The following article was selected from the Internet Edition of the Chicago Tribune. To visit the site, point your browser to http://chicagotribune.com/. ----------- Chicago Tribune Article Forwarding---------------- Article forwarded by: Cayata Dixon Return e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,ART-52316,FF.html ---Forwarded article---------------- Michael Scott named Chicago school board president By Dan Kening Mayor Richard Daley today named Michael Scott, a Chicago businessman and seasoned political appointee, to be the new president of the Chicago Board of Education. Scott, 51, a registered lobbyist and AT&T Broadband executive, will leave his current post as Chicago Park District board president to head the board of the $3.5 billion public school system, the nation's third largest. "Public education is the key to our future," Daley said at the news conference where he introduced Scott as his choice to head the school board. "My mandate to Michael is to marshal all of the resources, all of us together." The first member of Daley's new schools team, Scott succeeds Gery Chico, a longtime Daley aide who resigned abruptly as board president two weeks ago after some falling test scores wiped out two years of improvement. On Wednesday, schools CEO Paul Vallas said he also would resign. Asked if he sees the need for a shake-up at the school board over the test scores issue, Scott said: "I think that the course that Paul and Gery were on was a good course. We've experienced some success. The question is, where does the rest come from? We need the community, we need the foundations, to help us push that ball to the top of the hill." Reversing the trend of falling scores is crucial, Daley said. "Eighty-five percent of the kids in school can't read at the national norm," the mayor said. "That's something we should be alarmed about. We should be upset and work together and do something about it." "This is not just in the last year," Daley added. "This has gone on for 15 years. We have to do better in that job for that child -- not for the mayor's sake, not for Michael Scott's sake, for the sake of that child." Scott described his managerial approach as "not confrontational." "Typically," he said, "if you listen to people and show an appreciation for their perspective -- whether you go with their opinion or not -- at least you've shown consideration for their views. But sometimes that doesn't work and you have to move on in spite of that." Scott has served in various capacities under Daley and two of the mayor's predecessors, Jane Byrne and Harold Washington. He served a term on the school board starting in 1980, but he engendered controversy at the time by enrolling one of his children in a Catholic elementary school. In another controversial move, Scott went to work for Prime Cable in 1990 after serving as city cable administrator, who oversaw the transfer of two franchises to Prime. Prime Cable was acquired by AT&T Broadband last January. Scott currently represents AT&T Broadband in maintaining and monitoring 325 franchise agreements with area municipalities, including Chicago. The firm employs 5,700 people locally and provides cable television service to 1.7 million customers as well as digital telephone and high-speed Internet service. Asked about possible conflicts of interest in his new post, Scott said, "I've been a (park) board member for 10 years and have never had to recuse myself on a vote. I recognize that AT&T has a contract with the Board of Education, and I might recuse or abstain once a year." ---------------------------------------------------- This is the CPS Mathematics Teacher Discussion List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
