You want to talk about stress? Picture this. You are sitting in the first row of the cavernous hail in Brooklyn where the New York City Board of Education meets.

At your feet lies a hoard of news media types, cameras in hand, clicking away as if they need to use up all the cheap film in their expensive cameras. The hot television lights are reminiscent of those in your favorite tanning salon. Reporters feverishly scrawl notes on their pads, and you wonder what facial expression or body language they are reading and recording for their stories. The house is packed, standing room only.

The big hullabaloo is the culmination of my two-week roller coaster ride.

Finalist Status

It all started with a phone call from a consultant wanting to know if I was interested in becoming the chancellor of the New York City public school system. Two years earlier I had been a finalist for the …

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