Or perhaps BoardBuzz sounds like a skipping CD, perhaps a bad mp3 file?  Earlier today the Huffington Post chimed in on the mayoral control issue and discusses whether school boards are better at running an urban school system or is the mayor of the city better suited for the job.  Gerald Bracey points out what others have also said–the data doesn’t back up the idea that the mayor running schools is better off for students, and after you put away all the grownups in this fight, it’s supposed to be about what is best for the students of America.  He says that Secretary Duncan’s “listening tour” is more accurately described as a talking tour, and we need to hear more from the communities around the country who are facing tough educational times.  Bracey states:

But do mayors do better? Depends on how you feel about democracy. The Spring 2009 issue of Rethinking Schools, said that, as [Mayor] Daley’s man, Duncan “has shown himself to be the central messenger, manager and staunch defender of corporate involvement in, and privatization of, public schools, closing schools in low-income neighborhoods of color with little community input, limiting local democratic control, undermining the teachers union and promoting competitive merit pay for teachers.”

He continues on to discuss the situation in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg’s steamrolling of the New York legislature to pass a bill to keep him in control of the schools, and how that is playing out for the children.  The verdict is still out on who wins in these debates.  BoardBuzz hopes that while the back and forth between what’s best for urban schools continues, we (as adults) realize that the more time that we waste on arguing, more students are getting caught in the rheorical crossfire.  There is no silver bullet–what works some places may not work in others.  It’s more than just a public relations game, it’s our future.