On Monday, July 29th, New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg named Joel I. Klein, the chairman and chief executive of Bertelsmann Inc., and a former assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration-where he led the antitrust prosecution of Microsoft-as chancellor of the city's public school system. Klein is a fighter who, while leading the Justice Department's antitrust division, went after corporations accused of monopolistic and market-spoiling practices. Klein's history as a monopoly basher could come in handy as he works to shake up the near-monopoly that is New York City's public school system. As The New York Times observed, "What bigger monopoly than the public school system? It is a government-regulated system. It controls everything from bus contracts to teachers." The Times went on to note that Mayor Bloomberg's choice to lead the city's school system "seems calculated to convey one thing: a deep distrust of professional educators, or at least professional education as practiced in New York City over the last 33 years."
It is, therefore, ironic that Klein's appointment will not be final until the state education commissioner in Albany grants a waiver from the state law requiring the chancellor to have formal credentials in education. Despite the fact that Joel Klein is following in the wake of a small but highly visible crew of non-educators who have taken the helm of major urban school districts-Seattle turned to a general, Chicago selected a budget chief, Los Angeles opted for a former governor, and San Diego pegged a former federal prosecutor-the path into a position of leadership in public education is still fraught with barriers. The Times notes, "As a manager, Mr. Klein is a provocative choice. He has the common-sense experience that Mr. Bloomberg wants, though the mayor stressed-perhaps with the need for the state waiver in mind-that he is a 'scholar' as well." These barriers to entry for non-educators increasingly seem outmoded when one considers the deepening shortage of strong superintendents and principals in public education, especially in urban and rural areas.
The skills necessary to run a school system, even an individual school, have changed dramatically in recent years. As the philanthropist Eli Broad told the Times, school leaders "have to know or be trained in management, problem solving, finance, labor relations, systems operations and so on." Despite the new environment, most public-school leaders are still prepared in ways that would be familiar to their predecessors a half-century ago. The fundamental assumption is still that the proper route to leadership is via years of public-school teaching experience followed by an administrative training program within a college of education. Yet nothing could be more remote from the actual needs of many contemporary schools-and the actual life experiences of those who might lead them best. Sure, traditional educators are naturally wary of such changes, but increasingly political leaders are starting to look for the very best possible candidate they can find rather than the most credentialed. - Terry Ryan
"Hoping an Outsider Plus a Bottom-Line Approach Equals Reform," by Anemona Hartocollis, The New York Times, July 30, 2002
"Noneducator as Chancellor Seems a Growing Trend," by Karen W. Arenson, The New York Times, July 30, 2002