Monday, April 28, 2008

The Vision Thing

As I think more about Joel Klein I get more upset. Klein has been a very long running chancellor. The longest I can remember. He has certainly put his mark on the DoE. When he was first appointed there was an issue with him not having an education license. (Notice that the same issue is happening with the search for a new building commissioner.) The mayor got an exception from the state legislature so that Klein could be chancellor. I do not think that the licensing requirements always point you to the best candidate, but I think that the person you choose needs to have a passion for the area and not just be a manager. Bloomberg succeed with his company because he knew what financial people needed. He was a good manager and an expert in his field.

The decision that Klein made early on was to create a group of managers who would approach schools as managers not as educators. The feeling was that schools were poorly managed. People with philosophy's of education were not recruited. The new DoE saw this as some how contrary to good management. Management people tend to like other managers. They want a certain uniformity to how things happen. They are not comfortable with having a group of great school leaders who lead based on the strength of their personality. These leaders are not easy to duplicate. Managers are easy to duplicate. People such as Klein are willing to sacrifice brilliance for easy duplication. They feel this makes a better overall system.

This seems to be the constant problem we all deal with today. It is the problem of the presidential election. Inspiration versus management. It may be that the best approach to the DoE is to find an inspirational leader who is smart enough to hire a good manager as second in command. There are a lot of people working in the schools who are just waiting for this inspirational leader. I hope the next mayor finds him or her.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another post well said, and on target.

Anonymous said...

The fact is, he shook things up, made a lot of people, particularly clients, uncomfortable, then got the same results as before. How much did that cost. Losers ought to grade themselves.

Anonymous said...

YOUR OLD SCHOOL HAS A NEW PRINCIPAL COMING IN. THE QUEEN IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING!!

Unknown said...

What the idiots Klein and Bloomberg do not know is that sure, some of the people in the rubber rooms are guilty but most are not, and whether they are guilty or not, they all adapt to the environment and just enjoy the newly found freedom of doing nothing and getting paid for it. I am a rubber room inmate for three months now and when I was first assigned, I was devastated because I tried to do the humane thing and save a child from an abusive teacher, and the teacher turned everything around and found a way to get the principal to believe that I said something bad to some of the kids. so, after I reported teacher abuse on a student, blew the whistle, I got retaliated against and sent to the rubber room. Well, for the first time in my life, I am happy to announce that I am getting paid to hang out and do nothing. All of the teachers. para's and other staff in the rubber rooms are simply enjoying their stay at the rubber rooms of Klein/Bloomberg. We have parties, breakfast feasts, lunch feasts, and all other sorts of fun things to do at the rubber rooms. We have oprah type days where we all just sit around and talk about important issues in our own lives and it is just a cool place and beats us having to deal with the rules of teaching children who are just as out of control as the administration. We do not have any problems at the rubber rooms. We punch in and then go for long walks, read books, complete college degrees and some even do business.

Cheap Essays said...

Good one. If you know what your people need, your success is sure..