Yes, we've got trouble my friends, right here in River City. And today's "trouble" focused on events in New York. This morning's abrupt departure of Cathie Black from her role as Gotham's education department boss raised more than a few eyebrows. Black was heavily criticized for her entire lack of education experience throughout her 90-plus-day tenure as Department of Education chief. What Black's hiring demonstrated was the arrogant classist belief that anyone with senior management experience could run just about any organization. A cadre of MBAs and attorneys sincerely believes this line of reasoning. This managerial hubris is a key element to the drive for greater data reporting in school systems. In that sense, New York mayor Mike Bloomberg and President Obama are truly soul brothers. Cathie Black was their sister, in that her prior CEO experience made her accustomed to getting her way. She also notably lacked any empathy with the community she claimed she wanted to serve. She couldn't even get an audience of parents from prosperous, Wall Street-oriented TriBeCa to side with her at a school meeting.
There's more to the Black dismissal than meets the eye. Over time, one hopes those details will emerge. In the meantime, New Jersey's ambitious governor, Chris Christie, crossed the great water to make a speech at a Brookings Institution event in Manhattan. His remarks offered little new insight beyond his boilerplate observations on education. He did manage to characterize the New Jersey teacher's union as an organization run by "bullies and thugs." He did not discuss a case before the New Jersey Supreme Court in which advocates for poor students have challenged the Christie Administration's shifting of funding from schools in low-income areas. One could reasonably suppose the governor, a former federal prosecutor, did not want to publicize the legal muscle being used to bully and screw the needy.
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