Principals Union's New President Promises Strong Contract Action

City principals, who have been locked in bitter contract negotiations with the city, have elected a new union president who says he won't back down to city demands.

In a fiery speech at a gala luncheon in the glittery Hilton Hotel Grand Ballroom on Saturday, Ernest Logan, who was elected president in an uncontested election last month, promised city principals and assistant principals that he would "speak truth to power" when he takes the helm of the union in February. Mr. Logan is currently the executive vice president of the Council of Supervisors and Administrators. He is replacing Jill Levy, who is going on to lead the national principals' union.

Ms. Levy has failed to reach an agreement on a new contract with school's chancellor, Joel Klein, for three and half years, and many principals who gathered at the union's annual conference this weekend said they hoped new leadership could improve the hostile relationship between the union and the city.

"I'm hopeful that the change will lead to some progress," the principal of P.S. 105 in the Bronx, Christopher Eustace, said.

At the same time, few said they thought Mr. Logan should make concessions in the ongoing contract talks.

Both sides seemed to dig in their heels last month when Mr. Klein sent a letter to principals questioning the very logic of the existence of the union, which represents both school principals and the assistant principals they supervise. The letter came in the same week the city negotiated a contract with teachers that raised the maximum salary of teachers above the salary level of some assistant principals.

The Department of Education congratulated Mr. Logan in a statement, and said, "We look forward to working with him in the future and having a productive relationship."

In his speech, Mr. Logan criticized Mayor Bloomberg and Mr. Klein for not attending the event and aggressively challenged the direction of school reforms under the chancellor, including one of Mr. Klein's signature programs: empowerment schools.

"Is it real empowerment or just hollow words?" he said, adding that principals at empowerment schools experience "nitpicking" and "micromanagement" from the schools bureaucracy.

The union's new first vice president, Randi Herman, sounded a more conciliatory note, however.

"We're ready to deal," she said in an interview. "Let's meet someplace in the middle."