"Call me Arne!"

By GottaLaff

I'm shamelessly copying an entire post from TPM, because it is so positive that I don't want to ruin the continuity by making you read excerpts and then link to the rest. It's an e-mail from a federal employee about Secretary of Education Arne Duncan:

I work at the Department of Education headquarters in DC. Today completed our 2-day introduction to Arne Duncan. Yesterday he had lunch in our cafeteria (Edibles, ha ha), with his wife and children. His wife wore jeans and a sweater and Arne looked like an average joe in khaki dress pants, white shirt and tie. They stood in all of the lines and talked to anyone who approached them. They probably stayed 90 minutes. It was definitely the highest cafeteria attendance ever.

Yesterday afternoon he visited every floor of our building and introduced himself to everyone. We all came out into the hall and he shook everyone's hand with a "Hi, I'm Arne."

By the end of the day yesterday, everyone was aglow, since this was already more attention than we'd received from Spellings or Paige. Today, however, was the all-staff meeting, and I can say that the morale in the building increased ten-fold by the end of it.

Our auditorium was beyond packed, with people standing in the aisles. I myself snagged a seat on the floor next to the stage kindergarten-style. Arne stood in front of a blue screen that read "Call me Arne!" in bright yellow letters. He insisted that we call him Arne, rather than Mr. Secretary or anything like that, saying his name was Arne before he got this job and it would be 8 years from now. [...]

I know this isn't anything earthshattering, but the change in the atmosphere at the Department over the last week has been really astounding. In the past, we all knew that the Secretary had an agenda that she was going to follow, and that we were only there to affirm that her way was best. We really feel that Arne wants to know the truth, whether it fits with his agenda or not.

Barack Obama's White House. Get used to it.

Obama to have press conference at 1145a EST

I'm starting to think this whole "President" thing was just a ploy by Obama to gather the kickin' assest pick up basketball team ever.

(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama is set to announce Arne Duncan, the head of Chicago public schools, as his choice for education secretary at a news conference Tuesday, a Democratic source said.

Duncan has headed the Illinois city's public schools district since 2001. It's the third-largest in the nation.

Like Obama, he is a graduate of Harvard University.

Duncan also worked for six years with the Ariel Education Initiative, which tried to create educational opportunities for inner-city students on Chicago's South Side.

Obama and Duncan often play basketball together, and Duncan was one of those who played with the president-elect in a game on Election Day.

Obama's Secretary of Education pick: Arne Duncan

By GottaLaff

Via Ambinder:

Tomorrow, at a school in the Chicago area, President-Elect Barack Obama will announce his choice to lead the Department of Education, and education insiders, citing the Obama transition team, say it's Arne Duncan, the CEO of schools there. [...]

Duncan has run Chicago schools for seven years and has become friendly with Obama. A 6 foot 5 inch tall Harvard grad and former Australian professional basketball player, he's managed the political hat trick of winning praise from the education reform community, the unions, and is well-liked by parents, too.

He's worked in the trenches as No Child Left Behind became law, and has had some success in closing failed schools and improving student performance. [...]

Critics say he's a "corporate" type who favors metrics over actual knowledge about how children learn, but the American Federation of Teachers praises his management style. He's beloved by charter schools advocates.

Like Obama, Duncan favors merit pay for teachers and administrators, but he's been cautious about pushing the concept too far without input from teachers' unions.