Ruling Expected On Cathie Black Suit

An Albany Judge is expected to decide this week whether a waiver allowing Cathie Black, a media executive with little experience in education, to run the New York City school system was wrongfully granted by the state as Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and others allege.

The lawsuit, brought by a Jeffries and a dozen other parents, hinges upon whether the state Education Commissioner, David Steiner, ignored the law by allowing Black to become the schools chancellor, provided she appointed a deputy with more education experience.

"The Commissioner's belief that he was entitled to grant significant weight to the education, skills and experience of persons other than Black…was a misreading of the statute and regulations," reads a Memorandum of Law filed by the petitioners earlier this month.

Now, it falls before New York State Supreme Court Justice Gerald Connolly to issue a ruling, who last week heard oral argument in Albany. 

"The effort by Mayor Bloomberg to install an unqualified chancellor places the future of more than one million New York City public school children at risk," Jeffries said. "Ms. Black should not have been granted a waiver."

The city's lawyers remained confident — after all, they faced a similar outcry when the outgoing chancellor, Joel Klein, was granted a waiver despite what many said was a thin resume.

"Chancellor Black's appointment was handled appropriately and is fully consistent with all legal requirements," said Michael Cardozo, a lawyer for the city.