City & state lawyers argued commissioner had the latitude to interpret education regulations as he saw fit."

"City and state lawyers argued that the language allowing Dr. Steiner to waive the graduate course requirement meant he could waive the master’s degree requirement as well, and that he had the latitude to interpret education regulations as he saw fit."

Arguments begin in lawsuits in the case regarding Cathie Black

Albany County Supreme Court judges heard the arguments regarding the case of Cathie Black whether or not the State Commissioner of  Education David Steiner acted appropriately in his decision to grant the controversial waiver because she lacks a graduate degree and qualifications to be the NYC Chancellor.
In the New York Post today Kelly Munkwitz of the state attorney general's office said, "The commissioner interprets the regulation’s requirement for a master’s degree to be waivable — and the commissioner must have the discretion to look at it in context."
What about the procedures for asking for the waiver?  The three lawsuits don't specifically address  this issue  whether the commissioner violated the steps set up in state education law to grant the waiver.

Murdock poaches Klein to cash in on the lucrative federal new market tax credits

"...we're going to see a huge transformation in the field of education and it's going to be driven in terms of innovative solutions by private markets." Rupert Murdock poached Joel Klein to New Corp. for this reason.

David Bloomfield CUNY Professor expert advisor to lawyers challenging Cathie Black Waiver

David Bloomfield, Esq.

Some of the best attorneys in Civil Rights and Education Law advising plaintiffs in State Supreme Court  against the waiver issue granted to Cathie Black to serve as the NYC Schools Chancellor in hearings that commenced this week on Monday.
In a Huffington Post column David Bloomfield, Esq., Chair of the  Department of Education Staten Island, CUNY and Professor of Educational Leadership, Law and Policy, CUNY Graduate Centers to "... serve as an expert advisor to one team of attorneys challenging the certification waiver granted by State Education Commissioner David Steiner." Other attorneys: 
Norman Siegel,  Roger Wareham, Ramon Jimenez and Eric J. Snyder.

Cathie Black interview 2007 Travis Smiley program

 PBS Interview with Cathie Black in 2007 on the Travis Smiley Show,  watch the video.

"There are times when you hit a roadblock. There are times when you hit a wall. What I want to say is, all right, you really have two simple choices. You can sit there and be angry or be disappointed or become nasty if it's not going to work out for you, or you say, "You know what? I've hit a wall here. It's time for me to polish up my resume, it's time for me to start networking, it's time for me to really evaluate am I really unhappy here, and if so, are the problems mine or are the problems the company or the product," or whatever your responsibility is. So I always like to say pick yourself up by your bootstraps, and move on and find a new situation."

Cathie Black, December 2007

Chancellor to be Cathie Black has "hit a wall here."

Daley names interim CPS chief - Chicago Sun-Times

Some background on the new chief in this story in the Chicago Sun-Times

Daley names interim CPS chief - Chicago Sun-Times

School board yanks proposals for new charter schools

New Chicago Public Schools (CPS) interim chief, Terry Mazany, the head of the Chicago Community Trust, recently appointed to the helm of the CPS denied the request of nine charter schools to open issuing the statement: "We simply do not have any budget flexibility to allocate dollars that will not lead directly to improved educational outcomes for all of our students."

School board yanks proposals for new charter schools

School Board member Vivian O. Evans, East District Resigns!

East District School Board member Vivian O. Evans resigned yesterday amid allegations she doesn't live in Buffalo. The Telephone records the Buffalo News requested under FOIL showed she lived in another State since July 2010. Some folks still want to know why the other School Board members (Jacobs & Johnson), including Superintendent James A. Williams who knew about her whereabouts didn't offer much help as they attempted to investigate her residency issue? The telephone records show they were in touch with her eversince she left town.

The School Board has 30 days to fill the vacancy, otherwise, the Mayor to appoint. Evans won by 15 votes against Buffalo State College Professor Theresa A. Harris-Tigg who many believe the reason why the faction on the Board aligned with the Superintendent Williams kept silent about Evans' residency & new place of employment to stop her from filling the seat. If so, the people want to know what happened here, the Board members involved, and why?

Cathie Black Skipped Student Press Conference

 Students at Francis Lewis High School  in Queens attend classes in an overcrowded building designed for 2,800 students,  the enrollement is 4,200 today. Overcrowding at the high school one of the issues on the agenda  students wanted to discuss with the incoming Chancellor  Cathie Black. But she never showed up  to the press conference or meeting on Thursday, December 9th at 7 AM at the school. They are among the brightest and academically talented ethnically diverse students in the New York City Schools.

In a  NY1 video   student leaders said,   "Students are lacking in inspiration at a time  when they need it most."Others cited how"students...who live in ...bad neighborhoods who want to go to their zone schools...forced to leave because of violence." And they want to "...understand  what it is (Cathie Black) plans to do about issues ...within...the school system."  They just "want to know her plan." Still others like Khaair Morrison say, "Students are in the classrooms students see the budget cut first hand."

Violence in the schools, the school budget cuts, school closings,  as well as disparities in the curriculum and college prep other issues and concerns  they listed on the flyer.
Instead of meeting with the student leaders,  the NYC Department of Education said the Chancellor could not attend their meeting.  Meanwhile, she visited mostly elementary schools doing  photo op with the pre-school and kindergarten children unlikely to ask her any critical questions.
The parents in June this year received a letter from Joel Klein, NYC Schools Chancellor about the up-coming budget cuts and the  more "shared sacrifices" the students have to continue making. What  would Francis Lewis (1713-1802)  say to the students? He signed the Declaration of Independence active in the Revolutionary movement,  a likely leader of the New York Sons of Liberty, and member of the NY Revolutionary committee that later had helped to set up the State government.
Or the great African-American abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)words:

"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation…want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters…. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

Frederick Douglass, 1857

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"Charlatan" to be Cathie Black on Good Day: She wants to continue raising the bar for NYC Schools. Yet, she got the bar lowered to be Chancellor

In this interview on Thursday, December 9, 2010, she had to guess at the make up of the student population in the NYC Schools because she didn't know when asked about the issue of diversity in the schools. NYC students, staff, teachers, administrators and all those involved with the schools deserve a highly educated well-prepared professional in the field of education not someone Mayor Bloomberg picked from his personal address book so others say of his appointment, "That's it!" The world is watching as Bloomberg and Mrs. Black have made a mockery of the New York City Schools.

Poll: Is it the proper time for the issues in the Latino Agenda Report to have been disclosed to the Governor-Elect Cuomo?

Poll: Is it the proper time for the issues in the Latino Agenda Report to have been disclosed to the Governor-Elect Cuomo?

“I’ve got the job; I’ve got the job. I am their chancellor.”

 In a FOX  News interview on Friday, December 10, Mrs. Cathie Black  said, 

 "None of this is productive,” Ms. Black said.

 “I’ve got the job; I’ve got the job. I am their chancellor.”

Photo credit: AP

Hundreds of protesters wearing red assembled in front of the Tweed Courthouse Building 12/2, where the NYC Education Department located. This photo taken early as the demonstrators joined the group, the crowd got larger estimated at over 500, later  in the evening.
"None of this is productive!" according to Chancellor in-waiting, Cathie Black.  Never mind there are three lawsuits pending in  NYS Supreme Court with a hearing date of December 23rd.
The 3 active lawsuits against Cathie Black waiver all have a Court Date appearance on Dec 23, 2010 in Albany Supreme Court.Filed on Dec 3, 2010 by attorney Eric J Snyder. Index#: 008112-2010 in Albany. Eric J Snyder vs. NYS Board of Regents, et al ;Filed on Dec 6, 2010 by attorney Roger Wareham. Index#: 008163-2010 in Albany. Alex Coss vs. NY Board of Regents, et al ;Filed on Dec 7, 2010 by attorney Norman Siegel. Index#: 008212-2010 in Albany. Hakeem Jeffries vs. David Steiner, et al  (Ana Silva, NYT, Comments, City Room, 12/10/10

Second Lawsuit on Cathie Black Critics hopeful her appointment blocked

Capitol Tonight reporter Liz benjamin announced Cathie Black lawsuit No. 2. Attorneys Norman Siegel and Herbert Teitelbaum submit 2nd lawsuit on behalf of fourteen parents and Assemblyman Hakim  Jeffries a critic of the embattled Chancellor possibly not-to be  Cathie Black submitted to NYS Supreme Court.  It is the 2nd lawsuit challenging her qualifications for job. Here is  the Petitioners' Memorandum of Law in support of their application for Judgement Pursuant to Article 78 and the Verified Petition.
Still, in the first lawsuit attorney Eric Snyder also takes issue with the qualifications of Cathie Black. Yet the lawsuits don't cite the procedural violations in the decision of Commissioner Steiner to accept the application from Mayor Bloomberg instead of the board of education or the Panel for Education Policy in the first place.

Student leader Khaair heads panel interested in meeting with chancellors

A flyer announcing, "students want less criticism and more meaningful dialogue, Khaair Morrison, student advocate with fellow classmates has organized a  youth conference at the Francis Lewis High School to get to know Cathie Black since "she has said that public opposition is based on the fact that we don't know her."

The flyer cited, "in January, she'll be Chancellor and we may have wasted all this time up till then protesting something we don't even have the authority to change." Echoing the words of Cathie Black..."it's time to move forward."

But don't expect to contact him directly there is a telephone number on the flyer to get in touch with "his Pr/manager, who is handling everything," including setting up all his meetings though he has an e-mail address to contact him.

The Panel wants to address issues such as overcrowding, school closings, budget cuts, and disparities in curriculum and college prep.  Mr. Morrison is a motivational speaker, addressing youth conferences, and speaking at colleges in the city such as Hunter and Columbia University.  He made head line news in the spring when the metro authorities had planned to eliminate the free Student Metro Cards.

What Happened to the PEP resolution to request the certificate: Coalition for Public Education at PEP Meeting, Nov. 16th, 2010.

Statement from Patrick Sullivan a member on the Panel for Educational Policy Mayor Bloomberg created to consolidate his power on the NYC Schools:

 "I've been here 3 1/2 years sometimes it feels like a seat on a front row called the Death of Democracy!"

How Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner of Education Steiner, the city corporation counsel and eight members of PEP hookwink the people of NYC! In this video thanks to the Coalition for Public Education the whole world can tune in and watch how Cathie Black got her  illegal waiver to become the NYC Schools Chancellor.