Statement by Senator Marty Golden on Cathie Black

Brooklyn – State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn) today issued the following statement regarding Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s selection of Cathie Black to replace outgoing Schools Chancellor Joel Klein:

“As a graduate of Grady High School in Brooklyn, I join the growing chorus of New Yorkers who are applauding Mayor Bloomberg’s choice of Cathie Black to be our City’s next schools chancellor. As the nation’s largest school system, we need a tested manager and leader as chancellor, and that’s exactly what Cathie Black will be for our students and educational system. 1.1 million school children, across the five boroughs of our great City, need someone with the skills of Cathie Black to administer the goals, plans and curriculum so to move our schools forward and climb the ladder to success.

I am confident that our schools will continue to thrive under her reform-minded leadership. I call upon my colleagues in government to respect the parents, teachers and New Yorkers who are confident in Cathie Black and her record, believing she will build upon the achievements of our schools under Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein.

Let me remind the critics that you don’t have to be a lawyer to be a judge, you don’t have to be a police officer to be police commissioner, you do not have to be a firefighter to be fire commissioner, and you don’t have to have been a teacher to be chancellor. So let’s not deny Cathie Black’s extraordinary out of school and classroom management experience as we seek to name her as chancellor. There is no doubt in my mind that she is qualified and will succeed.”