CAPTION.
CREDIT
Cathie Black’s whining that her downfall as schools chancellor was because she is a woman is outrageous (“Let Go, Cathie,” Editorial, April 9).
She failed because she was totally unqualified for the job, plain and simple. She should just shut up and move on.
David I. Fisher
Bedminster, NJ
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Black is being crucified by the same parents who blame everything but their own parenting.
Teaching begins at home.
Cindy Bates
Manhattan
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Black thinks she was fired because of her gender.
But based on her performance, is it possible that throughout her career she was hired only because of her gender?
Chris Tripoulas
Manhattan
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Kudos to Mayor Bloomberg for correcting his recruitment mistake, and congratulations to incoming Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott for having both the necessary educational credentials and experience — neither of which Black possessed.
Erica Weidner
Oceanside
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Black shouldn’t have been fired.
She wasn’t in charge of the CityTime super-scandal, and she wasn’t in charge of Blizzard-gate when people died. And Black wasn’t the one who overthrew term limits.
Either Bloomberg says he is responsible for all these scandals, and many more, or he should be fired.
L. Lee
The Bronx
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It’s tiresome to read Black’s excuses for doing such a bad job. She whines that “it was like having to learn Russian in a weekend.”
If she didn’t have the basic skills necessary to carry out the job, why did she accept a position that was clearly beyond her capabilities?
Schools chancellor is not an entry-level position, and common sense would demand that only someone with extensive experience in the field of education could do a creditable job. What was Bloomberg thinking when he hired her?
What a legacy. The Freedom Tower still hasn’t been built, and New York students rank 38th in the country.
L. Kurtz-White
Dover, NH
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The education system needs someone with a business background at the top, such as Joel Klein, who was on the right track.
The teachers union and the City Council are not protesting the appointment of Walcott because the fox is back in the henhouse.
Ed Kelly
Massapequa
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Black forgets that the media backed her appointment as schools chancellor on the bizarre theory that Bloomberg gets to pick whomever he wants — even if she is not an educator, has zero teaching and school-supervisory experience and lacks a public-school background.
Bloomberg did not just err in his choice of Black, but also in the selection process that did not include an equal employment opportunity search that would have recruited and vetted the best candidates for the city’s top schools post.
Now, with the out-of-the-blue appointment of Bloomberg crony Walcott, the mayor’s done it again — no EEO search and, again, a thinly qualified candidate who’s won the backing of the same media that Black claims did her in.
Michael Meyers
Executive Director
New York
Civil Rights Coalition
Manhattan
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I’m sure Black didn’t complain about being female as she climbed the corporate ladder. She only played the sexist card when she accepted a position for which she was not qualified.
Black should look on the bright side. The schools chancellor’s position will not interfere with her summering in the Hamptons.
Andy Romanic
Freeport
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Most are happy that Black is gone. I was just hoping that DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan would have been next.
Bloomberg seems to have a problem appointing competent people. His self-serving, self-funded television spots fool no one.
John Ost
Manhattan