If the NY Times has it right,?the Commissioner of Education for New York State ?may not have had a great Thanksgiving.
?He has been having trouble sleeping, gazing at a print of Rembrandt's ?Philosopher in Meditation' in his apartment and taking solace in Schubert's Opus 100,? reported the Times yesterday. ?He has been thinking often of the passage from Henry IV in which the restless king wanders about in his nightgown, seeking peace of mind.?
Coming out of what must have been a bruising battle to win union concessions for New York's successful Race to the Top application in August, the last thing the Empire State's?education king?needed was a fight with New York City's billionaire?Mayor. But last Tuesday, as as the Times put it, Steiner ?did what few people in New York City attempt these days: He stood in the way of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, unexpectedly throwing into disarray the process for selecting a new schools chancellor.? (See Amy's report here.)
Apparently, if the Times is right, Steiner must be seeing the steamroller coming.??The larger issue here, however, is that Steiner shouldn't ?even have to make this decision.
As Checker argued in the NY Post the other day,?the ?antiquated state law and arcane regulatory process? that is causing the Commissioner's sleepless nights ?have nothing to do with school effectiveness?.? School systems should be judged by how well their pupils learn, not the paper credentials of those at the helm.?
Maybe Cathie Black shouldn't be in the stadium.? But David Steiner has plenty to do without having to referee Gotham's superintendent Super Bowl.? Besides, the guy needs some sleep.
?Peter Meyer, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
