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An advertisement for Learn NY that appeared on the New York Times' web site yesterday.

Learn NY, the nonprofit group lobbying to preserve mayoral control, has added a fourth member to its board: Rossana Rosado, the publisher of the Spanish-language daily newspaper El Diario/La Prensa. That’s good news for Learn NY, which said months ago it wanted to recruit more board members but had instead so far stuck to its original group of three (Geoffrey Canada, CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, Sister Paulette LoMonaco of Good Shepherd Services, and the Reverend Calvin Butts III, a Baptist minister in Harlem).

The appointment could help Learn NY reach out to Latino families and lawmakers (although I can think of at least one who almost certainly won’t be persuaded). The organization’s major goal right now is to reach out to parents, a push that already includes online advertisements at the New York Times’ web site (see graphic).

Rosado’s appointment to the board raises questions about El Diario’s coverage of mayoral control and the city schools. It isn’t the first time a major newspaper publisher has taken a stance. Mort Zuckerman, who publishes the Daily News and my old employer, U.S. News & World Report, is on the board of the Fund for Public Schools.

Rosado’s statement about why she is joining Learn NY is after the jump: (more…)