The search for a new Superintendent of the Buffalo Schools: to seek or not to seek ?

The North Park School Board member local developer Carl Paladino expressed the search for a superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools in the Buffalo simply as..."Any formal search is dead on arrival as far as I’m concerned,” he said. 

Yet, searching for a permanent superintendent has become an arduous endeavor for the Buffalo Board of Education. 

And  even more challenging now after  a new majority block surfaced on the School Board, viewing the selection process as simply appointing one from the ranks of the school principals in the district rather than a complicated one in a climate where finding a well qualified and experienced superintendent of schools has become in itself a job, one of the reasons for the existence of a. school board in the first place.

“Any formal search is dead on arrival as far as I’m concerned,” board member Carl Paladino said. “We’re going to do the same thing we did with Ogilvie. We know who we want to interview. We know what kind of person we want.”

Since former Dr. Pamela Brown had to step down last June, the School board hastily interviewed and appointed Donald A. Ogilvie who had just retired from BOCES. But he wasn't a consensus candidate four African -American female board members complained about the lack of transparency and didn't agree with the new majority bloc meeting with Ogilvie first and drawing up a contract voting him in as the interim superintendent of schools.

And  "Interims are hired primarily because a superintendent has left the district and the departure did not allow a sufficient amount of time for the board of education to conduct a thorough search and selection process. In fact, while national surveys offer many different reasons for the departure of outgoing superintendents other than retirement -- acceptance of another position, illness/death, discharge, illegal activity, political discord -- one can conclude it’s generally not a positive separation and it usually stresses the system."

Robert Wilmers Children | All banking is local - Baltimore Sun

"There probably is no other person who has had a greater impact on the city of Buffalo than Robert G. Wilmers.

He's helped turn around a poorly performing urban elementary school, saved the philharmonic from bankruptcy, preserved a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright, worked to shave millions from the city's budget and pledged millions from his own pocket to improve the local zoo."

Robert Wilmers Children | All banking is local - Baltimore Sun

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On the Purpose of Education

The Purpose Of Education

by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,

Morehouse College Student Paper, The Maroon Tiger, in 1947

As I engage in the so-called "bull sessions" around and about the school, I too often find that most college men have a misconception of the purpose of education. 

Most of the "brethren" think that education should equip them with the proper instruments of exploitation so that they can forever trample over the masses. Still others think that education should furnish them with noble ends rather than means to an end. 

It seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the ligitimate goals of his life. 

Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for one's self is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths, prejudices, and propaganda. 

At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. 

A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. 

Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. 

Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction. 

The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals. 

The late Eugene Talmadge, in my opinion, possessed one of the better minds of Georgia, or even America. Moreover, he wore the Phi Beta Kappa key. By all measuring rods, Mr. Talmadge could think critically and intensively; yet he contends that I am an inferior being. Are those the types of men we call educated? 

We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education. 

The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living. 

If we are not careful, our colleges will produce a group of close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists, consumed with immoral acts. Be careful, "brethren!" Be careful, teachers!

Back to: DrMartinLutherKingJr.com

DPCC Fighting for a Seat on Buffalo Public School Board

DPCC Fighting for a Seat on Buffalo Public School Board

Although, it already may be a standing committee of the Buffalo Board of Education, and members unsuccessfully ran candidates  for the School Board, still the District Parent Coordinating Council wants a non/voting appointment to the School  Board.

The group had gained recognition under former Superintendent James Williams at times allotted more time to address the School Board, its power waned  under former  Superintendent Pamela Brown. And it has supported causes and groups some view as part of the overall movement to privatize the Buffalo Public Schools such as Buffalo ReformEd.

While, the group is viewed as aligned with the new majority bloc on the board, so for this reason, the idea of it having a non-voting member of the School Board the minority bloc on the Board may not support.

So, a standing committee focused on parents and their concerns appears to be how the DPCC may best be the way to represent parents.

Muskegon Heights charter schools fail to meet state standards - World Socialist Web Site

"Muskegon Heights Public School Academy System (MHPSA), America’s first all-charter public school district, has been found out of compliance on over a dozen issues relating to its special education program. The educational crisis of the entire district is a resounding condemnation of the emergency manager system."



Muskegon Heights charter schools fail to meet state standards - World Socialist Web Site