Ship was sinking

More context on how we came by our new head of RSD.

Former publishing executive Cathie Black, who was Mayor Bloomberg's controversial choice to head the city's public school system, will be replaced by Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, NY1 reported today.

The decision comes just a day after another deputy schools chancellor -- the fourth high-level education official to quit the system since Black's appointment as chancellor in November.

Deputy Chancellor John White -- who oversaw initiatives on teacher effectiveness, classroom innovations and labor policy -- was tapped on Wednesday to take over the troubled schools in New Orleans.

White (who is white) was a deputy to Black (who is white)* who became notable for such quotables as

In January, Black, whose lack of education and government work has been controversial from the get-go, joked about using "birth control" to stem school overcrowding during a meeting with concerned downtown parents.

She also likened her hard choices to those of a Holocaust victim from the novel and movie "Sophie's Choice."

Apparently Black was such a disaster in New York that people were jumping ship all over the place.

After all, when her predecessor Joel Klein handed over the reins last November, he declared, “I also am comfortable in saying I’m leaving you the best team ever assembled in education.” Mayor Bloomberg also emphasized that he was confident that Black could get past her lack of education experience by leaning on her deputies.

Now four of those deputies have left or are about to. John White, deputy chancellor for talent, labor, and innovation, is set to be named superintendent of schools in New Orleans. Santiago Taveras, deputy chancellor for community engagement, left earlier this week for the private sector. Eric Nadelstern, a top educator who had been with the department for nearly 40 years, retired abruptly n January. And Photeine Anagnastopoulos, the department’s finance guru, tendered her resignation the day after Klein’s.

*Not making any racial insinuation. Just riffing on a longstanding T-P tradition of informing us of the racial extraction of various newsmakers.

Update: Much much more from Liprap