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senior leadership
August 21, 2009
Klein’s inner circle will include 4 educators this fall, up from 2
A frequent criticism of the Department of Education under Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is that it is run by lawyers and businessmen instead of by educators. In fact, the number of educators reporting to Klein quietly doubled in the last few months.
A recent issue of City Limits carried a story under the headline, “Teachers Missing at the Top.” Indeed, at the end of the last school year, just one quarter of the people reporting directly to Klein — two out of eight people — had extensive experience in city classrooms.
Now, after Klein replaced one top administrator with a former principal and added a new top-level position, four out of nine top administrators have extensive experience in city classrooms. The remaining five hold positions, such as in finance and legal affairs, that are unlikely to be occupied by educators in any school district, according to a department spokesman, David Cantor.
Asked about the shift by GothamSchools, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein called the new numbers “an interesting observation.” But he said he had not changed the way he chooses his deputies.
“I hire the best people,” Klein said. “It’s always been a mix of people who bring different perspectives.”
Klein started the summer with just two educators in his inner circle: Eric Nadelstern, a former principal who is now the department’s chief schools officer, and Santiago Taveras, deputy chancellor for teaching and learning and also a former principal. In July, Klein added a cabinet-level administrator to focus on issues facing English language learners and students with special needs. His appointment, Laura Rodriguez, has worked in the city schools since 1978.
Then James Liebman, the department’s inaugural accountability czar and a lightning rod for criticism, announced that he would be returning to his position as a Columbia University law professor. To replace him, Klein appointed former principal Shael Polakow-Suransky, bringing to four the number of people with longtime classroom experience reporting directly to the chancellor.
Parent activist Leonie Haimson said she does not expect a culture change at the department.
“The policies are pretty much set in stone now and the policies were set in stone by non-educators mostly,” she said. “I’m not sure that it matters so much now. I don’t see that they’re reversing course and doing things that educators really care about.”
A union official expressed disbelief that the number of educators in leadership positions at Tweed was as high as four. The official questioned whether they were all “career educators,” saying that the term should be applied only to people who taught in public school classrooms.
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August 21st, 2009 1:39 pm
When Klein stated that he increased the number of “educators” from two to four, I really thought he was talking about master teachers who are still teaching and who are NOT administrators. An educrat is NOT an educator! How many years has it been since Nadelstern was in a classroom as a teacher? He has been an administrator for too many years and he’s too detached from teaching to understand teachers. Santiago only taught for several years before becoming an administrators. Why isn’t Klein recruiting master teachers with 20+ years of experience to be pedagogical consultants? Once again Klein is keeping his office staffed with educrats who will bend to his will and he will allow the cycle of status quo to continue. Klein can fool those two educrats to think they’re educators, but he cannot fool the public and teachers.
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August 21st, 2009 2:42 pm
what complete rubbish! Put Santiago or Nadelstern back in the classroom and you would see master teachers. Why do imbeciles like you assume that administrators weren’t master teachers before they decided to lead schools.
I think you need to talk to someone as you have been clearly talking to yourself too much.
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August 21st, 2009 3:19 pm
A.P.’s should have to teach for ten years before they become A.P.’s, Principals should have to be an A.P. for five years before they become a Principal. Superintendents and DOE consultants should have to be a Principal for five years before they ascend to those positions. Experience is a good thing.
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August 21st, 2009 3:27 pm
When I worked at the International Schools all Eric could talk about was how standardized testing was bad for kids. He was totally against the Regents exams, in fact, the partnership schools had a waiver and didn’t take Regents - graduation was determined by portfolios. All everyone talked about at the Internationals was authentic assessment. What happened? The policies of Eric Nadelstern the principal and educator seem out of step with this mayor and chancellor.
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August 21st, 2009 3:55 pm
And oh yeah, people like Rudy Crew, Cortines, Green, all educators, they did a really great job with the schools and the Board of Education. Can we just end this “educator knows best” stupidity, because that’s exactly what it is. A degree in education is worthless. I’d rather have someone with a backbone, like a military general, running the public schools. At least they would understand they have to be accountable for results and not resort to this mindless “edu-talk” that doesn’t get anything done for students. We have decades worth of educator’s failures in New York City as ample evidence of that.
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August 21st, 2009 8:18 pm
Right on, QP! Now, Joel Klein is a lawyer and was given a waiver to run this school system. I am a teacher and I want a waiver to be president of the American Medical Association. C’mon, people, let’s do this! And, I got QP to back me up!
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August 21st, 2009 11:53 pm
To Anonymous #2, I would you to know I have many colleagues who are principals and have taught for over 20 years. Not 5 years or 10 years in the classroom, but over 20 years! Once principal taught for 27 years FIRST and then became an A.P. and then a principal. They are fantastic administrators because they were master teachers. I defend those education leaders who demonstrate that they have the ability to lead because they had the ability to teach. I can tell, by the comment you made, that you are an administrator, too. I’ve seen too many administrators with very few years in the classroom or no teaching experience at all. If you want success in the classroom, then Klein needs to have master teachers that are National Board Certified working in Tweed as pedagogical consultants. Unless Taveras and Nadelstern have National Board Certification. If they have those certificates, then and only then you may call me an imbecile. In the meantime, my rubbish speaks truth.
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August 23rd, 2009 9:54 pm
That’s what we need running schools - gemerals. And when the army generals screwed up in Iraq that allows educators to swap places and run the war. And when there’s high crime, let’s put teaches in charge of the police force. And when people are getting sick in hospitals we just put Pogue in charge as he wants.
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August 23rd, 2009 11:54 pm
Calling General Mills? General Foods?
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August 25th, 2009 11:01 am
Proof’s in the pudding folks. “Educators” ran NYC public schools for decades and even had such titles as “Deputy Chancellor for Instruction” if I recall, and what do New Yorkers have to show for it? Absolutely nothing. Again, proof’s in the pudding. So I’m willing to try other approaches after decades upon decades of abject failure.
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August 25th, 2009 12:32 pm
Boy, QP, you’re crappin’ on a whole lotta’ successful public school graduates. Thus…A. Are you sure you’re a a parent? And, B. are you sure you’re from Queens?
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August 25th, 2009 6:45 pm
In fact, I’m responsible for one successful public school and Ivy League graduate, my son! His success was certainly not due to the low expectations of minority students held by most of the teachers that taught him, however. And I’ve got another in the system. And Pogue, you look the other way at the hundreds of thousands of dropouts NYC schools have produced over the years?
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August 25th, 2009 8:56 pm
Fiirst, if you don’t mind, I’m going to congratulate and give YOUR SON the credit for a splendid academic career. I will give you an assist, though. Second, I don’t think anyone is looking the other way on dropouts. School is there, programs have been implemented, and attendance personnel are now a big part of a public school staff. Still there are many dropouts. Now, what would you do to face this dropout problem? I am incredibly curious.
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August 28th, 2009 9:51 am
The presence of a handful of specific DoE bureaucrats may account for a slight variance in the outcomes that are most important to students and their families. Achievement in school may be easy to measure but hard to understand. Statistics such as SAT scores, dropout and graduation rates, and college entrance and college completion percentages can give the public a gross understanding of what happens to 1 million of our children each year. When trying to understand the state of the schools, some personal questions may carry the most value, such as:
1) What did you and your teacher talk about today?
2) Did you participate in an exciting activity? (3) What are you looking forward to this school year? (4) Are you happy with the friends you made and with the overall school environment? (5) Are there family members, reserved times, adequate space and a computer at home that can support your homework efforts? (6) Do you have realistic career options in mind? (7) Do you know what the paths are to achieve your possible career goals, and what the obstacles may be? (8) What proficiencies, attitudes and habits do you see in students who typically perform well in high school and college?
(9) Do you feel confident that you can become one of those success stories? (10) Do your teachers or your principal know when you are struggling in a class and provide additional opportunities for you to learn the topic?
(11) How does your school recognize and publicize your talents and achievments? At the end of the day, what probably matters to each of us is the success and happiness of the children and students who are part of our lives.
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Mapping the Budget Cuts
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