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- <text id=89TT1348>
- <title>
- May 22, 1989: American Notes:New York City
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- May 22, 1989 Politics, Panama-Style
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 39
- American Notes
- NEW YORK CITY
- Tragic Transition
- </hdr><body>
- <p> After he was appointed the first black superintendent of
- schools in Minneapolis in 1980, Richard Green earned a national
- reputation as a stern and innovative educator. He thus had high
- hopes of muscling New York City's chaotic school system into
- order when he became its first black chancellor 14 months ago.
- But the transition from guiding 40,000 Minneapolis students to
- dealing with 940,000 in New York was a rude jolt.
- </p>
- <p> Green was dismayed by the prevalence of drugs, weapons and
- racial tensions in the New York schools. He suspended two
- community school boards tainted by corruption. He was
- disillusioned when only 6% of voters cast ballots for board
- members. Last week a school administrator and a teacher were
- arrested for selling cocaine, and the trial of a principal
- accused of buying crack ended in a hung jury.
- </p>
- <p> Two days later, Green died at 52 after an attack of chronic
- asthma. "What surprised me most," he had confided to TIME in a
- discussion about his work in New York, "is how little people
- really care about children."
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-