Schools Chancellor Cathie Black met Jan. 13 with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s School Overcrowding Task Force, which includes some of Lower Manhattan’s harshest critics of Department of Education policies.

Black, who took over the job on Jan. 1 following her controversial appointment by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, listened attentively, but took no notes and asked no questions, as one speaker after another—in a room that included the principals of six Downtown schools—described what they see as an urgent need for more school seats in Lower Manhattan and a severe lack of planning by the DOE.

Eric Greenleaf, the P.S. 234 parent and New York University professor whose demographic projections are often cited in discussions of Downtown overcrowding, brought the need into sharp focus. Even in the short term, he told Black, there is a critical lack of school seats. The kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms in the Tweed Courthouse, which the DOE plans to turn over to a charter middle school next school year, must continue to be for Downtown children, he said. But without providing still more classrooms, he added, the Tweed space will not be enough.

“Otherwise, hundreds and hundreds of kids who are already born and live Downtown won’t be able to go to schools Downtown,” he said.

“Could we just have some birth control for a while,” Black quipped. “It would really help us all out.”

The joke, and the Trib's video recording of it shown here, led to a flurry of media coverage ("Call it Black humor!" shouted the Daily News), followed by a statement of apology by Black and, on Monday, Bloomberg defending her, reportedly saying her joke was taken the wrong way.

Following the 35-minute listening session with Silver's task force, Black’s one-minute response was tempered with warnings of  “tough sledding ahead” in anticipation of an austere state budget due Feb. 1 and a reminder that she has had similar “conversations” with parents all around the city. But it also contained another line seized upon by the press and the chancellor's critics.

“I don’t mean this in any flip way. It is many Sophie’s choices,” she said, in a reference to the book and film in which a mother in Auschwitz must decide which of her two children will die.

But many at the meeting were there not to focus on Black but to call attention to the past shortcomings of the DOE.  Referring to Greenleaf’s work, State Sen. Daniel Squadron said Silver’s task force has done a better job than the city in predicting classroom needs in Lower Manhattan.

“Unfortunately, those people weren’t inside Tweed,” Squadron said. “And for too long they weren’t listened to and as a result we ended up with a real crisis.”

“I don’t want to make this dramatic,” Silver told Black, “but it’s in your hands.”

In response to claims of poor planning by the DOE, Black said she could not say whether those complaints were right or wrong. But, she added, “It’s clear that your needs are great and we will try to deal with them as well as we possibly can. But just know that everybody else just like you feels passionate about what they also want so we will try to do the best that we can.”

CARL GLASSMAN / THE TRIBECA TRIB

Schools Chancellor Cathie Black listens to concerns from members of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's School Overcrowding Task Force.

Most of those interviewed after the meeting said they appreciated Black’s willingness to listen to their concerns, something that her predecessor, Joel Klein, had not done. And they said her interest seemed sincere. None mentioned Black's quip, soon to be heard around the city.

“We need a lot of help. We are 10 years behind in school planning,” said Tricia Joyce, a P.S. 234 parent and frequent critic of the DOE. “It is a very big job she has. She seems to be taking it seriously and we’ll hope for the best.”

Greenleaf said Black seemed to be trying to show that she cares about children and education. “I think the big question is whether she is willing to go to the mayor and explain how urgent the situation,” he said.

Black admitted to the group that she had no “gigantic new vision” and some complained that she offered no specifics. “I was very interested to hear what Cathie Black would say,” said Leonie Haimson, head of Class Size Matters. “Unfortunately, she didn’t say very much.”

Haimson said she wanted Black to acknowledge the DOE’s past mistakes, and to say that the DOE has a new commitment “to not only plan for the future but to listen to what parents, teachers and principals have to say.”

“I know she’s still in a listening mode but what are her priorities?” echoed Shino Tanakawa, a member of the District 2 Community Education Council. “I didn’t get a sense of what she has in her mind.”