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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > November > 05
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
New Education Secretary … Colin Powell?
According to this Bloomberg News story, President-elect Obama may consider former Secretary of State Colin Powell for education secretary. The story sources this to Mark Halperin at Time Magazine, but I cannot find the original story.
This choice would be, to say the least, surprising. Bloomberg says Powell has a long-running interest in education, but if he has been involved in education policy at all it has been under my radar.
Powell is philosophically conservative. Would he, for instance, be a booster of vouchers and charter schools? Powell did lend his name to a Dayton charter school. Of course, it’s now potentially embarrassing that the Colin Powell Leadership Academy was forced to close for chronic academic underperformance and glaring mismanagement.
It’s also a potential concern that Obama would give this job to someone who has an “interest” but perhaps no real expertise in education. The issues in education are complex and nuanced. The education secretary shouldn’t have a steep learning curve.
Of course, this is all speculation right now. It will be interesting to see Powell is a serious contender or not.
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