Nocera Suggests Weingarten for Secratary of Education

I understand the appeal of appointing Randi as Secretary of Education, as Joe Nocera recommended in his column today (Steve Brill, for example, suggested her for Chancellor in NYC), but it’s a terribly risky idea. I can only imagine that she’d hire Ravitch as her #2, followed by Linda Darling-Hammond, Karen Lewis, etc. Maybe I’m wrong and she could be great, but let’s not experiment with 1.2 million kids in NYC or 50 million nationwide – let her run a small city or district and show what she can do.

With rumors that Arne Duncan may step down as secretary of Education, we nominate Randi Weingarten to replace him. Risky? You bet. But as the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Weingarten has long claimed to support education reform, so long as it is done with the nation’s teachers instead of at their expense. Making Weingarten the next education secretary would give her the chance to put her money where her mouth is.

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