EDITORIAL.NEW York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of City's school board has joined Los Angeles' in searches for new chiefs of their school systems, the two largest and most complex in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . The districts are similar in several ways beyond their enrollment. Children are unable to keep pace with their peers in other cities on standardized tests of simple knowledge, and mismanagement mis·man·age tr.v. mis·man·aged, mis·man·ag·ing, mis·man·ag·es To manage badly or carelessly. mis·man  age·ment n. of funds has
led to a deficiency in school buildings, supplies and qualified
teachers.
It is the second reason why the mayors of both cities are asking the boards to look beyond the usual assortment of educators and into the business world for new leaders. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani this week said that Rudy Crew's successor as chancellor of New York City's schools will need more than a background in education to get the job. He's looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a skilled administrator and manager, or as he put it ``the kind of person that could run a very, very complex business or multinational corporation multinational corporation, business enterprise with manufacturing, sales, or service subsidiaries in one or more foreign countries, also known as a transnational or international corporation. These corporations originated early in the 20th cent. .'' That job description is not a laughing matter laughing matter laugh n this is no laughing matter → das ist nicht zum Lachen . In Los Angeles, Mayor Richard Riordan has made it clear the permanent successor to Superintendent Ruben Zacarias ought to be able to handle a $7.4 billion budget. That's experience you don't get in the classroom. Running a school district with more than 710,000 students is more complex than determining which textbooks to buy, whether to use phonics or whole language, new math or arithmetic. School districts don't need chief education officers, they need chief executive officers who won't panic or dawdle daw·dle v. daw·dled, daw·dling, daw·dles v.intr. 1. To take more time than necessary: dawdled through breakfast. 2. or delegate without oversight when crises pop up. Who better to figure out where to build new schools and deal with labor unions than someone who has been charged with such difficult tasks in the real world? Business leaders know what a dollar is worth. Educators seem not to. What's needed to invest in education at the beginning of the 21st century is tough bosses who know how to make prudent business decisions and can delegate curriculum issues that achieve goals. The Los Angeles Unified school board cannot act fast enough to find someone who fits that bill. The sooner the candidate is in place, the more time he or she can spend with the transition team of interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines and Chief Operating Officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. Howard Miller to learn the complicated system. The decision the school board makes will likely be the most important one in determining the academic success of our children. |
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