Chicago hires outsider to head public schools

UPDATED:

CHICAGO

A new chief executive officer with no education background has been appointed by Chicago’s mayor to run the city’s schools, angering some who cite his lack of experience but making sense to others who point to a national trend of going outside traditional ranks for these positions.

Before joining the nation’s third-largest school district, Ron Huberman ran the city’s transit authority, helmed its 911 center and served as chief of staff to the mayor.

“It used to be that almost all superintendents were lifelong educators who worked their way up through the system. That is no longer the case,” said Michael Petrilli, vice president for national programs and policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in Washington.

Mr. Petrilli noted that other large cities have hired similar school chiefs who have done the job well. Those include former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein, who was appointed in 2002 by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to run the nation’s largest district in New York City.

The Huberman appointment “makes some sense,” said Mr. Petrilli, who served as associate assistant deputy secretary of education in the Bush administration.

“Somebody in this role must manage a large, complex organization. What he does know is something about running a large government bureaucracy - he knows how to manage a budget, how to negotiate with public employees unions, how to deal with the media.

“I think this model can work as long as there is an educator in a key senior position who can make important decisions in education and do that well.”

Such a person appears to be Barbara Eason-Watkins, who was bypassed for the top post and will remain as the schools’ chief education officer.

Looking forward

Mr. Huberman, a former police officer, marks the third Chicago schools chief appointed by the mayor who was, for the most part, an education outsider. Paul Vallas, who now helms the Recovery School District in New Orleans, led the Chicago district from 1995 to 2001. He was followed by Arne Duncan, whom President Obama has selected as the nation’s new education secretary.

Mr. Huberman, 37, earned unanimous approval from the school board last week for the $225,000-a-year job but was met by 300 chanting protesters outside the board headquarters along with boos as he was introduced to a packed crowd.

Marilyn Stewart, president of the 32,000-member Chicago Teachers Union, an American Federation of Teachers affiliate and one of the nation’s largest, said she is moving forward with her eyes on reform, even as some have protested Mayor Richard M. Daley’s selection.

“I can’t begin to explain why the mayor came to that decision,” she said of Mr. Huberman’s hiring. “It was his choice.

Story Continues →