I was going to hold off on this post until I saw A-1 of Monday’s New York Times. Reading the story, I got the familiar sense that when it comes to great challenges like reviving our public schools, instead of tackling the issues, the media makes it about the people – and no one embodies the cult of personality bigger than Paul Vallas. There’s a love-hate relationship with the man that overwhelms the more important dialogue about the impact of the past five years of reform and what type of leader the Philadelphia public schools need today in order to move forward.

That willful blindness is perfectly embodied in Philly Mag’s Sept. 2007 Vallas profile: “Reformer R.I.P.” (http://www.phillymag.com/home/articles/power_reformer_rip/page1)

I’m not quite sure how anyone goes from leaving chaos, and a $200 million deficit, in their wake to exiting in a poof of stardust, but this is Philly Mag after all. A few choice quotes from the profile: