Interim CPS chief plans for the long haul but hasn't talked to Rahm Emanuel - Chicago Tribune

Interim CPS chief plans for the long haul but hasn't talked to Rahm Emanuel CPS chief Terry Mazany doesn't expect to be in charge long, but he's reversing predecessor Ron Huberman and leaving Rahm Emanuel a new education plan March 07, 2011|By Joel Hood and Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Tribune reporters Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune Chicago Public Schools chief Terry Mazany will complete his 100th day in office this week, a milestone that has him reflecting on the school district's troubles and promoting a new vision to help fix what he considers the chaotic and fractious reign of his predecessor, Ron Huberman. "The system was in free fall," Mazany said of the district after Huberman's departure in November. "There was plunging morale. Vacancies in key leadership positions. A balkanized organization structure where each unit was doing their own thing. And there was a loss in a unifying vision for education." Over the last three months, Mazany said he has worked to repair some of the strained relationships between the central office and its employees and to bring his own "culture of calm" to a district that had seen three top executives in two years. Now, with another overhaul of CPS leadership looming, Mazany has completed a new education plan that lays the groundwork for the types of changes he says will put the district back on track — transferring power from far-flung area offices back to the district's headquarters, improving employee morale, holding teachers accountable, closing or consolidating schools with low enrollment, placing a one-year moratorium on new charter schools to free up space for those already succeeding, investing in early childhood education and getting away from testing as the sole measure of a student's intellect. In other words, Mazany is advocating for eliminating many of the policies Huberman put into place, a move he says will create a more level playing field across the city and better prepare students for global competition. "There is this fractured focus of everybody pursuing their own definition of what quality schools look like, what instruction looks like, each department doing its own thing," Mazany said. "There were a lot more challenges than I had anticipated." Mazany said he has not spoken with Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and does not consider himself a candidate to become the schools' chief full time. Emanuel has said he wants the new chief in place by the time he takes office May 16. But Mazany sees an opportunity "to do some good here" before a new administration is put into place. And he is using his education plan as a set of guiding principles to whittle away at a budget deficit now approaching $750 million.

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