And If You Choose Not To Receive An Education, 75 Cents Will Be Credited To Your Hotel Bill

First, I’m kind of disturbed that the mayor doesn’t write stuff down:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the confidential search for New York City’s new schools chancellor, saying an open search would have been untenable. The mayor also said Friday that he keeps a list of potential candidates in his head for high-level jobs in his administration.

“We spent a lot of time looking around the world for the best people and we have a list of people in my mind,” he said. “Always trying to think if any of our commissioners or deputy mayors, you know, the way I phrase it got hit by a truck — just as a euphemism — I know pretty much who I would make my first call to to see if we could get somebody to fill in right away.”

Aren’t there a lot of really awesome things — or candidates, even — that kind of slip out of your mind about five minutes later? Doesn’t he own an iPad or something?

Second, you would also think that with a position as important — even it’s only “first and foremost” a “managerial post” — as schools chancellor, that at least one other person would be interviewed or contacted. That’s not the case, and as it turns out, the mayor’s candidate wasn’t even interviewed, either.

This is one of those stories you talk about as you’re getting ready to go work — one of those things you see or read or hear and kind of say “for reals?” It makes me wonder if this is what people who voted for his third term were hoping for. It makes me want to read a snarky Adam Lisberg column.

Now you could argue, as some have, that the chancellor position is a figurehead position that doesn’t require extensive education background, that there are people below the figurehead who do the policy and heavy lifting. Fair enough, but then you see that two top Board of Education officials just resigned and that argument suddenly seems weaker.

And while it’s not unusual to have an “outsider” run a school system, in those cases there is usually a more transparent recruiting process. That makes sense — it’s a leap of faith to allow a business leader or a military sergeant run a school system. But ask yourself this — even if it’s OK to have, say, a school superintendent run Hearst Magazines, wouldn’t the board of directors (and its stockholders) want to make sure that the selection process was as thorough and un-capricious as possible? Or is that how you “run a business”?

Cool. Awesome. Third term.