By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Only three days after Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s appointment of Cathie Black, a Hearst magazine executive, as New York City’s next schools chancellor, parents have mounted an online campaign against her.
Nearly 4,500 signatures were collected as of 2:30 p.m. on Friday, following Bloomberg’s announcement Tuesday that Joel Klein was resigning and Black would take his place.
"If you also are outraged by a new chancellor without any experience in public education and who sent her own children to private school, here is an online petition you can sign and forward on," wrote one parent on an education e-mail list.
"Ms. Black, currently executive vice president of Hearst Magazines, lacks the required educational and professional qualifications for the position of Schools Chancellor as determined by state law," reads the petition, which is addressed to New York State Education Commissioner David M. Steiner.
State law dictates that the New York City schools chancellor has to be certified as a superintendent, which requires three years of education experience, or obtain a waiver from the state, which would be granted by Steiner. Black is still waiting for her approval.
Department of Education officials did not immediately return requests for comment.
