Aide moving to head of class June 13, 2001 BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND ROSALIND ROSSI STAFF REPORTERS Arne Duncan, a former Harvard basketball star who oversees the Chicago Board of Education's showcase magnet programs, has emerged as a serious contender to replace retiring Schools CEO Paul Vallas, City Hall sources said Tuesday. If Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey, Mayor Daley's top choice, continues to resist pressure to take the job, Duncan may become the front-runner, mayoral advisers said. "Of all the people I've met in my life, he's the one I admire most. He would be a great CEO--of anything," said former Park District Board President John Rogers, who has known Duncan for more than 25 years. As youngsters, Rogers and Duncan played basketball together in the Hyde Park neighborhood where they grew up. Years later, in 1991, Rogers hired Duncan to run the Ariel Foundation, a nonprofit organization aimed at bolstering educational opportunities for inner-city kids. A mayoral confidante said Duncan already has an "established pipeline" to Daley in his current role as Vallas' deputy chief of staff. "He's a fresh face who's familiar with the internal operation. He's been involved in school reform projects on the outside and he talks to Daley frequently," the source said. Duncan's chances of replacing Vallas appear to rest with Dempsey, who was still playing it coy on Tuesday. "I haven't said `yes' and I haven't said `no,' " Dempsey said. "The mayor and I have had private conversations, and I'm not going to reveal them, particularly while he's gone" to Europe. Duncan attended the University of Chicago Laboratory School, and his father served as a University of Chicago professor of psychology. Duncan also is a sportsman who played professional basketball four years in Australia and has trained with Michael Jordan since his retirement from the Chicago Bulls. As a teenager, he had a chance to join Rogers on the Princeton University basketball team, but chose Harvard University instead to improve his chance of making the varsity team. Duncan did not return phone calls Tuesday. At the Board of Education, he has worked to give magnet programs the same cachet and vitality as magnet schools have enjoyed. After an intensive review, he concluded that 30 schools getting magnet program money had no magnet programs. Many were simply using the funds to reduce class size by hiring cheaper teacher aides. Duncan also helped make the somewhat controversial decision to create a 30 percent neighborhood set-aside in all magnet schools for area students. Although he has an impressive record in social service and a basketball pedigree, Duncan may lack the financial wizardry that helped Vallas and outgoing School Board President Gery Chico perform education wonders on a $3.5 billion budget. However, Rogers pointed to Duncan's work at the Ariel Foundation, and his magna cum laude diploma from Harvard. "He created a foundation from scratch and made it work," Rogers said. "I have total confidence that he'd be fine." -- This is the CPS Science Teacher List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
