional certificate to Cathie Black. 

Borough President Stringer attempted to block mayor to submit Black's name directly to Commissioner Steiner

During a meeting Tuesday night (Nov. 16) of the city's Education Policy Panel, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer backed a move that would have blocked the mayor's authority to submit Black's name directly to the State Education Commissioner. But that failed, so the commissioner will now get Black's name and he must decide whether to grant her a waiver because she doesn't have a background in education."

I'm uncertain of what happened here but Borough President Stringer correctly acted here in attempting to block  Mayor Bloomberg from directly submitting the name of Cathie Black to the Commissioner of Education David M. Steiner.  The procedures in NYS Education Law gives this body the authority to request the certificate from the Commissioner. The Education Policy Panel decision to allow the Mayor to directly submit the request violated the procedures set up Education Law.  That's why the Commissioner Steiner erred in his decision to accept it directly from the Mayor issuing a professional certificate to Cathie Black. Until the Commissioner follows the proper procedure that certificate is invalid open to procedural challenges.

The procedure for requesting the certificate:

"the Commissioner of Education at the request of a board of education..., may provide for the issuance of a professional certificate as a school district leader (superintendent of schools)...Prior to the appointment of such individual the board must obtain the approval from the Commissioner.  In its formal request to the department the board must submit its resolution noting...approval of the request..."
Education Law S3003(3) and 8 NYCRR S80-3.10(b) (3) (iii)

And as long as the NYS  Assembly and Senate "maintained" the board of education in the mayoral control legislation it passed 2002 and 2009, it must request the certificate not the mayor though in this case requested on behalf of the mayor.

First TV interview with the NYC Schools "Charlatan" Cathie Black

The Art McFarland, newscaster for  ABC channel 7  interview with NYC Schools Chancellor Cathie Black, Friday, December 3rd, is the 2nd one of a three part interview.

 Mrs. Black provided troubling responses to questions dealing with contract negotiations and teacher tenure/seniority, parroting what someone else trained her to say less the vision of a seasoned educator prepared to take the helm of the largest school system in the nation.

McFarland said, "Publishing executive Cathie Black has led thousands of employees but she's never done business with the kinds of labor unions she will now have to face. The powerful United Teachers Federation still does not have a contract with the city. And in Mrs. Black the UFT may be facing a tough negotiator."

 Mrs. Black said, "there is not a lot of gives to gives. We are very budget constrained."

In the second question asked, "Would you like to see some changes to the system of teacher tenure? Would you like to make it easier for you and your colleagues in the education department to dismiss teachers that don't come up to your standards?"

 "Well first of all that's why we feel very strongly about teacher evaluation. At this point in time a teacher has an S/U at the end of year, a five minute conversation perhaps with the principal satisfactory or unsatisfactory. I couldn't run an organization of 200 people or 2000 people by saying to somebody at the end of year "S" versus "U" nor can I imagine at age 25 or 24 saying to somebody you have life time guarantee for this position. Just show up every day, it's inconceivable. "

"And I don't agree with  last in first out cause... were going to get a lot of the newer, younger fresher ideas that  also have been  serving  in the most disadvantaged communities."

 Mr. McFarland: "That approach ....would... revolutionize the relationship between the city and the teachers union? Are you prepared to take that on?

"We have to make sure that the union is in agreement,  that it is children first. Children first  is really at the heart of what teacher should be doing.  There should be ways  that we can work at this."

"Give me a chance ...I will listen ... ,  I will be out in the community...  get to know me. Don't judge someone that you have never even met."

Cathie Black doesn't possess a master's degree parent filed lawsuit have waiver annulled

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/nyregion/blackdocuments.pdf

Protest, rallies and more lawsuits on the Cathie Black appointment

The Brooklyn Ink blog reported over 100 protesters gathered Thursday once more outside the Tweed Courthouse their spirits uplifted when" a group of about fifteen teenage students joined the protest and climbed to the top of the steps, triggering applause from the crowd who gathered at 4 PM" to protest the appointment of media mogul Cathie Black NYC Schools Chancellor. Mayor Micheal Bloomberg appointed her chancellor last month amid an out pour of protest, rallies, demonstrations, on-line petitions with nearly 12,000 signatures.


Attorneys Roger Wareham and Ramon Jimenez representing the Freedom Party in a lawsuit the papers being prepared to file soon.

Law suits starting to come in on the Cathie Black appointment chancellor NYC Schools

Eric J. Snyder, a lawyer and a parent with two children in the NYC public schools  filed the first law suit against the appointment of Cathie Black who Mayor Michael Bloomberg secretively appointed NYC Schools Chancellor in November amid  protests, rallies, and a petition with  nearly 12,000 signatures from different groups in the community.
 In a NYTimes story , "he said Friday that he decided to file this latest suit because he was concerned that a school system run by Ms. Black would continue to emphasize standardized testing to the exclusion of a broader, more creative curriculum for his two children, Zoe, a seventh grader at Middle School 51, and Gregory, a 10th grader at La Guardia High School for the performing arts."
Attorney Snyder is a partner in the law firm of Wilk Auslander specializing in creditors' rights and bankruptcy reorganization.

Still protesting Cathie Black? "None of this going to change the outcome..."

Chancellor to be Cathie Black spoke out on Friday told the media the secretive process the Mayor Bloomberg used to select her "irrelevant" to the groups protesting and criticizing her back door appointment. 

She told the NYDaily news , she had three words for her critics: "Let's go forward. None of this is going to change the outcome..."

 Never mind nearly 12,000 signed a petition protesting her clandestine appointment, the rallies, protests, and the polls indicating not only the people of NYC, but most parents would prefer to have someone from the field of education at the helm of the NYC schools. 

Her response typical of someone who spent most of her life in a corporation where shared decision-making found in educational institutions foreign to the still would be chancellor demoted herself in June as President of the Hearst magazines to one with less responsibilities.

She managed 2,000 at Hearst and Bloomberg calls her a "world class manager" ready to take on one of the largest public school systems in the nation with a $23 billion dollar budget, 80,000 employees, 1,400 schools, and absolutely no background in public education or the management of schools.

Deny Waiver Coalition Protests against Cathie Black Appointment

Photo credits: Holly Van Voast via album of P. Connelly
C. Barron tagged on Facebook:

Fix Our Public Schools Don't Privatize

C is for CRONY

Cathie Black Must Go Not License Not an Educator!

Commissioner Steiner erred in decision by accepting waiver request from Mayor instead of the Board of Education

The board of education of the city school district of the city of New York, a board of education, school board,  a Panel for Educational Policy,  the Education Policy Panel or the Mayor Bloomberg  rubber-stamp Education Policy Panel according to NYS Education Law is the body that should have requested the Commissioner of Education to issue a certificate to Cathie Black not the Mayor.
Thus, the formal request to Commissioner David Steiner for the issuance of a professional certificate  for Cathie Black  in order to comply with the procedures set up in the Law should have been submitted by this entity still "maintained" in the mayoral control laws the Legislature passed in 2002 and 2009.
NYS Education Law is clear as to what entity has the legal right to request the issuance of a professional certificate as a school district leader (superintendent of schools) to exceptionally qualified persons who do not meet all of the graduate course or school teaching requirements...)
In the case of NYC Schools under Mayoral control since 2002 and again extended in 2009,  prior to making the appointment( of chancellor) "the board must obtain the approval of the Commissioner.  In its formal request to the Department, the board must submit its resolution, noting approval of the request, the job description, its rational for requesting the certificate of the individual, etc.
The Education Policy Panel in replacing the board of education under mayoral control in 2002, still by law the Mayor  appoints eight and the borough presidents one each for a total number of thirteen members. Certainly, with a majority of the members appointed by the Mayor the request from this body should not present a problem for the Mayor, but it is through this entity the request for the issuance of a certificate has to be made. The Mayor still chooses, the procedure is only a matter of formality to comply with NYS Education law, but it is the procedure set up to request a certificate.


(S5887 and  A8903A)

 In August 6, 2009 by an Act to amend the education law, in relation to the New York City board of education, chancellor,...to amend chapter 91 of the laws of 2002...  
1. Section 2590-b
" 1. (a) The board of education of the city school district of the city of New York is hereby continued.  Such board of education shall;.. consist of thirteen appointed members: one member...to be appointed by...each borough president of the city of New York; ...and eight...members to be appointed by the mayor of the city of New York.... The chancellor shall serve as an ex-officio non-voting member of  the city board."

In his decision, Commissioner Steiner,  while acknowledging that education law requires the "board of education" should make the request  to the commissioner for the superintendent's certificate, the provision must be read in the context of the changes made  in 2002 by the Legislature in the governance of the NYC Schools. Chapter 91 of the laws enacted on June 14, 2002, transferred from the Board of Education to the Mayor of the City of New York, the authority to appoint the chancellor of the New York City Schools and also made the chancellor directly accountable to the mayor at whose pleasure the chancellor serves (Chapter 91 of the Laws of 2002 s12 (see also chapter 345 of the laws of 2009) In light of these provisions (mayoral control) it is proper that the Mayor present the application for a school district leader certificate be made by the Mayor."

The Mayor may have the authority to appoint the chancellor at whose pleasure the individual serves but the request for the certificate has to conform to the education law that stipulates it has to be made by the board of education "continued" as well by the Legislature. The Mayor can appoint whomever he wants but this procedure must be followed though only as legal technicality to comply with the law.

In his Decision to grant the waiver, State Education Commissioner, 

Steiner wrote:

"In the Matter of the application of the Mayor of the City of New York for the issuance of Cathleen P. Black of a certificate for service as a school district leader.

Instead should read:

"In the matter of the request of the Board of Education City of New York or (Panel for Educational Policy) for the issuance of Cathleen P. Black  a certificate for service as a school district leader."

And, it might sound "proper" to Commissioner Steiner, but the law requires the board of education to request the certificate not the mayor though he's empowered through mayoral control legislation to appoint the chancellor (notwithstanding he complies  with education and certificate requirements, as well as,  Equal Employment Opportunity laws) to serve at his pleasure.

Mrs. Cathie Black to be appointed NYC Schools Chancellor whether she is qualified or not, the procedures in the statutes must be adhered to and followed in order for her appointment to be a legal one.

Thus, the Board of Education though diminished powers and role is still intact or "continued" through legislation (2002, 2009) it must make the request for the certificate on behalf of the Mayor. 

Recalling Mayor Bloomberg and Temporary Restraining Order Action possibly sought on the Cathie Black Appointment

Groups meeting on Monday in Brooklyn laid out a plan of action to continue protests against the NYC Schools Chancellor-appointed, Media mogul Cathie Black. The plans consist of the following according to the African-American  the NY Amsterdam News:  

1.  a TRO (temporary restraining order) and file an Article 78 in court this week against Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Steiner.” 
2. Hold regular mass protests in front of the Tweed Building. The first demonstration Thursday [December 2] at 4 p.m.,” Tweed Bldg.
3.  Hold mass protests in front of the homes of Mayor Bloomberg, Commission Steiner and Cathie Black.
4.  Demand an end to mayoral control of schools and stop Bloomberg’s atrocious abuse of power. 
5.  Exploring the possibility of a boycott of the schools. 
6. Looking into the legal avenues to see what could be done, if anything, to recall the mayor. 

Groups and individuals attending meeting:The Freedom Party, Deny Waiver Coalition, CEMOTAP (Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to Afrikan People) co-founder Dr. James McIntosh, radio personality Bob Law, Civil Rights attorneys,  Roger Wareham, Norman Siegel , City Council Members,  Jumaane Williams, Charles Barron, Activist Viola Plummer, retired educator Jitu Weusi.

A protest rally planned Thursday, Dec. 2, Tweed Bldg, 4PM.

Protest against Cathie Black continues

Now that State Education Commissioner David Steiner granted the waiver to Cathie Black for NYS Schools Commissioner folks being told to move on it's over.

But the battle wages on so wear a  RED gear, outfit, something the color Red to show your solidarity with those continuing to protest the appointment of Cathie Black.  The protest is tomorrow, Thursday, December 2, 2010 at the Tweed Courthouse bldg, Chambers Street, between Centre & Broadway at 4PM.A legal challenge still pending as the groups disagreeing with her appointment as Chancellor looking at all their options to mount one.

So "Keep Hope Alive!"

Cathie Black: Education Sarah Palin ask Prof. Gary Anderson

The president of New York University York University  signed a letter of support for NYC Schools Chancellor to be Cathie Black, but Gary Anderson, Professor of Education at NYU shared a different perspective  about her in the Huffington Post. 

  "...Steiner, though should know better. Unfortunately, although steeped in philosophy and educational theory, he shares Bloomberg's corporate ideology, and apparently is ultimately a political animal.  He thinks John Dewey was wrong-headed and that he recanted his life's work. Instead of blaming exploding rates of inequality, concentrated poverty, and unemployment for the plight of inner-city youth, he blames progressive educators--progressive both in the Deweyian sense of "child-centered" and in the sense of "left-liberal."

Chancellor to be troubling past on Coca Cola board

Cathie Black knows more about unions and schools as a former member of the Coca Cola Company board of directors public issues and diversity committee, but its not the type you would like to know about related to the human rights record of the company around the globe in Latin America, as well as, questionable tactics used to supply the beverage to schools districts around the country.  NY Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez writes about the shady past of Mrs. Black in "A Closer look at new schools chancellor Cathie Black's resume shows troubling link to Coca-Cola."