New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's disputed choice for city schools chancellor, a media executive with no previous education experience, is running into serious opposition but might still pull through,
The New York Times reports. This week an advisory board and the state schools chancellor both questioned the fitness of Heart Magazines chairwoman Cathleen P. Black, hailed by Bloomberg as a first-rate manager, to helm the nation's largest public school system, echoing criticisms leveled by teachers' unions and other educators that she lacks the relevant experience.
The state may give Bloomberg and Black an out by allowing her to resubmit her candidacy with a seasoned deputy educator as part of the package. It's a choice that New York Gov. David Paterson today called "very fair" and urged Bloomberg and Black to accept.
Widespread criticism of Black tracks some falloff in local popularity for Bloomberg, whose name has surfaced as a possible 2012 GOP presidential candidate. Two thirds of New York City residents rejected Black as chancellor in one poll by Quinnipac University Polling Institute, and a majority disapproved of Bloomberg's handling of the search for a new chancellor. A more tongue-in-cheek Qunnipac poll found 56 percent of city residents would not invite the mayor to Thanksgiving dinner.
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