That being said, I just dont get why Cathy Black would WANT the job of "Chancellor" in name only, and why she wants to be the focus of so much wrath. This is a story on it's own - how a Mayor loses all trust of his constituents, despite being a billionaire with all the "right" political ties, and stubbornly goes forward without the public mandate he (and the she-wolf, Cathie Black) need to succeed. This is democracy at work.
Betsy Combier
Cathie Black's Waiver Worries Will Never End
You almost have to feel sorry for Cathie Black. Almost. All she wanted to do was run the New York Department of Education in peace and instead all she gets are boos, angry parents and, now, threats her new job might not be hers for long. Remember how she had to get a waiver to take the job because she wasn't qualified? And how parents swore they'd appeal when she got it? Well, it looks like they're living up to their threat.
A group of lawmakers and child advocates, the Deny the Waiver Coalition, are planning to announce tomorrow from the steps of the Tweed Courthouse that they are appealing a lower court's decision on Black's waiver, hoping to push her out of the job.
f they succeed and Black's waiver is revoked, she'd have to step down immediately. Which doesn't really have the Coalition worried. Their lawyer makes the sound argument to the Observer that by design Bloomberg and the Department have "surrounded her with a bunch of people who are qualified to run the school system. If they're all as qualified as they say they are, which they certainly seem to be, then they can last for a couple weeks while they find a replacement for her."
The appellate court will decide on the appeal on March 15th. The Ides of March.
Another Bad Night For Cathie Black
WCBS 2 Things just are not going well for Schools Chancellor Cathie Black. Not well at all. On top of her disastrous Wednesday night appearance (in which she mocked jeering parents at a vote over 10 school closures) last night things got so tense that more than a thousand angry parents, union members and teachers stormed out of a meeting regarding another 12 school closures. ""Ms. Black, what in the world is wrong with you? You show utter contempt and scorn for the parents you should be serving. If you don't want to be here, then leave—because many of us don't want you here anyway," City Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn) told the Chancellor.
Black spoke little over the course of the hearing (as she was there to mostly hear) but that didn't stop the scorn heaped upon her. After the first round of people spoke at the hearing—350 people signed up to speak, The Awl has a few highlights from them including “you have created the Lost Generation,” and “since I know you’ve already made up your minds, I’m not going to address you, I’m going to address the audience” and “as far as the UFT is concerned, this panel, this process, is illegitimate.”—things got crazy when a large portion of the auditorium stood up and, according to NY1, "began marching out to the sound of drums and whistles, forcing the panel to suspend the hearing for the next half hour."
Then the hearing restarted there were only a few hundred people left. Just before 1 a.m. the panel voted to close all of the schools on the chopping block.
And in other bad news for Black, a new poll found that only 21 percent of New York voters think she has done a good or excellent job in her first month as Chancellor. Not that the Mayor, who chose Black for the job, cares. On WOR this morning hizzoner instead focused on how unpatriotic it is to boo: “The decorum—this is embarrassing for New York City, New York State, for America. This is not democracy, letting people yell and scream. That’s not freedom of expression. That’s just taking away someone else’s rights,” he said.
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