Jost in: a statement from the office of City Councilmember Margaret Chin concerning today’s resignation of NYC Schools Chancellor Cathie Black:
This morning, Mayor Bloomberg announced that Cathie Black has been relieved from her duties as Schools Chancellor. Council member Chin opposed the appointment of Cathie Black and supported a resolution in the City Council last November urging state education leaders to deny Cathie Black the waiver required to become Chancellor.
Council member Chin said, “Cathie Black was unqualified to lead our public schools during this difficult time. She failed to respond to the perfect storm of severe cuts, larger class sizes and layoffs that is looming in our schools. I urge Deputy Mayor Walcott to take a stand against thousands of teacher layoffs. The last place we should be cutting services is in our classrooms.”
Council member Margaret Chin, District-1 Manhattan, member of the Education Committee, commended the Mayor’s decision. “From the start we knew this was a bad fit. Cathie Black’s inexperience in the field of public education has proven itself time and time again. She lacked a basic understanding of our public schools and failed to engage New Yorkers.”
“As I wrote to State Education Commissioner Steiner back in November, Cathie Black failed to meet the requirements for a waiver and should never have been permitted to serve as Chancellor for our 1.1 million school children.”
Council member Chin was present at the overcrowding task force meeting when former Chancellor Black made her infamous “birth control” flub. The offhanded joke offended many Lower Manhattan parents and made it clear that Black did not understand the gravity of overcrowding in our classrooms or the challenges facing our public schools.
