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Bennet possible Obama cabinet pick

Ohanian Comment: Not
that Alter knows anything about education. You
can find out about Bennet by putting his name
in a 'search' on this site. A corporate
turnaround expert, he is the product of private
schools all the way, through Yale Law School.
Before becoming superintendent, he was Mayor
Hickenlooper's chief of staff.


By Nancy Mitchell

The Newsweek columnist who broke the
story of Barack Obama's presidential bid is
betting on Denver Public Schools Superintendent
Michael Bennet as the next U.S. secretary of
education.

"I have my money on Bennet," Jonathan Alter
writes in the soon-to-be-printed Dec. 15 issue.

The others on Alter's short list are Chicago
Public Schools Superintendent Arne Duncan and
Paul Vallas, head of New Orleans' public
schools.

The usually accessible Bennet is being coy
about the column. He declined to comment
directly.

"He told me he imagined his mom would probably
renew her Newsweek subscription," said
DPS spokesman Alex Sanchez.

DPS board members have not been officially
notified of any consideration, said Vice
President Michelle Moss. But Denver Mayor John
Hickenlooper said he isn't surprised.

"He's the best superintendent of schools in
America, so I think it's obvious that he should
be someone being considered," he said. "If
there is someone who has a better set of skills
and experience to run a large critical agency
like that, I don't know who they are."

The debate about Obama's potential education
chief is picking up as his other Cabinet
choices are being named. Friday, The
Washington Post editorial staff and
New York Times columnist David Brooks
argued for a reformer, someone focused on
results and supportive of merit pay and charter
schools.

But to run his education transition team, Obama
picked someone from the more traditional camp,
allied with teachers' unions. Stanford
University professor Linda Darling-Hammond also
is in contention for the secretary's post.

Bennet's strength may be his ability to
straddle both camps, local education activists
said Monday.

"I see him as a pragmatist, not an ideologue,"
said Alexander Ooms, a founding board member of
West Denver Preparatory Charter School. "You're
not going to make everybody happy, but I don't
think Bennet will make anybody pound the table
and cry. Whereas I think Linda Darling- Hammond
would."

Van Schoales, urban education officer for the
Denver-based Piton Foundation, said Bennet is
one of the few U.S. superintendents able to
implement painful changes - such as school
closures - and keep his job with an elected
school board.

"It's important to have someone who can be
articulate about what needs to happen,"
Schoales said, "but do it in a way that doesn't
so alienate teachers and community folks."

— Nancy Mitchell
Rocky Mountain News
2008-12-09


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