EMBARRASSING

Cathie Black Emails Released

Doomed NYC schools chancellor tried to woo Oprah.

Hundreds of emails were released Thursday relating to the high-profile failure to make Cathleen Black the city’s schools chancellor—and it paints a fairly embarrassing picture. Black, a Hearst magazine executive who had no prior educational experience, was appointed chancellor in November 2010, and city officials quickly embarked on a PR campaign for her—although she was pushed out of the job just five months later. Since she had no education experience, the city had to get a waiver from the state to appoint Black—and its big strategy to drum up support was to get some high-profile women to back Black. Black herself even tried to reach out to Oprah Winfrey and Caroline Kennedy, while the office worked hard on others such as Nora Ephron, Diane von Furstenberg, and Suze Orman. Kind of pandering, but is that really why the city spent $25,000 to keep these emails secret?