A fine mess you've got us into, Rahm

Taking it to the suites

“I wanted an entire new board, an entire new corporate suite because what’s happening today both on the finances and the educational scores — needs to be shaken up. And what I know in my heart [is that] the people of the city do not think we’re doing what we need to do for our children.” -- Sun-Times

Emanuel isn't even officially mayor yet and he's already got the city and its schools in a fine mess. His appointment of the embattled J.C. Brizard as our new schools CEO rivals only Bloomberg's pick of Cathie Black in N.Y. as most embarrassing. Anyone paying attention should have seen this coming.

Back in 2008, Gary Stager, a senior editor at District Administration Magazine described Brizard as being reality-impaired and driven by ideology. His condemnation, by 95% of Rochester teachers should have been a clue, even to the most clueless. His inability to find any common ground with Adam Urbanski, probably the most reform-minded union leader in the country, not only is a tip-off to Brizard's style of work, it also tips the new mayor's hand, showing that with union negotiations on the near horizon, he too has little or no interest in bargaining in good faith.

By picking Brizard, without any consultation or input from the school community, Rahm has somehow managed to mire himself, his new school board, and the city in a major scandal. Brizard's violation of his three-year contract in Rochester, which began Jan. 1, reveals not only a lack of commitment or integrity, but also has that district's board president threatening litigation.

It's only taken the Chicago media (with some help from local bloggers and Rochester journalists like Rachel Barnhart) about a week to expose Brizard's phony test-score and graduation-rate gains. A Rochester "miracle"? The honeymoon is therefore declared over before it's even begun.

Here's the Rahm-friendly Sun-Times backtracking on its support for the Brizard appointment:. 

During a news conference to announce his financial team, Emanuel flatly denied that his vetting process was flawed and that he was misled on Rochester graduation rates before choosing Brizard. Data provided by the New York State Department of Education and the Rochester School District Wednesday indicate that some discrepancies critics have pounced on were due to one agency reporting a four-year graduation rate as of June and the other reporting it as of August, as well as an increase in the passing bar for state tests.

As I have maintained from the beginning, this is more about Rahm Emanuel than it is about Brizard. While Brizard showed himself to be an opportunist bureaucrat, ready and willing to come into the city to serve as Rahm's hatchet man, to close and charterize schools, fire hundreds of good, experienced teachers, it's Emanuel and his autocratic control of the schools that's the real problem here.

Tribune columnist Eric Zorn writing the same day the corporate-loving Trib declared Brizard to be  "our kind of guy to lead Chicago schools."

Can Rochester, N.Y., superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard (left) pad a payroll? Skirt the rules? Spend frivolously? Distort statistics to make himself look good? Infuriate his constituents with a high-handed style? Check, check, check, check and check.

Rahm rushed into this mess because of his imperial style of work, learned first in his days as a local machine politician and then honed as Obama's bullying chief of staff. Like any good politician, he ran his campaign with the promise of radical change.

But one larger question remains unanswered. Why is Rahm talking radical change in the city's school reform agenda, sweeping out the entire reform board, and  even buying a "new corporate suite" when we've always  been told of the great progress the schools were making under the previous corporate reform plan, Renaissance 2010. You all remember Ren10, right?

Stager sums it all up in a fine post on his Stager-to-Go blog: "In education, nothing succeeds quite like failure."

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Saturday's We Are One march & Rally in Chicago

"This is no longer a state movement. This is an international movement on behalf of working families," said Betsy Kippers, vice president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, who addressed the crowd. -- Tribune

White House on $41 billion budget cuts: 

"Last night was a perfect example of Democrats and Republicans coming together..." White House Blog

On the firing of Cathie Black

Bloomberg raved about Black yesterday on his radio show, calling her "a phenomenally competent woman." --NY Post

Law suit greets new chancellor

"We don't want our children to be treated like second-class citizens in their own building," said Lisa Steglich, parents association president for Frank McCourt High School. -- Daily News

BLACK OUT!

The chancellor from Hearst is gone

Chewing the de-formers up and spitting 'em out. Black fired. Klein runs to Murdoch. Rhee booted. Huberman flees. Umm ummm good! Send us more.

Black, who replaced former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein in January, has been plagued with fierce public opposition due to her lack of experience since Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced her appointment in November. In a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University less than three weeks ago, her approval rating was a dismal 17%, with nearly half of respondents saying they wished she would leave office. -- TIME

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Marcus Yam for The New York Times

A sign at 168th St. and Broadway in Manhattan announcing enrollment for KIPP Star Elementary, a charter school.

Educator Takes On Charter Chain

"There is a quiet but fierce battle going on in education today, between the unions that represent the public school teachers and the hedge-fund managers who finance the big charter chains, between those who trust teachers to assess a child’s progress and those who trust standardized tests, and occasionally it flares out into the open over something as seemingly minor as the location of a school." -- Michael Winerip, NYT

Biden visits Delaware high school

Biden acknowledged that “beating up unions” had become en vogue for some, but credited the key role unions were playing in improving Howard High. “Do you know what these guys did?” Biden asked. “They said, ‘We’ll take a chance.’" -- Education Votes

Experience makes teachers better

"Having $40 billion or $50 billion does not mean you know how to engage, entertain, inspire, motivate and educate a classroom of 25 10- and 11-year-olds for 6½ hours each day. Have any of these people even set foot in a classroom in the last 20 or 30 years, other than for the occasional photo-op?" -- Edward Johnson, teacher at West Elementary School in Sycamore, Il 

Al L.A. rally

"This is a direct attack" on all unions and the entire middle class, Mitchell shouted, warning that similar policies could soon be introduced by politicians in California, which is grappling with an estimated $26-billion deficit. "An injury to one is an injury to us all!" -- Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin.

Florida for sale

"The Florida Legislature proved this past week, once and for all, that it is the utter Whore of Babylon." -- St. Pete Times columnist, Howard Trolxer

Quotable Cathie Black

Why she thinks she's ready to run N.Y. public schools

You know, I’ve been a public figure for a long time. This is different, certainly, but believe me, the early days of USA Today, when I had to go shareholder meetings and be surrounded by 30 Wall Street analysts — you know, “What’s going to happen next week? How’s the advertising? When is it going to be profitable?” That kind of thing toughens you up over a period time. That was back in 1983, so that was a long time ago. (NYT City Room)

Bloomberg's pick stirs new debate over mayoral control of schools

"Education Emperor"

N.Y. Mayor Bloomberg's pick of an inexperienced and unqualified corporate magazine exec to run the city's schools has ignited a firestorm of protest that isn't going away. L.A. Times' Geraldine Baum writes that the Bloomberg's autocratic style combined with lack of progress in school reform has revived the debate over mayor control. 

"It's the culmination and apotheosis of all the worst parts of mayoral control," said Leonie Haimson, a longtime activist for smaller class size who is part of a movement to stop Black's appointment. "In the end it's one man who doesn't listen to anybody and makes decision based on whim. Would Bloomberg put a non-doctor to head the health department or someone with no experience to run the police? I don't think so."

My brother blogs that another wealthy friend of the mayor's wanted her own charter school. Bloomberg gave it to heiress Courtney Sale Ross. But now Ross Global Academy is scheduled for closing.

But the principals came and went. 40% of the teachers left each year and almost 80% left last year. It became a sad story, particularly for the teachers, parents and students, of what happens when you hand over schools as the playthings of the rich and richer.

Joining the latest assault on mayoral control in Nat Hentoff of the Village Voice who calls Bloomberg the Education Emperor. 

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

It's war

Mr. President. There's A War Going On In This Country... A War Being Waged By Some Of The Wealthiest And Most Powerful People against the working families of the United States of America.  (Sen. Bernie Sanders)

From the 'barricades'

First, it is wrong to assert that students' poverty and family circumstances severely limit their educational potential... Public education is a service-delivery challenge, and it must be operated as such. (Joel Klein--"What I learned at the Education Barricades")

You don't know me

“Give me a chance,” New York's new chancellor, Cathie Black said in the interview, on WABC-TV. “Don’t judge someone that you haven’t even met.”

I hope Black will follow her own advice when it comes to teacher and school evaluation. Look beyond test scores as the sole criteria please, Ms. Black.

Toady Steiner renders unto Caesar...

N.Y. State Education Commissioner David Steiner knew what he had to do, even after his hand-picked panel, heavy with Bloomberg friends, voted not to give the clearly unqualified Cathie Black a waiver from the state law requiring the chancellor to have certain education credentials.

The humiliated Steiner, as expected (by me, at least) rendered unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. He knew, without being told, that if he ever wanted to go anywhere in politics in the state of New York, he would have to comply with the powerful autocrat's demand.

Bloomberg the slick billionaire media mogul, was careful to have the pre-arranged deal announced late on Friday afternoon of a holiday weekend with the press fast asleep and the bloggers and Tweeters still burping from Thanksgiving dinner. Is anyone even left in town to read the Saturday papers?

Bloomberg let Steiner save a little face by acceding to his request and changing the job title of his chief accountability officer Shael Polakow-Suransky, to that of chief academic officer in order to make it look like there's an experienced educator somewhere in sight when the corporate Ms. Black moves into Joel Klein's old office.

But Bloomberg and Black's problems have only just begun. The mayor's naked display of personal power will surely cause more resentment and anger, even within his own ranks. He also renders Black damaged goods and mucks up the reputation of the former head of the Hearst magazine empire. She will her take office under a cloud with zero credibility, serving only as a matter of political expediency and as a lackey of the mayor, and some tough battles ahead with the teachers union, parents and community groups.

My favorite line in all this comes from Bloomberg's letter to Steiner informing him of the appointment of Polakow-Suransky and making it seem as if Black had done it herself, rather than the mayor. 

Ms. Black's decision to appoint Mr. Polakow-Suransky as her senior deputy, reflects her commitment to a leadership principle that I view as absolutely essential to running any large organization, whether a private business, a public agency, or an entire city government: empowering those around you.

Stop it please, Mr. Mayor. You're killing me. Oh, my side...

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Dilemmas of school closings

Last winter, when Mr. Huberman made an initial announcement about closing Paderewski, Ms. Roberts was heartsick. All the years of hard work seemed to be for naught. “This is where the heavy lifting is done,” she said. (NYT)

 Cathie Black waiver panel tied to Bloomberg

“It appears that the deck has been stacked in favor of granting the waiver in a manner that will further undermine public confidence in the appointment of Ms. Black.” (Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries)

Bill Gates

“You can’t fund reforms without money. And there is no more money.” (NYT)

City's broke, but...

Mayor Daley is giving $15 million in TIF money to his cronies at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Board of Trade.

CME is among Chicago's most profitable companies, with a dominant share of the market for futures trading in the United States. For the first nine months of the year, the company reported a profit of $755 million on revenue of $2.2 billion. (Sun-Times)

Millionaires to Obama: "Please tax us"

"For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you allow tax cuts on incomes over $1,000,000 to expire at the end of this year as scheduled," their website states. "We make this request as loyal citizens who now or in the past earned an income of $1,000,000 per year or more." (The Ticket)

Cathie Black's "common touch"

Michael Appleton for The New York Times

Cathleen P. Black, the mayor’s pick to lead New York schools, waiting for a taxi outside her Park Avenue apartment.

She grew up sheltered and privileged, in a middle-class Irish enclave of Chicago at midcentury, attending Catholic schools and riding horses at a country club where blacks and Jews were not allowed...She was the newspaper industry’s chief lobbyist in the 1990s, fighting a ban on tobacco advertising, and she occasionally mused about running for office. But she has otherwise barely dabbled in the public sphere: describing her strengths in internal documents, the Coca-Cola Company, where she is a longtime board member, leaves unchecked the box next to “governmental, political or diplomatic expertise.” She has shown a common touch as president of Hearst Magazines since 1995 by riding in yellow cabs rather than black limousines. (NYT)