Really my readers ought to be employed doing oppo
Trib Editorial 4/21/99
FILLING CITY COLLEGES’ LEADERSHIP GAP
Ronald Gidwitz did Mayor Richard Daley a big favor last week by resigning as chairman of the board of City Colleges of Chicago.
It’s a favor not because Gidwitz reportedly was edged out by Wayne Watson, Daley’s hand-picked chancellor, but because his resignation gives the mayor a priceless opportunity to appoint a chairman who can turn the colleges into the asset they should be for the city.
Gidwitz’s nearly eight-year tenure as board chairman was marked by a continuing decline in enrollment at the colleges and a lack of a clear sense of direction for the system as a whole.
Ouch. Worse, the fight between Gidwitz and Vallas was over when standardized tests would be given. The tests were designed to incorporate the full year of instruction, but under Gidwitz the State BoE wanted to give thm in the middle of the year. IOW, the tests were testing material not yet covered by curriculum guidelines. Vallas was right on a very basic issue.