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New York Historical Society CEO Louise Mirrer, Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman, and State Education Commissioner David Steiner met this afternoon to discuss the chancellor appointment of publishing executive Cathie Black.

In a rebuke to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an eight-member panel of education experts recommended this evening that State Education Commissioner David Steiner deny publishing executive Cathleen Black a waiver to become the next schools chancellor.

And Steiner told the panel that his own preference is to wait to grant the waiver until the city also installs a top educator with some independent power, the panel’s chair said.

Four panel members voted against granting the waiver, two voted in favor, and two voted “not at this time,” said the panel’s chair, Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman. Neither Fuhrman nor state education officials would say how individual panel members cast their votes.

Without a background in education, Black needs a waiver from the state that will let her bypass the prerequisites: that she have a degree in education and several years of teaching behind her. The final call rests with Steiner, who would not say when he plans to make his final decision.

Speaking to reporters after the panel adjourned, Fuhrman said that Steiner gave the panel several options: they could vote to grant the waiver, deny it, or to reconsider Black “in a different context.” Fuhrman gave a specific example of what those different circumstances might look like: if, for example, the city proposed to install Black as chancellor alongside a Chief Academic Officer who had academic experience and some autonomous power in the department.

“I think it’s novel, and innovative, and an attempt to split the baby,” said former city schools chancellor Harold Levy.  ”But I think…it would be very difficult as a pragmatic matter to make this work.” (more…)

Update: Maura sends this picture of the assembled panel. From second man on the left they are: Bernard Pierorazio, Kenneth Slentz, Louise Mirrer, Susan Fuhrman, Commissioner David Steiner, SED staff member Erin O'Grady-Parent, Jean-Claude Brizard, Andres Alonso, and Michele Cahill. Not pictured: Ronald Ferguson. And because high school never really ends, all of the panel members who worked for Chancellor Joel Klein are sitting at the same table.

Update 5:20 PM: The panel has voted to deny Cathie Black a waiver. Two members voted in favor, but four voted against it and two voted “not at this time.”

The final decision rests with Education Commissioner David Steiner, who has not made a call yet.

In just a few minutes, the panel selected to advise Education Commissioner David Steiner on Cathie Black’s suitability as chancellor will convene for the first time.

But its eight members won’t be pausing to field questions about their stances on Black’s appointment or on their possible conflicts of interest. (more…)

Next week, I’m having the first of my three formal observations. As I’ve been preparing for this observation, I’ve been thinking about the planning of the perfect lesson and the validity of announced observations. As usual, I’m finding myself somewhat conflicted.

On the one hand, I want every chance to put my best foot forward. I want the chance to plan for every eventuality and worst-case scenario. I want to showcase my understanding of differentiation and also the minutia that go into a successful lesson.

But, wait. I want these things for all my lessons. I want every lesson to be outstanding and tiered for all the different learners in my classroom. And I want someone to be able to walk into my classroom at any time, and see that. That’s why a lot of new teacher evaluation systems are starting to incorporate informal or unannounced observations. If we want true assessments of our abilities as teachers, we can’t always get a heads up when someone wants to see us teach.

So, I feel a bit guilty putting so much extra effort into next week’s observation lesson. (more…)

A Quinnipiac University poll released this morning found that most New Yorkers do not think publishing executive Cathie Black is qualified to run the city’s school system. Her approval rating dropped further when voters with children in the public schools were polled.

Sixty-two percent of parents with children in the public school system disapprove of Mayor Bloomberg’s choice for the next chancellor and 63 percent say Black isn’t qualified. Fifty-one percent of voters in general think she’s not fit for the job.

A majority of voters, 64 percent, think that experience in education is important for whoever manages the city’s school system.

“Do New Yorkers approve of the Black appointment? Does she have the right experience? No and no, voters say,” said Quinnipiac pollster Mickey Carroll in a statement. (more…)

• No one screened the members of David Steiner’s Black advisory panel for conflicts of interest. (Times)
• Technically, conflicts are acceptable because the panel is only advisory. (WNYC)
• Opponents of Cathie Black’s appointment delivered a 12,000-signature petition to David Steiner. (NY1)
• Some teachers union members supported the petition, which was started independently. (Post)
• City Council Speaker Christine Quinn came out in support of Black. (Post)
• Black’s college coursework was released, but not her grades. (GothamSchools, Daily News)
• Joel Klein’s new company, News Corp., bought a prominent ed-tech company. (GothamSchools, Post)
• Checker Finn says it’s silly for the state to require any certification at all for chancellors. (Post)
• The city used to own a home for chancellors; Black owns three homes of her own. (Times)
• A parent of an Achievement First student says a dean pushed her into a wall. (Daily News)

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation took its second step into the education world this evening when it made a deal to buy Wireless Generation, a Brooklyn-based education technology company.

Murdoch took his first step nearly two weeks ago, when he acquired the chancellor of New York City’s public schools, Joel Klein. In an announcement that took most of his staff and top advisors by surprise, Klein told reporters that he was leaving the Department of Education for a job at News Corp., where he will be an executive vice president overseeing investments in digital learning companies.

After Klein resigned, News Corp. officials told The New York Times that they planned to make “seed investments” in entrepreneurial education companies. The acquisition of Wireless Generation may be the first of these investments.

“Wireless Generation is positioned to grow aggressively, and it was the right time in the company’s journey to find a home where it will have access to the resources it needs to fuel that aggressive growth,” said spokeswoman Andrea Reibel in a statement.

Reibel would not comment on when talks began, but said the deal was finalized this evening. For $360 million in cash, News Corp. now owns 90 percent of Wireless Generation, a company with 400 employees. (more…)

• Cathie Black has been a hard sell because almost no one saw her coming. (City Hall News)
• Louise Mirrer, a member of the panel voting on Black’s appointment, has deep ties to Bloomberg. (NYT)
• Those ties are too deep for State Senator Eric Adams, who wants Mirrer off the panel. (NYT)
• The panel that approved Klein’s waiver was larger and broader than the current one. (WNYC)
• Tom Vander Ark defends the record of corporate execs-turned-school-superintendents. (EdReformer)
• NJ says it can’t afford to fund college scholarships for low-income preschool teachers. (Hechinger)
• The first hydroponic greenhouse on a NYC public school roof is beginning to bear lettuce. (NYT)
• A visit to a Bronx school shows that schools need a mandatory nutrition curriculum. (GS)
• Parents and bus drivers of special needs students are concerned about their transport. (InsideSchools)

We now know what classes Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s schools chancellor appointee Cathleen Black took in college, but how well she did in them remains a mystery.

Black took mainly English and theology classes as an undergraduate at Trinity College in the 1960s. She spent her junior year studying in Rome, learning to speak Italian and studying European and art history.

But Black’s academic record there is still unknown. The state education department released Black’s transcript today, but redacted her grades, citing privacy concerns. The city also declined to release Black’s grades.

At her all-girls Catholic high school in Chicago, Black has been described as a hard worker but not a standout student.

Outgoing chancellor Joel Klein’s grades were made public last week by the New York Times. Klein had a stellar academic record, though he did receive B’s in “Philosophy of Education” and “Guidance in Human Learning.”

Black’s transcript, with grades redacted, is below. (more…)

City lawyers have filed their response to the teachers union’s lawsuit, arguing that the city has to release teachers’ effectiveness scores because teachers do not have an expectation of privacy.

In seeking to prevent the city from releasing 12,000 teachers’ ratings and names to reporters, the United Federation of Teachers has argued that doing so would violate teachers’ privacy. The brief city lawyers submitted last week responds that all public employees, teachers included, don’t have this right. It states:

“Public employees generally lack an expectation of privacy in information concerning their performance of public functions.”

In their brief, city lawyers also noted that the agreement between former Deputy Chancellor Chris Cerf and former United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten to keep the ratings confidential did not protect them against a Freedom of Information request. The brief states: (more…)

Last week we spent a morning at Validus Preparatory Academy in the Bronx speaking with student leaders at the school about the health crisis that exists among today’s youth and how eating more plant-based foods can decrease their risk for obesity and other chronic diseases.

The visit was part of NYC Green Schools’ official launch of our Meatless Monday campaign, in partnership with the national non-profit Meatless Monday. Our objective is to bring more plant-based foods into city schools to improve our children’s health and the health of our planet.

When preparing our talk, we decided not to downplay the horrifying statistics facing today’s youth. Instead, we decided that the students have a right to know more than anyone the toll our food system was taking on their health. When we told them the staggering prediction that young people today will be the first generation of Americans to live shorter lives than their parents as a direct result of the food they eat, they became extremely attentive. The school’s PTA president, who happens to be a nurse, brought home our statistics when she described her work in an intensive care unit. Five years ago, she said, the vast majority of patients in the ICU were elderly people approaching the end of their lives. In recent years, though, more and more people in their 30s and 40s show up in the ICU with complications from diabetes and hypertension as a direct result of being obese, she said.

The students did not become defensive when hearing the news or when we proposed that they try to reduce their consumption of saturated fat by eating only plant-based meals on Monday. No one asked, “But what about my meat?” On the contrary, they were eager to give healthy, cholesterol-free foods, like vegetarian chili and pasta with tomato sauce and garbanzo beans, a try. They understood what was at stake. (more…)