New York City has been swaddled in hype and spin for the past dozen years. The mayor gained control of the schools in 2002 and he appoints the chancellor. He also appoints a majority of the school board, who serve at his pleasure. He has appointed three chancellors in a row who were not educators.
Peter Goodman, who writes a blog called Ed in the Apple, says that the next mayor should appoint a chancellor whom educators can respect. NYC has been subjected to an endless parade of reforms, initiatives, accountability measures, and reorganizations. Disruption has been the only constant. Teachers keep on keeping on.
And next year, when Bloomberg’s third term ends, a new mayor will have to figure out how to put the pieces back together again.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The problem is that the schools in NYC are under total mayoral control, which is a primary vehicle for privatizing them. All of the current candidates for mayor unsurprisingly continue to support it, and are highly unlikely to buck the consensus of the business elites that are the one’s really setting policy.
Sadly, the UFT continues to support mayoral control, which has had devastating effects on the schools, students and teachers.
A long as urban school districts are under mayoral dictatorship based on neoliberal premises, Mr. Goodman’s suggestion is a pipe dream.
I agree. Although we cannot wait for another mayor. As a former veteran NYC educator and adjunct professor I have been witnessing the great decline in skills from NYC students as a result of the Bloomberg administration the past few years. It is abominable!
Bloomburg has made his mess as was his job. He is a corporatizer privatizer and has done a lot to push those concepts in N.Y. no matter what happens to students and their futures. N.Y. has a budget of $23.9 billion with about 1.1 million students which makes it about $22,000/student. How do you mess up with that kind of revenue/student. Well, you have to work hard at it and he certainly has done that. Three cheers for the corporatizers and privatizers.
And he hasn’t limited his destructive nature to NYC–he’s been donating money all over the U.S. to push this agenda. I guess he doesn’t have enough money or power, and that he is further feathering his nest for when he leaves office. Perhaps he is planning a national run in the near future? Of course, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, it would be more humane and make more sense to help his constituents. After all, he is so concerned about their health (banning super-sized sodas and locking up baby formula)!
But, no, he is not a public servant. The people of New York City are his subjects.
Peter Goodman supported mayoral control. He supported turning teachers into ATRs. He was a big supporter of the ’05 contract and other givebacks. Mr. Goodman supported almost every reform Klein imposed including the use of VAM in NYC schools, and now he wants a better chancellor??
I know a con job when I see it, (or in this case, read it) and the current leadership is trying to convey that they care for the rank and file. When will I see articles written by Julie Cavanagh who is running against Mulgrew on this site??? I would like to see “equal time”.
And polidicking continues to destroy excellence in education. Ho de hum da…….Who calls Klein, Black, and Wolcott Chancellors? Add the three up and the sum is one year classroom experience. I ask you all how a chancellor can be effective if they do not know how to teach? At least Peter C. has teaching experience but if he did not understand the lack of competence from anyone and anything under the umbrella of Michael Bloomberg’s Concentration Camp for Kids, then maybe he is not astute enough to hold a high position.