Steiner's NY Waiver Machine in High Gear for Bloomberg's Latest Toadie

Standards and accountability remain laws of the land when it comes to being tough with hungry kids living in motels with their families, but when it comes to the Oligarchs' choices to run the urban penal farms for children called schools, all that is needed is another waiver to make them highly-qualified, like the one issued earlier this year for Bloomberg's drinking buddy, Ms. Black.

From the NYTimes:

It is full steam ahead for the certification of Dennis M. Walcott to be the next schools chancellor of New York City.

New York State education officials announced on Tuesday that an advisory panel would meet on Wednesday to weigh whether Mr. Walcott’s background, training and experience would make him an “exceptionally qualified” candidate who should be granted a waiver to become chancellor, even though he lacks the superintendent’s certificate legally required for the post.

The nine-member panel will meet in Albany and is likely to issue a quick decision. That will serve to guide David M. Steiner, the state education commissioner, who is widely expected to approve the waiver. . . .

Councilman Barron Calls for Parent Boycott of NY Schools Until Qualified Chancellor Is Appointed

From Gothamist:

. . . .Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and other city pols say they will file a temporary restraining order to block her [Black's] appointment, which Jeffries said state Education Commissioner David Steiner didn't want to approve anyway. "Commissioner Steiner appears to have made this decision in the back room with Mayor Bloomberg whispering in his ear. By all accounts he was not comfortable with the appointment of Cathie Black, but he appeared to bow from immense pressure from City Hall and the mayor's rich and powerful friends to strike a compromise that is not in the best interest of our children."


At a protest in Brownsville, Black critic City Councilman Charles Barron urged parents to keep their children out of schools until a "qualified chancellor" is selected, and said having current Performance and Accountability Chancellor Shael Polakow-Suransky helping her out wouldn't change anything. "We question the legality of her riding on someone else's credentials," he said. "Mayoral control is out of control. The mayor is disrespectful, the mayor is abusive of the power the system gave him. And Cathie Black is unqualified to teach in a classroom, nevertheless [will] run the largest education system in the country." . . .

Steiner Proves To Be Just Another Bloomberg Flunkie: Accepts Broadie as Black's # 2

As I surmised, it was all Kabuki theatre, and in the end, the same fool who spouts the right-wing fantasy that Dewey recanted his lifelong work for democratic schools, offers a wave-through for Bloomberg's corporate bulldozer that will be driven by bleary-eyed party bud, Cathie Black, with the help of Klein's man in charge most recently of sheltering the big lie on NY City student test scores.

Shael Polakow-Suransky

The Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2008
Deputy Chancellor for Performance and Accountability
New York City Department of Education

“Teachers and principals need to be accountable for student performance and empowered to make the critical decisions that impact their daily work to accelerate student learning.”

From the NYTimes:

The state’s education commissioner, David M. Steiner, and the Bloomberg administration have reached a deal that will allow Cathleen P. Black, a media executive, to become the next schools chief.

A top education official in the city’s schools system, Shael Polakow-Suransky, the chief accountability officer, will be named the chief academic officer to serve as the No. 2 to Ms. Black, according to a person with knowledge of the agreement between the state and the city.


In return, Dr. Steiner on Monday will grant Ms. Black a waiver from the state law requiring the chancellor to have certain education credentials that Ms. Black, the chairwoman of Hearst Magazine, lacks.

Mr. Steiner had expressed reservations about granting Ms. Black an exemption and had made the appointment of a chief academic officer a condition for considering her nomination.

The move is a major concession from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg who typically resists any intrusion into his management of city agencies.