Angry Teachers Stage Pointless Protest For Cathie Black’s Old Job

by Justin Fenner | 5:10 pm, November 30th, 2010

A group of retired teachers is planning to march in front of Hearst Tower, where Cathie Black used to work, and demand to be considered for the job she used to have as president of the company’s magazine division. It is their contention that because Black got the job of New York City Public Schools Chancellor without working in education before, their experience reading magazines in the past qualifies them to run a stable of the world’s most recognizable glossies.

Now, it’s not that we don’t appreciate the point they’re trying to make. We bet it would be super clever if it weren’t already moot. Because Black already has a replacement — she’d been grooming David Carey, a recent Conde Nast-to-Hearst transplant, to do her job. She just left a little earlier than anticipated.

And since she’s left, her appointment to her new job by Mayor Michael Bloomberg has caused a lot of consternation with teachers, parents and administrators in the school system. Some have suggested she’s not fit for the job. Others have said she’ll need some kind of right hand to help her navigate the stresses of the country’s largest public school system. We say oh, please.

People tend to forget that both Mayor Bloomberg and the last public schools chancellor, Joel Klein, had no experience in politics or education before they took their jobs — and people seemed to be pretty satisfied with what they’ve done in those positions. Black is a smart, talented woman and she’s proven that over decades of having weathered hell and high water in the publishing industry. We acknowledge that education is a very, very different business than selling ads and magazines, but that doesn’t mean Black can’t do this job just as effectively as she did her last.

Teachers To March On Hearst Tower, Demand To Be Named Cathie Black’s Replacement [The New York Observer]

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