Harold Levy:
Another Victim
Of A Failing School System

Online published reports have School Chancellor Harold Levy applying for the position of president of Cornell University, his alma mater. The Citibank Exec. who tackled the New York City School system has discovered that the public sector may be more difficult than the private one. Unable to win the support of Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Levy apparently finds the Halls of Ivy a lot more attractive than the down and dirty 110 Livingston Street B of E headquarters which has gotten the best of many before him.

We applaud his efforts and courage and believe, like several before him, he tackled a no-win job with a unique and creative approach. Although his departure is yet to be announced, we salute him and wish him well.

Thanx, Harold.

Potential school system savior after savior seem to come and go — many of whom, like Levy, have been men of quality and character — and yet the schools continue to fail the kids.

We know not if giving the control to the Mayor would improve the system, however, we are certain that the present system has failed.

It is time for a change.

We recall when we first starting writing this column of commentary after a long hiatus. In December of 1999, we broke the news that Levy’s predecessor, then Chancellor Rudy Crew, would be leaving the job.

Our comments on the school system back then were right on target. Sadly, it is about to claim Harold Levy as its next disappointment.

On December 23, 1999, we wrote of Rudy Crew:

I think he’s done a reasonably good job. That’s about the best just about anyone could do.

Now, I hear that as you read this, the game will be over. Rudy Crew is on the way out. He and the Board of Ed. didn’t have a meeting of the minds. His performance was okay. He wasn’t thrilled; they weren’t thrilled. He didn’t go hat in hand asking for a new contract. They didn’t beg. He was a big baby, our sources tell us. However, the root of the problem is that the school system is just no damn good. And Rudy Crew can’t fix it. No one can.

The school system is beyond repair and there is no way to bring it up to acceptable standards. The reasons are many. . .too many to go into here and now. But the situation has been disastrous since McGeorge Bundy and the Ford Foundation first came up with the idea of decentralization in the ‘60s.

No, it’s not their fault either. Social conditions, poverty, poor contract negotiations, a fiscal crisis, a litigious society and lots more have brought a system that was struggling in the ‘60s to beyond repair in the ‘90s. Sadly, we have to see the same failing structure taken into the new millennium.

No criticism of Crew, Giuliani or Terri Thomson, the Queens school board member — she’s wonderful — is intended or deserved. They all have done admirably under the circumstances. As a matter of fact, I believe they all know it is time to throw the system out. They just can’t figure out how to do it.

EDUCATION FLASHBACK: I remember pretty clearly, an afternoon in the ‘60s. I was a student and at the home of my Uncle Murray Bergtraum.

Uncle Murray was the first Queens member of the new decentralized Board of Education. He was its second president. Murray was bright and concerned. He was knowledgeable and experienced in public education. Murray belonged on the Board. He cared and was talented.

Well, he walked into his house, sat down in the dining room and started to talk to me. We occasionally shared thoughts. He did more of the talking; I listened.

I don’t recall the exact words, but the sentiment has remained with me for more than three decades. Murray shook his head and sadly said: “It’s no use. There is no solution. They should burn down 110 Livingston St. (Board of Education headquarters) and start over.”

Some 30 years later, the mayor has suggested that the Board be blown up.

Let’s stop kidding ourselves. We all know, our school system is failing.

Anyone have a match?

Jim Gennaro: A New Environment

Jim Gennaro and I lunched at the office earlier this month. There was no particular agenda. I guess Jim wanted to renew our friendship after a brief argument concerning our coverage during his campaign.

Jim Gennaro

I didn’t take notes since much of what Jim said was during an informal, off-the-record chat. However, some clear impressions came through.

Like many of his new colleagues, Jim is hard working and driven. After a full day at his City Hall office, he returns to his Union Turnpike store front office to deal with the concerns of his eastern Queens community. Jim’s biggest gripe about the job he battled so hard for and won is that he doesn’t have enough time with his wife and seven-year-old daughter.

He complains about the stress caused by not having yet filled all his staff positions. This self-described perfectionist readily accepts responsibility for setting staff standards too high.

Unlike many of his colleagues who first connected with the Council as a result of civic activism, Jim discovered it because he’s a policy wonk (I love using that word). This former environmental policy analyst for the Council seems more at home talking environment or in academia than he does in the backroom of the political club. He seems to struggle to try to control an occasional explosive reaction in order to build alliances and relationships. Clearly he prefers the role of a legislator to that of a hand shaker.

Although at first he claimed to have not talked politics since his election, he quickly recanted and recognized that he is likely one of the few new Councilmembers who may have a tough time winning reelection next year.

No, it has nothing to do with his performance or the fact that Jim was not the Democratic organization’s candidate. On the contrary, he is doing his job well and quickly befriended and was befriended by Tom Manton and Company. He is president of the powerful Saul Weprin Democratic Club — the only Dem club to be called home by three elected officials: Jim, Councilman David Weprin and Assemblyman Mark Weprin.

Jim’s reelection problems stem from the ethnic or rather religious make-up of his district. This predominantly Jewish District with the largest block of Orthodox Jewish voters in Queens, presents a potential hurdle to a non-Jewish candidate. Jim’s victory last year was only possible because there were two Jewish candidates in the race. Certainly, he can be expected to run stronger next year as an accomplished incumbent who has worked hard, but the math of the Primary voters is still troubling. He has reached out effectively to the Jewish community, joining the Council’s Jewish caucus and welcoming Orthodox community activists into his “kitchen cabinet.” He is well on his way to solidifying himself as the champion of all the people of his district.

Jim is still adjusting — making the transition from intellectual to indispensable. He is working hard, he is committed, he’s here for the long run.

One Unhappy Camper

Longtime District Leader, former Councilman and forever political poobah of the J.F.K. Democratic Club, Morty Povman is one unhappy camper.

Povman, who challenged Tom Manton for the top Dem slot in the County a decade and a half ago, has been a loyal member of the County leader’s team since then. Povman, a super successful negligence attorney who was term-limited after a three decade stay in the Council, has the wherewithal to maintain his independence. And it sounds like that’s just what he’s starting to do.

Last year, his longtime aide Jeff Gottlieb – in exchange for a promise of futures – withdrew from the Council race in favor of County’s choice Barry Grodenchik. Well, those futures never came to Gottlieb while Grodenchik is being given a second run at public office, and so we’ve witnessed posturing that Gottlieb would take on longtime Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersong. We’ve been suggesting that race would never materialize since Mayersonn could only be beaten by an electric blender and Gottlieb knows it. We believe it was part of Povman’s message to County: “take care of my club.” Morty apparently wanted something for Gottlieb and a judgeship for another club member.

It wasn’t about to happen.

So the longtime District Leader has, at least for the moment, broken with the organization. Gottlieb has just about gotten out of the race with Mayersong — we believe he will. Povman is endorsing Julia Harrison over incumbent and County candidate Toby Stavisky. Look for other opportunities for Morty to flex his muscle until he is reeled in by a Democratic organization that has learned how to get along and allow others to live.

Manton’s mantra has been “peace” and we’d expect Manton and Co. to work through this one. Povman is posturing, but he’s always been a County man at heart.

Politics, A Family Game

Mayor Mike Bloomberg met recently with Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe in the main lobby of Grand Central Station to deliver the City’s bid to host the 2004 Democratic National Convention utilizing Madison Square Garden as the main site. 

“We are proud to extend the invitation to the Democratic National Committee to host the Democratic National Convention in our great city, and hope that they will accept and make a dramatic statement of America’s resolve in the face of the Sept. 11 attacks,” said Mayor Mike.

The Mayor announced the Host Committee co-chaired by Jonathan M. Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews, and former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, who was chair of the Host Committee for the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City.

I remember taking my son Lee – then 14 – to that ’92 convention to see the new Democratic star Bill Clinton and our Queens boy Mario Cuomo. I remember when we returned home, Lee wanted to call my father in Florida. My dad, like I, was a political junkie and he was raised by a mother who was active in New York Democratic politics in the early 1900s.

Lee excitedly shouted into the phone, “Grandpa, I just came from the Democratic convention and heard Bill Clinton get nominated for president.”

My father responded to Lee by explaining that when he was 18 his mother took him to a Democratic Presidential Convention in New York and he too experienced the exhilaration of the political process.

Lee, being his father’s son, did not miss a beat and asked, “And Grandpa, who did you see nominated... John Adams?”

Dad was speechless.

And I got a story out of it.

Just one of the family memories that reinforces that politics is a family game of fun.

Try playing sometime.

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato

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Michael Schenkler can be reached at: MSchenkler@queenspress.com