Black, the NYC Dept of Education CEO-designate faces multiple conflict of interest challenges

Employees of a potential Cathie Black-headed New York City Department of Education are wondering whether she will be a Miranda Priestley, continuing Joel Klein's authoritarian rule.

Good government-minded New Yorkers have another area of concern: financial self-interest. I am making the Miranda Priestley/ The Devil Wears Prada reference because she has headed the Hearst Corporation for over a dozen years. Black faces conflicts of interest, as a recent head of Hearst and potential DoE chancellor. For her company's magazines included teen and young women-market magazines, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire --Magazines which encourage young women to be Kendall Jenners, valued for their looks rather than their intellectualism.

A chancellor is supposed to influence some good values for her teen charges. But do we not see some conflicting concerns here: witness Cosmo's photos and article topics, and contrast those with the reality of New York City high school student sexual behavior, i.e., see Study finds risky behavior among teens, reporting on an article in the journal Pediatrics. (Actually, I have linked this Associated Press story to a Boston Globe site, instead of USA Today, another previous employer of Black.)
Take a peek at Black's home.

As the Department of Education purchases thousands of computers, there is also Black's computer conflict of interest. She sits on the board of directors of IBM.

Then, there is her Coca Cola interest. She sits on that corporation's board of directors as well. The schools have drink and snack vending machines. Is Coke's Dasani bottled water in those vending machines?

And lastly, we should be vigilant about the charter school conflict of interest, of which bloggers have made greater note. Her charter school connection is her only professional or philanthropic connection with education. She recently ("a few months ago") was appointed to the National Leadership Board of Harlem Village Academy's charter school network. (As Steve Koss notes at the "NYC Public School Parents" blog, she has not yet attended any meetings of this board. You can see where her heart --wallet-- lies.) Co-chair of the Academy board is none other than Rupert Murdoch, boss-titan of the News Corporation, outgoing chancellor Joel Klein's new employer. Albeit, this information has not yet made it to Black's wikipedia biography article.
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RESISTANCE
I commented with some cynicism at another's blogpost to the idea of opposing Bloomberg. But Bloomberg's chumming with catered society party benefits style of government does not mesh as easily as controlling the New York State Assembly, which appoints the Board of Regents, which appoints the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Education, David Steiner.
So far, Senators Bill Perkins and Carl Kruger and incoming Senator Tony Avella, along with State Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo have publicly opposed granting Black a waiver from state requirements that school superintendents have education backgrounds. GothamSchools reports that Crespo is considering offering legislation preventing such waivers in the future. (At least some of these elected officials have issued public letters to Commissioner Steiner. See Senator-elect Avella's letter to the commisioner.)

Halliburton Dick Cheney and Mike Bloomberg got away with interlocking government. Will Commissioner Steiner or the New York State representatives put a stop to this by blocking such waivers?

UPDATE:
Assemblyman Crespo's letter to Commissioner Steiner on chancellor/ superintendent waivers from NYSED prerequisites for having an education background:

Dear Commissioner Steiner,

Yesterday’s announcement of the resignation of NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein and the decision by Mayor Bloomberg to appoint Ms. Cathleen P. Black as his successor has raised some troubling issues for which I write to request your clarification.

It is my understanding that Mayor Bloomberg has requested a “waiver” from the State Education Department for approval of Ms. Black’s appointment. What then is the current policy or requirements for state approval of a candidate for the position of Chancellor?

Furthermore, if a candidate lacks a particular academic or experience requirement, what criteria and process is used to approve a “waiver’ of said requirement?

While I agree that Ms. Black’s management experience in the private sector is truly commendable, I am gravely concerned that with so many changes underway and more proposed for our City’s education system, we must be careful to set aside long standing state policy in ways that would not be afforded to other high level positions. In this regard, I am currently exploring legislative remedies that would address these circumstances in the future.

Your assistance in clarifying these questions will help me understand and explain to my constituents, why someone with no education background is selected to run one of the nation’s largest school systems during such a critical time.

Respectfully,

Marcos A. Crespo
Member of Assembly

4 min VIDEO: Tony Avella on charter schools, Joel Klein, and teaching to the test

Tony Avella on charter schools, Joel Klein, and teaching to the test

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Tony Avella and William Thompson assail Michael Bloomberg's record -Avella winning, I believe

City Councilor Tony Avella (19th CD, Whitestone/Bayside) and Comptroller William Thompson debated Wednesday night, in a debate of contenders for the Democratic nomination for mayor this November,
with the former winning, I believe.
Avella directly assailed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for kowtowing to run-away development. He also faulted fellow city councilors for voting themselves pay raises and for overturning the mayoral term-limits law.
Similarly, Avella is distinguished from Bloomberg and Thompson by being less connected with the real estate and finance interests in the city.
Avella

“I made a decision early on in this campaign that if we were going to win, it was going to be for the right reasons. I’m not selling my soul to raise huge amounts of money. I’m not dialing for dollars, which every campaign consultant tells you you have to do. I’m not taking money from the big real estate industry firms, like my opponent is. And I gotta tell you, what I just heard, I can’t believe what I just heard, that he's got a real, that he's raising, my opponent is raising money on a real grassroots effort. If that were true, why did he only just now qualify for matching funds? The truth is, my opponent is getting huge amounts of money from Wall Street, from the money managers of the pensions he supervises, from the real estate developers. His is not a real grassroots campaign. Yes, I haven't raised the amount of money that he has. ... The fact that he said he's got a grassroots campaign, I'm absolutely shocked that he actually said that."

Here is a favorably assessment of Avella's views, at Daily Kos:

In the article about Avella, the Mayoral candidate called the current Mayor: "one of the biggest threats to democracy that this city, and perhaps this country, has ever faced". By that he meant the amount of money the Mayor is capable of spending, not just on his own campaign, but on the campaigns of New York State Senators or Assemblypersons who support his views in return for his support. The Sponsor of the Bill that the State Senate passed yesterday, re-affirming Mayoral control of schools, had his campaign financed largely by contributions from Bloomberg. Avella made this statement at a fund raiser for him in the East Village. I know this, because I attended it. As I left, I said hello to the candidate. I mentioned the overdevelopment that, in spite of the financial slow down, is still rampant in the city, and particularly that is happening in my neighborhood on the Upper West Side. To my surprise, rather than just agreeing with me, Avella went into thr subject further, telling me that Bloomberg wants to eliminate the small amount of power to put some reasonable limits on these developments that the Community Boards still maintain. He also told me that one of the reasons Bloomberg wants to cut the funds to the Public Advocate's Office is to have greater control over land use. He might have elaborated further, but others were waiting to say hello, however in the short time I spoke with him, I was impressed by his ability to discuss this issue in detail. I left the benefit and walked out into the night air, hoping that Avella could get his message out in the next six weeks, the six weeks that will lead up to the Democratic Primary in which he faces William Thompson (September 15).

A poster, JW, at Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), identified Avella and the "leading man" for mayor:

Avella as "leading" man
After Tony Avella's statements at the Working Families Party forum a couple of weeks ago, progressive educators seem to be backing his run for mayor.

"I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT A FAN OF CHARTER SCHOOLS."

You can't get much clearer than that.

Avella will first have to topple Bill Thompson in the Democratic primary, and that will take some doing. In the meantime, Thompson's been putting on some new coats. He certainly wasn't asking to fire Joel Klein before Avella said it at the WFP forum.

The Avella campaign is letting people know that their man was on NY1 bashing the rubber rooms, no-bid contracts, and the atmosphere of intimidation at the DoE. Video will be available online tomorrow.
{{Correction: Here is video on Avella on education in New York.}}

They've also put a new page on Facebook: Educators for Avella.

Tony Avella is forging the correct agenda on education.

Bill Thompson is real "Old School" when it comes to teaching kids, and he's now just playing catch up.

***BOTH THOMPSON AND AVELLA HAVE ASSAILED BLOOMBERG'S LAISSEZ FAIRE (HANDS OFF) POLICY ON THE SWINE FLU IN THE CITY'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS***
Click Here for Comptroller Thompson's open letter opposing the policy.

Click Here for Councilor Avella's open letter opposing the policy.

Admittedly, Thompson is comfortably ahead, with the Working Families Party endorsement already. He has also received the endorsement of Queens Congressman Antony Weiner, who dropped out of the race in May. (Avella received the endorsement of the League of Humane Voters.
Here is a video at NYC Public School Parents' blog, of Avella opposing charter schools. Avella properly asks, "Why not fix the failing schools?"