Cathie Black has made it clear by now to more and more parents and their children that her commitment is to Michael Bloomberg—not them. Or as Michael Daly puts it: “The first definition of [chancellor] in Merriam-Webster is ‘secretary to a nobleman, prince or king.’ ”
This is the first of an intermittent series of columns on the collapse of the public school system that Black is utterly incapable of dealing with: the dramatic rise of student suspensions, mostly affecting black children and students with special needs; the thousands of students being denied, against the law, second-language instruction with more cuts in the budget; kindergarten classes more overcrowded than in the past decade and tighter squeezing in other classes.
There’s more, and, obviously, this isn’t Cathie Black’s fault. She just came on board this severely listing ship. There are New York schools enabling lifelong learning—like in Steven Thrasher’s precise Voice reporting on the charter school Bronx Success Academy (February 2). But the large-scale systemic failures were wholly left out in a February 9 Daily News article by none other than Cathie Black (“On College Readiness, Let’s Get Real”).
Praising her liege lord, the Education Mayor, she gloried that nine years after he had taken control of the schools, “New York’s graduation rate is an all-time high of 63 percent.”
Not a word in her tribute to miracle-worker Mike about the lead editorial on the preceding page, “Set the Bar High,” which inadvertently rips the halos off Bloomberg and Black’s predecessor, Joel Klein: “Only 23 percent of the seniors awarded diplomas in 2009 were truly ready to begin college without taking remedial classes.” And why were parents yelling at the mayor during the fake, Bloomberg-controlled “hearings” to close down 22 schools? The editorial explains: “Among black and Latino students, a scant 13 percent were college-ready.”
When Lord Bloomberg was booed by the parents, he strongly rebuked these ungrateful boors for “embarrassing” this city to the country and distorting the very idea of democracy.
Said parent Zakiyah Ansari, a leader of the Coalition for Educational Justice: “When we as parents have everything to lose, we can’t say anything?”
And, in an article I urge parents and students to read, Diane Ravitch—the premier historian and analyst of New York City’s public schools—writes: “As we have seen recently in Egypt,” that hearing’s “parody of democracy” showed that “people who are denied a legitimate role in the democratic process get angry and make noise” (“Bridging Differences,” Education Week, February 10).
There will be much more noise in the dreaded three years remaining in Bloomberg’s third term, but what’s needed is very specific planning and strategy by the various education advocacy groups to rescue so many of these students from dead-end lives. Will we hear anything from Joel Klein on what happened during his watch? In office, he was useful, to some extent, but along with Bloomberg, he set in place—and then failed to remove—the rotting roots of this ongoing disaster.
But Joel is busy, earning a $2 million annual salary, plus bonuses, as Rupert Murdoch’s director of educational technology—where, he says, “I’m really so excited about what I want to do here and [how] we’re going to do it [and] I think people are going to be surprised” (New York Post, December 31).
A lot of us are sure depressed, Joel, at what you left undone here. I still think Cathie Black means well—whatever that means—but in self-respect, she ought to leave. Now. She may be a “super manager” as Bloomberg calls her, but she is not for this job.
Can we trust Bloomberg to decide who is? Will he again act all by himself?
Has the mayor taken time to read the deeply documented New York Civil Liberties Union report from January: “Education Interrupted/The Growing Use of Suspensions in New York City’s Public Schools”? He does spend some time in his various lodgings in and out of the country, presumably reflecting, planning, and resting.
Explain to us, your honor, why “black students, who comprise 33 percent of the student body, served 53 percent of suspensions over the past 10 years. Black students with disabilities represent more than 50 percent of suspended students with disabilities.” These are not typos. Suspensions doubled in the past 10 years.
Also, Bloomberg and Joel Klein were such zealous disciplinarians (Bloomberg still is) that they enforced “zero tolerance” policies. These policies have often radically derailed students around the country.
The ceaseless constitutionalist, John Whitehead, President of the Rutherford Institute, whose attorneys continuously protect the civil liberties of students without charge, reports: “These policies, and the school administrators who relentlessly enforce them, render young people woefully ignorant of what they intrinsically possess as American [citizens]. . . . Having failed to learn much in the way of civic education in school [as in New York City], young people are being browbeaten into believing that they have no true rights and government authorities have total power and can violate constitutional rights whenever they see fit.”
From the NYCLU’s “Education Interrupted” report, here is the suspension story of Yvette in an education system over which Michael Bloomberg is proud to have total control: “Yvette and her younger sister Gabrielle attended the same school. Every day, Yvette would meet Gabrielle outside Gabrielle’s classroom so they could walk home together. One afternoon, Yvette was told by a school safety officer [hired and trained by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly] that she could not go down the hall to Gabrielle’s class. She explained she was picking up her younger sister, but the officer blocked her way and then shoved her when she tried to walk past.
Bloomberg is a master of deception. He is a Zionist, and when you understand what that means concerning his views on other races, including other white people, then you will begin to understand why the education system is in shambles. It is all part of a larger plan to destroy our country. "Out of chaos, order." Please read, "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion", and you will see what the future holds for us "goyim".
Wow, what would I do if my twin brother was abused by bullies. If I had a pistol, I could free my brother,but in NYC only criminals can protect themselves from the police. Mr Hentoff, you are the sanity Mayor of New York. EJ
"So instead of pointing the finger at racism, why not look and see if blacks cause more trouble in the classroom? If kids are acting like fools, disrupting those trying to learn, then the color of their skin is irrelevant."
I graduated Bergtraum HS in 1996 and we went to a skiing lodge in upstate NY for our Senior Trip. Present at this hotel was my school (predominately black/latino), Fort Hamilton (black/white mix) and Tottenville (almost all white). When my school went to our rooms each night, our hallways had overnight security to make sure we stayed in our rooms. Meanwhile the kids from Tottenville, with basically no supervision, drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes and threw bed mattresses out of the windows. This is a true story. Until the deviant behaviour of white kids is persistently punished as that of black kids, then the color of skin will be irrelevant.
We live in a city where 600,000 Black and latino men get stopped and frisked annually with less than 8% being summonsed or arrested. Yet we ALL know that locales such as Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Red Hook and the Upper West Side aren't derelect of drug activity. Get the picture!
They should try fixing Special Ed. first, and start with all those "superb" educators @ 400 1st avenue...The person who SHOULD be in charge there is the Mail Room Supervisor!!! He knows more about Students then anyone who's been in the 8th floor office in the last 10 years...
Boorberg is a tragedy for New York City. I for one would like to know which corporate cronies will get the privatization charter contracts for the closed public schools. Or which real estate developers will get to convert these buildings into luxury condos.
Bloombucks and his liège lady Cathyblack could care less about these school kids. It's all for show. Joel Klein was a disaster and though unmasked as such is still touted as a success. Look at that other imposter, Michelle Rhee, who blatantly lied about how she'd improved the scores of students in Baltimore, and has now backed away from some of claims, but is still held up as an authority. The tragedy is that these children are our FUTURE. Perhaps not the future of billionaires like Bloombucks, but of most Americans. So perhaps New Yorkers will wake up and not ever elect a clown like this man again. You had the chance last time and put him back in office, after his endless footsies with George W. Bush. What more did you need to know or see? The person heading New York City's public school system should be someone who's taught, who knows educational theories, and who is committed to these children. All of them, not just the richest ones. That is not anything that could be said of Klein or Lady Cathyblack, now or ever.
"Explain to us, your honor, why “black students, who comprise 33 percent of the student body, served 53 percent of suspensions over the past 10 years. Black students with disabilities represent more than 50 percent of suspended students with disabilities.” These are not typos. Suspensions doubled in the past 10 years." So instead of pointing the finger at racism, why not look and see if blacks cause more trouble in the classroom? If kids are acting like fools, disrupting those trying to learn, then the color of their skin is irrelevant.
Actually, someone has looked. Many people, in fact. Education research has, for years, indicated that students of color are disproportionately punished.
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