BOE on tape: The most productive 4 minutes you'll ever see

The speedy pace and the unnervingly scripted feeling of today’s Board of Education meeting is captured in this video I took, which at four minutes documents almost half of the meeting.

The video starts just as board members are voting for Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott as president. Walcott leads the rest of the meeting. After he takes over, you’ll see the group vote to elect the Department of Education’s chief lawyer, Michael Best, as its secretary and hear the resolution proposed that would make Joel Klein chancellor. We all know how that vote turned out: 7-0 in support of extending to Klein “all powers under law … that may lawfully be delegated to the chancellor.”

The board members, from left to right: Jimmy Yan, Patricia Harris, Carlo Scissura, Walcott, Edward Burke, Edward Skyler, and Fernandez. Sitting just behind the board on their left (our right) was Klein, who looked on but never said a word during the proceedings or the press conference that followed.

The full text of the resolution to rehire Klein is below:

RESOLUTION APPOINTING A CHANCELLOR, APPROVING REGULATIONS OF THE CHANCELLOR THAT REQUIRE BOARD APPROVAL TO REMAIN IN EFFECT, AND ADOPTING REGULATION ON DELEGATION OF POWERS TO THE CHANCELLOR Resolved, that the Board appoints Joel I. Klein to serve as Chancellor, and directs the President of the Board to enter into a contract with the Chancellor on behalf of the Board on the same terms as those in the contract dated November 14, 2002, except that the Chancellor shall be removable by the Board.  Resolved, that, in order better to discharge its policy-making and other functions and to provide for the efficient administration of the educational system, the Board hereby approves all current regulations of the Chancellor that require its approval to remain in effect, and adopts the following regulation:  The Board hereby delegates to the Chancellor all powers under law, including but not limited to its powers under Articles 52 and 52-A of the Education Law,  that may lawfully be delegated to the Chancellor.  This delegation includes, but is not limited to, authority to award and execute contracts, without restriction as to dollar amount or purpose, pursuant to procurement policies adopted by the Chancellor prior to June 30, 2009, without further action by the Board.