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If Mayor Bloomberg was looking for a polar opposite to replace Schools Chancellor Cathie Black, he found one in Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott.
Where Black sent her kids to boarding school in Connecticut, Walcott, 59, attended city public schools, as did his four children and, more recently, a grandson.
More than 50 years after his school days, the experience has stayed with him. Yesterday, in addressing school administrators at the Tweed Courthouse, Walcott was able to recite the names of each of his six elementary-school teachers.
Where Black lives on Park Avenue, Walcott commutes from Cambria Heights, a solid middle-class enclave in Queens.
And where Black had no background in education, Walcott is a former kindergarten teacher who served on the old Board of Education.
But the most important distinction between Black and her successor is that just about everybody likes Walcott, a former president of the Urban League who has deep ties to the minority communities so disaffected with the mayor.
“Even when you disagree with Dennis, it’s not disagreeable — you’re not mad at him when you walk away,” said former city Comptroller Bill Thompson.
Despite having run against Bloomberg in 2009 and being a longtime critic of the mayor’s educational policies, Thompson is a fan of Walcott.
“He’ll be the first chancellor in nine years to reach out to parents,” Thompson predicted.
Minority state lawmakers who fought Black’s appointment are ready to welcome Walcott.
“Dennis is well positioned in getting the Department of Education back on track,” said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn). “The mayor’s public admission of a mistake will cast him in a reasonable light and improve his ability to advance his agenda in Albany.”
Some of the first calls Walcott made yesterday were to the union leaders who represent teachers and principals.
In his personal life, Walcott could serve as poster boy for Bloomberg’s push for healthy living. He doesn’t drink or smoke, eats healthy and exercises regularly.
“He doesn’t eat anything bad,” said Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs, his cubicle-mate at City Hall. “He’s a nuts-and-berries guy. When I have my chips and candy, I kind of hide it from him.”
For a self-described “dull guy,” Walcott has surprising hobbies. He took up skydiving a couple years ago and ballroom dancing. Before his appointment yesterday, Walcott was training for the New York City Marathon.
And Walcott yesterday insisted he had no plans to skip a promise he recently made to student leaders at PS 10 to whip them up a batch of his healthy pancakes next week.
“I use soy milk, Aunt Jemima batter, extra olive oil and egg white,” he revealed.