Cathie Black. (Photo: Wikimedia)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration suffered a blow today with the release of emails surrounding the selection process of Cathie Black, the one-time schools chancellor who was forced to resign in 2011, after just 95 days in office. Ms. Black, who had no prior educational experience, drew widespread controversy amid a number of missteps. The city fought an extended, unsuccessful legal battle to keep the emails from being subject to a Freedom of Information Law request.

Overall, they detail the city's public relations efforts to improve Ms. Black's brand, including outreach to leading female figures like Caroline Kennedy for support. Additionally, the emails reveal debates over how much information about Ms. Black should be provided to reporters.

For example, Harlem Village Academies CEO Deborah Kenny appeared to question a disclosure decision of a screening for Waiting for Superman, a movie accused critics accused of being anti-public education.

"Edit seems fine. One question: are we sure we want to omit hosting the Superman screening?" she asked. “They have been asking for information on involvement as well as donations. Since almost 200 people attended, they will probably find out anyway."

Kate O'Brien Ahlers, a spokeswoman for the New York City Law Department, said she was "disappointed" by today's decision.

"The City believes that the principles permitting government employees to exchange opinions, advice and criticism freely and frankly, without the chilling prospect of public disclosure, should extend to individuals who have been elected or selected to public office but have not yet assumed office," she said in a statement.

View the emails below:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/139155993/Cathie-Black-Emails

(Photo: Twitter.com)

At a morning press conference announcing new Hurricane Sandy initiatives, Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn't just wade into the Israel-Palestine dispute, he also defended New York City's cell phone ban in public schools.

"Kids should be in the classroom listening to the teacher," he declared after a reporter asked him if Murry Bergtraum High School's lack of regular phone service might prompt him to rethink the policy. "Not playing games, not Facebooking, Twittering, emailing, texting, or anything else. We've made that decision a long time ago. Cell phones are very destructive to the education process."

Mr. Bloomberg then jokingly chastised a journalist in front of him to embellish his point.

"For example, the reporter sitting next to you didn't care enough about this conversation," he explained. "He was just on his cell phone. He missed your insightful, well-thought-out question, not to mention my brilliant answer to that."

After everyone involved enjoyed some laughter, Mr. Bloomberg was pressed about safety concerns in the event of an emergency. In response, the mayor defended the school system's record and said the educational needs of the city are simply too great to allow potential distractions.

"The kids are well taken care of in the case of emergency, as was shown, if I remember, on 9/11, where the school system performed brilliantly," he said. "We're not about to waive our cell phone policy. ... Our kids need their education. Every single day this country falls further and further behind the rest of the world. And every single day the demands of industry for better educated kids increases--and increases faster than all of the improvements we've made, and we've made some amazing improvements. We're falling behind the rest of the world and that's not good for our kids or for society."

(Photo: Wikimedia)

Earlier today, National Rifle Association C.E.O. Wayne LaPierre and other leaders from the gun group held a much-anticipated press conference to react to the ongoing controversy surrounding the shootings at a Sandy Hook elementary school one week ago. For those hoping for a grand speech, Mr. LaPierre certainly didn't disappoint. In the address, Mr. LaPierre pushed back hard against those calling for additional gun control measures while accusing the media of being "silent enablers, if not complicit co-conspirators" in the violence. He also seemed to hold a host of other entities and events responsible, such as Hurricane Sandy.

"Violent crime is increasing again for the first time in 19 years," Mr. LaPierre said. "Add another hurricane, terrorist attack or some other natural or man-made disaster, and you've got a recipe for a national nightmare of violence and victimization. And here's another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal. There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people. Through vicious, violent video games with names like 'Bulletstorm,' 'Grand Theft Auto,' 'Mortal Kombat,' and 'Splatterhouse.'...A thousand music videos, and you all know this, portray life as a joke and portray murder, portray murder, as a way of life. And then they all have the nerve to call it 'entertainment.' But is that what it really is? Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?"

Mr. LaPierre then accused the media of financially profiting from these digital forms of violence, which result not only in unfair coverage of the gun industry, but causes the bloodshed itself.

"In a race to the bottom, media conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing in an even more toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty right into our homes, every minute, every day, every hour of every single year," he continued. "A child growing up in America today witnesses 16,000 murders and 2,000 acts of violence by the time he or she reaches the ripe old age of 18. And throughout it all, too many in the national media, their corporate owners and their stockholders, act as silent enablers, if not complicit co-conspirators. Rather than face their own moral failings, the media demonize gun-owners."

Mr. LaPierre and the other NRA leaders at the press conference did not take questions at the press conference. Protesters twice interrupted the proceedings with chants of "The NRA has blood on its hands...ban assault weapons now!" and "NRA Stop Killing our children!" Though reporters in attendance tried to ask Mr. LaPierre to respond to the protesters, he continued with his remarks.

The N.R.A. head didn't only have criticisms, however, as he also proposed solutions, including eliminating "Gun-Free School Zones" and putting an armed security officer in every single school in America.

"With all the foreign aid the United States does, with all of the money in the federal budget, can't we afford to put a police officer in every single school? Even if they did that, politicians have no business and no authority denying us the right, the ability and the moral imperative to protect ourselves and our loved ones from harmed," Mr. LaPierre argued. "We can immediately make America's schools safer, relying on the brave men and women in America's police forces. The budgets--you all know this, everyone in the country knows this--of our local police departments are strained, and the resources are severely limited. But their dedication and courage is second to none and they can be deployed right now. I call on Congress today, to act immediately, to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation! And to do it now! "

In order to facilitate getting armed guards into American schools, Mr. LaPierre announced the launch of an NRA "National School Shield" program spearheaded by former congressman Asa Hutchinson that will help advise officials on how to properly secure their schools. He said this program will not be a strain on budgets because it will involve volunteer guards.

"This will be a program that does not depend upon massive funding from local authorities or the federal government. Instead, it will make use of local volunteers serving in their own communities," Mr. LaPierre said. "The National Rifle Association is the obvious choice to sponsor this program. "

With mounting calls for gun control measures, it remains to be seen whether politicians will be willing to take the NRA up on their offer to put armed volunteers in schools.

Additional reporting from Hunter Walker

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Though the bluster of the Chicago teacher strike calmed down last week, the tensions between teacher’s unions and prominent mayors have not ceased. For his part, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is siding with his Second City counterpart, Rahm Emanuel, who pushed for changes to Chicago's public school system despite opposition from the local teacher's unions. Mr. Bloomberg discussed the situation this morning at NBC’s third annual Education Nation Summit at the Bartos Forum of the New York Public Library.

“I think Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago, was quite right to move towards a longer school day,” he said. “I also think Rahm was right in pushing towards evaluations as a reform that the Obama administration made as part of Race to the Top.”

Mr. Bloomberg noted that, as in Chicago, the teacher’s union in New York had not signed off on teacher evaluations. However, he pointed to the Race to the Top funding that requires evaluations as reason for the City's educators to change their tune.

“If the teachers do not meet with the city on an evaluation system we stand to lose a half a billion dollars in state and federal funding and I think it would be a catastrophe for our students if that happens,” said Mr. Bloomberg.

The summit, which continues tomorrow and will feature an address by Barack Obama and an interview with Mitt Romney, brought in speakers to discuss education reform, such as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

At the end of his address, Mr. Bloomberg, a strong proponent of charter schools, summed up his hopes for the summit.

“We have to make sure that our school systems are run for the students and not run for the people working. No business that doesn’t focus on its customers and getting more for them survives," he said. "Education, I don’t want to think of it just as a business, but in terms of management, from an objective point of view, it's exactly the same.”

Mr. Bloomberg also used the summit to announce two new education initiatives focusing on pre-K, expanding access to pre-K enrollment by 4,000 spots and opening an Educare charter school.

Mark Zuckerberg (Photo: Facebook)

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave a $100 million grant to the public school system in 2010. Now, according to CBS News, officials are considering using some of that cash on buyouts to get rid of poorly performing teachers. 

Newark's public schools are currently dealing with a financial crisis and the city estimates the school system currently has 300 more teachers than it needs because the number of students has declined.

Superintendent Cami Anderson doesn't want to lay off teachers because tenure rules would require her to fire the least senior staff rather than the poorest performers. Mayor Cory Booker described the situation on Friday at a meeting of the Education Writers Association in Philadelphia.

"If we could fire the 300 or 400 lowest-performing teachers, she wouldn't have a financial crisis," Mr. Booker said of Ms. Anderson's situation. "But her crisis right now is based on the fact that she can't get rid of teachers that way."

As of this writing, neither Mr. Zuckerberg or Mr. Booker have responded to requests for comment on this story.

Councilman Robert Jackson (Photo: Facebook)

Council Members Al Vann and Robert Jackson, who is chair of the Education Committee, introduced a resolution today asking the State Legislature to limit mayoral control of city schools. The resolution, which comes following growing controversy over recent school closings, calls on the legislature to give community councils approval over school closures and co-locations.

"The process for proposing and approving these significant changes to schools has disenfranchised communities and parents," Mr. Vann said. "Providing a significant role for CECs in the co-location and school closure process will not only ensure that proposals are thoughtful and truly include input from communities and parents, but also will enhance community and parental involvement in our public schools.”

Currently, school closure and co-location proposals are made by the Department of Education and approved by the Panel for Educational Policy, which has never rejected a closure or co-location proposal. Under the Bloomberg Administration, the DOE closed over 100 schools moved more than 700 schools into shared facilities. Last month, the Panel for Educational Policy approved proposals to phase out, close or limit the number of grades in 23 schools and the DOE is calling for the closure of 33 schools at the end of this school year. These moves have led to substantial opposition from parents and politicians.

"The current administration continues to make decisions that adversely impact students and their families,” Mr. Jackson said. "It is well known that the PEP rubber-stamps co-locations and school closings without any consideration of a school community's input."

Mr. Vann echoed the criticism of the PEP and said giving community councils involvement in closures and co-locations would lead to a more thoughtful process.

"Since the PEP is nearly guaranteed to approve every DOE proposal, the quality and thoughtfulness of the proposals have declined and as a result our communities and students suffer. Providing a significant role for CECs in the co-location and school closure process will not only ensure that proposals are thoughtful and truly include input from communities and parents, but also will enhance community and parental involvement in our public schools," Mr. Vann said.

Mayoral control of the city school system was originally established through a 2002 law that was renewed by the legislature in 2009. In 2009, mayoral control was renewed for another six more years. Passage of a Council resolution concerning mayoral control is largely symbolic as any changes to the law must come from the legislature. In late January, Assemblyman Keith Wright appeared at a town hall meeting and said he would propose a bill in Albany to end mayoral control. Mr. Jackson was also at that meeting and said he would introduce a Council resolution in support of the proposal.

Critics of mayoral control argue the closures and co-locations tend to favor charter schools and result in the unnecessary shutdown of local schools. Last month, Department of Education Chancellor Dennis Walcott defended mayoral control to The Politicker and said it has led to "tremendous" improvement for students in the past decade.

Leroy Comrie speaking at the rally against the school closures. (Photo: Councilman Leroy Comrie)

"The common dominator to the eight schools slated to be closed is that they all service high rates of English Language Learners and Special Needs children," Councilwoman Diana Reyna said at the rally. "By turning his back to students with the highest need, Mayor Bloomberg is abandoning the principle of equal opportunity for all children regardless of race or disability. This Mayor claims to be known as the “Education Mayor,” but I think a more accurate title is the 'Highest School Dropout Mayor.'"

The final decision on these eight schools will be made within a month. In his remarks at the rally against the closures, Councilman Leroy Comrie, said the schools in question have all shown recent improvement.

"Even under the Department of Education’s standards, the schools that are slated to be closed have shown improvement since being put into the Restart/Transformation models," Mr. Comrie said, "Closing these schools would hinder our children’s access to the quality of education that they deserve. The Mayor should step in and allow these schools to continue to educate our children."

The members of the Council's Queens delegation were joined at the protest by Queens borough president Helen Marshall.

"This controversial closure plan involves schools that have already improved and now need stability and a stable future," Ms. Marshall said.

School closures have proved to be a hotbutton issue of late for Mayor Bloomberg. Closures in Harlem led Assemblyman Keith Wright to call for legislation ending mayoral control of schools in January.

Tish James (Photo: NYC Council)

Last Friday, Gay City News reporter Andy Humm printed a column accusing Councilwoman and likely candidate for Public Advocate Tish James of defending "KKK access to schools." The story was based on a testy exchange about the controversy over whether churches should be allowed to hold worship services in public schools when class is not in session that took place between Ms. James and Ms. Humm after a public forum on stop-and-frisk at the LGBT Community Center where both were speaking. Ms. James, who supports allowing religious organizations access to school buildings, gave her side of the story to The Politicker and clarified her position on the controversial issue.

"The comment was made in jest, and apparently, it was taken very seriously by a reporter who obviously was very disappointed in my position regarding allowing access to organizations of faith, who have used and want to continue to use public schools on days that schools are closed," Ms. James said.

Mr. Humm's story, which was subsequently picked up by other media outlets, quoted Ms. James as saying the Klan is "entitled to equal access." Ms. James, who said she knows Mr. Humm, described her interaction with Mr. Humm as a conversation that devolved into a "shouting match" and said she made the remark in an attempt to end the argument:

"I respect him but, as I indicated to him then, and as I will state now, we agree to disagree and it should have been left at that. To continue to raise pointed questions and issues and distinctions in this particular area just raised the level of conversation to an argument and to a point where it was just a shouting match. Unfortunately, whenever it rises to the level of a shouting match nothing constructive could ever come out of it, and so what I attempted to do was really try to limit the conversation by just giving him, I guess, an answer that he wanted, but it was said in jest, most of the individuals who were around us at the time did not take my comment seriously. He indicated he was going to print it, I didn't take him really seriously. I was tired at that point in time and I really just wanted to end the conversation. I wanted to end it on the point that we agree to disagree."

In his column, Mr. Humm described his conversation with Ms. James as a "heated debate." We witnessed the argument between the two, which lasted for over 20 minutes and included Mr. Humm blocking Ms. James from leaving the area and pushing his finger into her chest as she repeatedly said, "Let's agree to disagree."

On February 12, Mayor Michael Bloomberg put a ban into effect barring churches from renting school buildings to hold services on Sundays, when the buildings are otherwise closed. Four days later, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska issued a restraining order blocking the ban, but on February 21, a three-judge panel at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed Judge Preska's order to only include a single church, the Bronx Household of Faith, which has been fighting a legal battle to have access to school buildings on Sundays for more than fifteen years.

Ms. James described the issue as a "delicate balance" and said she doesn't support giving all organizations access to public school buildings.

"Obviously, we needed to change the statute to ensure that organizations that preach hate, such as the KKK, and organizations that appeal to the prurient interest, such as pornographic organizations would not be in a position to use our schools," she said.

Ms. James said this could be solved through the creation of "a review board or perhaps some strict language."

Critics of allowing religious organizations to rent space in school buildings argue many religions are anti-gay.

"Some great gay organizations are going to argue that some churches preach hate in their sermons and are not friendly to the LGBT community," Ms. James said. "My point is and my position has always been an issue of access and providing some criteria so that organizations who are of a certain ilk would not be in a position to have access to our schools."

Another criticism of the push to allow religious organizations to rent school space is that Jewish groups cannot take equal advantage of the policy, because Jewish Sabbath takes place on Saturdays and schools are only closed on Sundays. Ms. James rejected the idea that the push to allow religious groups to worship in schools is a "Christian movement."

"When we marched over the bridge that day, what I noticed was that there were Jews, there were Christians, there were Muslims, there were blacks, whites, Asians, there was Latinos, there was everyone," Ms. James said. "There are some mosques that use the schools and there are some Jewish organizations that use the schools as well."

Ms. James also pointed out that religious groups are currently allowed access to school buildings for uses other than worship.

"It's important for people to understand that houses of worship be, they Christian, Jewish or Muslim can use our schools currently, it's the question of prayer," Ms. James said. "They can use it to teach, they can use it to sing songs, they can use it to educate, but it's the prayer aspect of it. ... Some people want a complete ban and that's what I oppose, because for me it's an issue of access, allowing organizations to use it that do not preach hate and do not appeal to the prurient interest."

Ms. James said she believes lawmakers in Albany are trying to work on a compromise to settle the issue.

"I think, and I'm not sure, at this time that the Speaker of the Assembly is trying to strike a compromise," Ms. James said. "I do know that there is a liberal wing within the Assembly amongst the Democrats who are opposing this, who have taken a very strong position. Som I'm going to defer to the Assembly on this particular issue."

Reverend Jesse Jackson (Photo: Getty)

Reverend Jesse Jackson served as guest minister for the church service of the annual New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus association weekend at Wilborn Temple in Albany today and his sermon included a call to eliminate super PACs that allow corporations and individuals to contribute unlimited amounts to political campaigns. In a conversation with reporters after the service, Mr. Jackson reiterated his belief super PACs are leading to the "corrupting of our political process."

"Now we see our politics corrupted by the super PAC process where a few very wealthy people can use their monies to tear down and tear up people, and discourage leadership from emerging in a democratic way. Not one super PAC ad has been on eliminating poverty, or building affordable housing, or making healthcare affordable, or reducing student loan debt, which is greater than credit card debt," Mr. Jackson said. "The one person one vote is dead until these super PACs become illegal again."

Since the Supreme Court's controversial decision in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case super PACs have played a growing role on political campaigns. Since both Democrats and Republicans have employed the political action committees, The Politicker asked Rev. Jackson if he felt President Obama should stop using Super PACs in his re-election effort.

"Well, the dilemma is someone has to break the cycle and maybe that's a legislative--the Legislature has to break the cycle," Mr. Jackson said. "He's against it, opposition is mounting, and so, it puts him in a dilemma. But if we make it illegal, than it would apply across the board, so I think that legislatures must take the leadership in ending the, you know, the idea that someone can put $5 million, $10 million and buy ads just to destroy somebody."

Mr. Jackson also blamed the war on terror for increasing "the poverty base" and stressed the need for a "war on poverty."

"The poverty base is expanding, 53 million Americans are food insecure, 50 million are in poverty, they can't get a bank loan, they're driven into scurrilous lenders, and 44 million on food stamps," he said. "There must be a renewed commitment to a kind of war on poverty. ... The price we're paying for war is to intensify the squeeze on the poor, $1 to $3 trillion in the Iraq War, admittedly now the wrong target. We've lost money, lives and honor. A trillion of the Iraq misadventure would bail out every state budget. ... So, our priorities must change in a radical way."

In addition to discussing national politics, Mr. Jackson gave his thoughts on two of New York's most hot-button issues; redistricting and New York City's ban on houses of worship renting unused space in school buildings on weekends.

On redistricting, Rev. Jackson told Capitol Tonight's Nick Reisman there have been "more and more attempts" to use the redrawing of legislative lines to "undermine the voting process." He expressed hope Governor Andrew Cuomo will stick to his promise to veto any lines not drawn through an independent process.

"I think the Black and Puerto Rican caucus represents the people who have faced starker disenfranchisement. They want to be included and they ought to be," Mr. Jackson said. "I hope that he will honor his commitment to them and veto any plan that has the effect of disenfranchising them."

The Politicker asked Rev. Jackson about the ban on houses of worship renting school space and he said he believes the ban should be lifted as long as worship is kept off school property during class time.

"Certainly if it were during school time, if that were a tradeoff, it would undermine religious freedom. Beyond being a school, it's also just a public building, he said. "Just so long as the religious organization does not interfere with the mandate of the State, they're just public buildings. Sometimes they're used for midnight basketball, sometimes they're used for teaching crafts. They can be used for religious services if they don't interfere with the running of its first function, which is public education."

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg blamed a recent poll showing a majority of New Yorkers disapprove of his handling of the schools on the United Federation for Teachers' ad campaign criticizing his record on education.

"Somebody goes and runs a bunch of ads every day on television, you can create exactly that poll," Mayor Bloomberg said.

The mayor went on to suggest he could turn around the numbers by buying his own ads.

"I guess I could go spend some money and reverse the poll, the press would love it," he said.

Last time the UFT took out ads against Mayor Bloomberg in March that's exactly what he did. At that time, the mayor opened a campaign committee to fund a $5.6 million campaign defending his record on schools complete with polling, mailings and TV ads. Mayor Bloomberg subsequently shut his committee in October, on the exact same day The Politicker wrote a story about its activities.

The poll, which was conducted by Quinnipiac University, found 61 percent of voters disapprove of Mayor Bloomberg's handling of the public school system. Quinnipiac's poll also showed 56 percent of voters trust the teachers union more than the mayor when it comes to protecting the interest of public school children. According to the poll, 57 percent of voters disapprove of mayoral control of city schools, which has been a major hallmark of Mayor Bloomberg's administration.

Interestingly, in spite of the negative numbers, Quinnipiac's findings weren't all bad for Mayor Bloomberg. The poll showed 59 percent of New Yorkers like Mayor Bloomberg as a person and 68 percent of voters say history will judge his tenure positively. It also found a majority of voters support Mayor Bloomberg's policies that have caused the most controversy with the UFT; merit pay for public school teachers and making it easier to fire underperforming teachers. Mayor Bloomberg pointed this out at his press conference today.

"A lot of this stuff is how you ask the question, but what was comforting is the public agreed with the individual policies of finding ways to reward the best teachers finding ways to help attract teachers from the best schools at the top of the class to come to teach in our school system," Mayor Bloomberg said.

Mayor Bloomberg also said it's clear things are going well in city schools.

"You know we're going in the right direction, our school system is a model for what should be done in the country. The president says so, the secretary of education says so," Mayor Bloomberg said. "You talk to people across this country, we don't do everything right, but no other city has incidentally the magnitude of the job in front of them that we have--1,100,000 kids with every kind of special need, every kind of background."

Mayor Bloomberg also said he doesn't allow popular opinion to guide his decisions.

"I've been doing this for 10 years. The job is not to find out what is popular and then go do it. The reason the city is an awful lot better than it was 10 years ago, and I think you'd be really hard pressed to find any part of the city that isn't, is because we've always done what we think is right," Mayor Bloomberg said. "When we've done it and it didn't work, we felt comfortable in changing it. Even when somebody writes 'failure' or 'flip flop,' we're not going to get married to any one thing."

Mayor Bloomberg plans to stick with that approach for the remainder of his final term at City Hall.

"We're going to keep doing that for the next one year and ten-and-three-quarter months, if my math is correct," he said.