Chancellor Walcott -- Grille or Be Grilled

I guess it is more fun to be behind the grille at PS 10 in Park Slope than being grilled by public officials in Albany and at the NY City Council, but Chancellor Dennis Walcott, for the moment, seems to make it all look easy.

At the end of the day, Chancellor Walcott is still the Mayor's appointee, so this honeymoon, which by definition usually can be expected to end before it even starts, will be a fleeting thing. But clearly, after nearly a decade of the hard charging Joel Klein, who, with all of his good intentions, sometimes came off like a combination of the "eminently practical" Thomas Gradgrind ("Figures!") and the cold, remote Mr. M'Choakumchild from Dickens' Hard Times, who was then quickly followed by the collapse of the brief Cathie Black administration (currently the subject of a continued spotlight as a result of the FOIL request by NY State Senator Ruben Diaz) , New Yorkers -- and their children -- are clearly Ready for A Change.

Mr. Walcott may have some rocky roads ahead, but as shown in the above photo from this morning, in some cases, the Mayor has learned that you can't buy publicity like this. (Or the beautiful photo op of Mr. Walcott walking his grandson Justin to school.) Yeah, this may be politics, the grand gesture, the Bella Figura, but one hopes that Mr. Walcott is as he seems -- a good guy, a real New Yorker, who, despite being a politician, really loves kids and is comfortable being with them and working with them, and is generally capable of making friends and influencing people.

Running with scissors may come later. But for now, this will work just fine.