By Adam Nichols
DNAinfo News Editor
Manhattan — Mayor Bloomberg chose Cathie Black to head New York's school system without considering any other candidates, according to reports.
The mayor said he conducted a "public search" for candidates to replace outgoing Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who resigned on Tuesday.
But sources told the New York Post he tapped business leader Black to take over the role without formally interviewing anybody else.
"The word that I'm getting is there never were interviews, there never was a search," an education department insider told the newspaper.
"This was Bloomberg's plan. He offered it to her, and she accepted."
Black, 66, the chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, suggested to the Post after her appointment that she hadn't been interviewed either. She said she was offered the job out of the blue.
Bloomberg defended his selection process.
"To go through a lengthy process in the middle of a school year is just not something in our kids' interest," he said on his weekly radio show Friday.
"We have a list of people in my mind that if (there's an opening) ...I know pretty much who I would make my first call to, to see if we can get somebody to fill in right away."
City Hall personnel refused to tell the Post how many candidates were considered for the job.
Black needs a waiver from the state Commissioner of Education David Steiner to take the job because of her lack of certification as a superintendent.
Steiner's spokesman told the Daily News that even he wasn't consulted before Bloomberg made the announcement of Klein's proposed successor.
"The commissioner was taken by surprise by the announcement," the spokesman said.
