Maybe She Really Will Shake Up The Schools? After All, She Does Come From An Industry Where They Seem To Excel At Laying Off People

Either that, or they’ll just get by with a bunch of freelancers:

Asked when she last set foot in a public school, [Cathie Black] told the Daily News she was in Harlem Village Academy last year — a charter school where she’s on the advisory board.

Bloomberg said Black is a world-class manager who can rely on city Education Department staffers to fill any gaps in her knowledge.

She’s also a choice from inside the mayor’s social circles.

Black’s two children attended the Kent School, a posh, private boarding school in Connecticut where tuition is $45,000 a year.

She also has a house in tony Southampton, L.I., is a registered Republican and made $500,000 last year just from serving on the boards of IBM and Coca-Cola.

“I did have a public search, and I picked the best person,” Bloomberg said, although New Yorkers never knew he was looking for a new schools leader.

“I thought of Cathie Black . . . somebody I’ve known for a long time,” Bloomberg said. “I could check in terms of what she’s really done, what people have thought about her during her whole career. The check was relatively easy because they happen to be people that I know.”

And then there’s this:

Her departure apparently came as a surprise to colleagues at Hearst, as her appointment did to senior officials in the Department of Education. One senior education official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said many of the department’s leaders learned of Ms. Black’s selection right before it was announced, and few of them seemed to know anything about her.

Who knows — maybe it some sort of Harriet Miers Feint, and what he really wants is Michelle Rhee or something . . .