I had my reservations –was called out for ranting about her by friends–even–. And yet, my fears–at least according to the New York Post– are completely founded!!!
WTF?!
Cathie Black, in a meeting at Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office, jokingly made a clever response to parental concerns about public school overcrowding (mind you, these were the concerns of articulate college-educated white professional public school parents!). Her response was:
“Could we just have some birth control for a while. It really would help us all out.”
Great. Thanks. Yeah. We’ll take you up on that…
But what about the kids that are already born???!
She gives Catholics from Chicago–from which I am descended–a bad name!
After that gaffe, she listened some more and then concluded:
“Well thank you. What I can just say is, in conclusion –and I don’t want to start the whole conversation again–is that I could pretty much have this conversation all over the city. You may not think that the Upper East Side has its issues, and the Upper West Side has it’s issues or somebody else has–…
“They all have their issues. What they care about us that their child have a great education. They may want this kind of a school or that kind of a school. So it is–and I don’t mean this in any flip way–It is many Sophie’s choices; With a, you know, with a board on the wall and saying:
“Da-da, Da-da, Da-da, Da-da.
However, what I would suggest, and I , and I, I…uhm…listened to you Eric; and I have not seen this act–which not to say that it has not been somewhat on my desk–But, that we will listen about the planning part of it. And, perhaps, we haven’t done as good a job. I can’t answer that. You know the right and wrong and it’s clear that your needs are great and we will try to deal with them as well as we responsibly can. But, just know that everybody, just like you, feels passionately about what they also want, and so, well, try to do the best we can–the best we can.”
My reaction:
We are so f#*^%d!
This is what I heard Cathie Black say:
1) “Upper West Side–Upper East Side–this meeting is taking place in Lower-Manhattan–I don’t even remember the names of the other boroughs.”
2) “People want to have a say in what kind of school their child attends. But we just can’t make that happen.”
3) “Some schools are good. Some schools are bad. La, la, la, la, la, la, la.”
4) “I have heard you. It doesn’t affect me.”
5) “You get what you get and you don’t get upset!”