PUBLIC education should be about leaning how to read, write and do math – the traditional “three Rs.”
But schools Chancellor Harold Levy has been making public education more about the three Ps – privatization, politics and profligacy.
After a good start, Levy has made a series of blunders that have severely wounded his standing and credibility with parents, advocates and opinion makers.
Levy’s monstrously incompetent lurch at privatizing five under-performing schools with Edison Schools Inc. is only the most visible of his self-destructive follies.
In February, he needlessly intervened to block the appointment of William Stark as the principal of the Bronx HS of Science – Levy’s alma mater.
Stark was a popular social-studies teacher and administrator at the school for 33 years. He had the support of the teachers, the alumni and the students.
But Levy declared him unfit, saying he would instead recruit a Nobel laureate for the job. By the time Levy had changed his mind and wanted to offer the job to Stark, Stark had accepted a job on Long Island.
Then Levy decided to push privatization in an absurd process – and despite passionate opposition from parents. It was an ill-conceived $250 million deal doomed to defeat.
Both the Bronx Science and Edison blunders revealed one of Levy’s basic weaknesses as a leader and manager. He is a corporate elitist who doesn’t listen.
In meetings with parents, he conveys a smugness and closed-minded impatience that does not help him build bridges or reach consensus.
Then came the news that the math scores in city schools had either dropped a little or remained flat, depending on how you interpret the new standards.
Then came the March 11 New York Times magazine profile, in which Levy shot himself in the foot, and probably in the head.
The article quoted him telling a city employee that the way to improve education was to “get the state Senate under Democratic control.”
In the same article, Levy quoted the 19th century political tract “Plunkett of Tammany Hall,” which refers to upstate lawmakers as “hayseeds.”
What he said was so inappropriate and impolitic that it seemed to flow from a corporate arrogance. It was budgetary suicide for the leader of the school system to say something that Joseph Bruno, the GOP leader of the Senate, was right to interpret as insulting and disrespectful.
Levy’s need to be a smartass damaged New York City. It injured the chance to get more equitable funding from the state Legislature for city schools. It was a self-indulgence that hurt our kids, by creating an enemy.
Levy’s partisan attitude favoring the Democrats angered even the partisan Democrats in Albany. They knew this is not how a professional plays the game of politics.
Now, Levy is trying to squeeze a $10,000-a-month housing stipend out of the Board of Education, because he is not living in the Brooklyn townhouse the board bought for chancellors.
Levy’s salary is $245,000 a year. He makes more money than Mayor Giuliani and Gov. Pataki. He owns a West Side co-op and a house in Connecticut.
Levy’s willingness to collect the housing stipend, on top of his wealth and salary, must look pornographic to teachers just getting by on $45,000 a year and working without a union contract.
Teachers-union President Randi Weingarten was critical of Levy in an interview yesterday, but still hoped he might “learn lessons” from his avalanche of mistakes.
Weingarten does not favor his removal or resignation, partly because a chancellor search now, with Giuliani a lame duck, would be chaotic and destabilizing to the system.
“Harold didn’t consult on privatization,” Weingarten began. “He didn’t give people a choice. He created a terrible process. He did this for Giuliani, and he made a mistake. He is also under Giuliani’s thumb in the collective-bargaining process.”
Getting to the essence of Levy’s problem, Weingarten said, “Harold failed to articulate an instructional vision before his honeymoon period was over.
“Rudy Crew had a focus on literacy. Joe Fernandez had a focus on smaller alternative high schools and school-based management. Harold needs to articulate his vision to improve learning.”
The union leader also described what Levy did at Bronx Science as “mind-boggling in forcing out a popular leader like Stark.”
Harold Levy needs to learn how to play well with others, share his toys and listen in class.
We are probably stuck with Levy until a new mayor is elected. But he gets a D on his report card – and our children deserve an A chancellor.