THE INSURGENT TEACHER BLOG: by Maria Rosa, SDA

Eight principals from Buffalo Schools sign open letter of concern on Annual Professional Performance Review

2012-01-31T19:55:00.000-08:00

A group of administrators, educators and concerned citizens from New York State have signed "An Open Letter of Concern Regarding New York State's Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) Legislation for the Evaluation of Teachers and Principals."

This Open Letter has been signed by 1280 Principals across New York State as of January 23, 2012, including 38 from Erie County and eight principals from the Buffalo Public School District.

The APPR is an evaluation system the New York Regents developed that the New York State Legislature used to approve an amendment to Education Law 3012-c in order to qualify for the federal Race to the Top funds on May 2010.

These professional educators and administrators have a problem with the state using standardized test scores to rate their performance, including those developed to assess student learning such as the Regents examinations and the Grades 3-8 Assessments.

Thus, not only will students be adversely affected by the NYS APPR, but the most vulnerable students poor whites, black and Latinos academic progress and achievement suffer as the things they need the most in the curriculum, enrichment activities such as the arts, music, home and careers, physical education and other non-tested areas diminish. One of their concerns:

"Schools will have an incentive to place struggling students in lower-level classes without standardized assessments School systems may hesitate placing students in Regents classes beyond the basic five needed for graduation so that their performance on Advanced Regents examinations will not negatively impact evaluations. If schools use advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) scores, as Commissioner King suggested, schools might be more reluctant to challenge students upward for fear that poor test performance might result in teachers being unfairly penalized." And teachers will subtly but surely be incentivised to avoid students with health issues, students with disabilities, English Language Learners or students suffering form emotional issues. Research has shown that no model yet developed can adequately account for all these ongoing factors."

2012-01-30T19:20:00.001-08:00

"...children deserve good lives, even if school doesn't lead to a better job..." Deborah meier

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2012-01-28T09:44:00.001-08:00

It was an historic occasion as the Buffalo Board of Education interviewed in public the consultants selected to conduct its superintendent search through the RFP it issued October 2011. In an effort to be transparent and to involve the community in the superintendent search process the Buffalo Board of Education conducted the interviews in public in the board room in City Hall where it usually meets for its meetings.
There were few if any from the public present at this historic event except for three and only this blogger stayed until the end when it concluded the interviews at 2 PM.
The consultants were Vincent Coppola from SUNY Buffalo , followed by Proact, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates and Cascade Consulting.
Dr. Copppola is associated with the Western New York Educational Services Council office located at SUNY Buffalo and Cascade Consulting with Say Yes.
Rosalyn Taylor, East District served as a moderator for the group asked the opening questions: How to involve the community and stakeholders in the superintendent search? What steps taken to keep board informed of process? Confidentiality, open or closed, what works?
And Ruth Kapsiak, Central district asked Hazard, Young...how many of its searches involved urban school districts? The response was they have done 200 searches out of 1000 or more.
Florence Johnson, at-large asked what team was working with Buffalo district?
Dr. Coppola and Cascade Consulting presented in person, while the other two through Skype. Cascade Consultants is collaborating in the search with the organization Say Yes that will be working with the Buffalo Schools similar to the Syracuse City School District. The group did an excellent presentation the best, but there were questions regarding Cascade's association to Say Yes. Cascade asked the board to pay its consulting fees and Say Yes to pay for the other expenses involving the superintendent search. There were questions from three board members, Ralph Hernandez, West District, Lou Petrucci, Park District and newly appointed Dr. Barbara Seals Nevergold about the relationship of Cascade to the Say Yes group soon to be involved with the Buffalo Schools.
In a school district with 75% minority children, the consulting groups were not as diverse except for the Cascade group that had an African-American psychologist.
The other question was the one concerning the internal candidate whether interim Superintendent Amber Dixon announcement in the media of her interest in the post made it more challenging to interview prospective external candidates.

New research doubts whether reform changes can be sustained

2012-01-27T10:48:00.001-08:00

A report to be released next month by the Center on Education Policy, based on interviews with officials in 46 states whose worst schools have been receiving the grants, concludes there are widespread doubts on whether changes resulting from the grants can be sustained. The center's president, John F. Jennings, said these concerns were based on fear that there would be no money to pay for the added services once the grants expired, as well as on "a history of low expectations for kids" in those schools. "Just injecting money for three years isn't going to immunize them forever," Mr. Jennings said.

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Obama on IRAN nuclear threat...state of union speech 2012

2012-01-25T03:53:00.001-08:00

"And we will safeguard America's own security against those who threaten our citizens, our friends, and our interests. Look at Iran. Through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran's nuclear program now stands as one. The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent. Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal. But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better, and if Iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations."

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Obama state of union reforms in education

2012-01-25T03:48:00.001-08:00

"I'm a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: That Government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more. That's why my education reform offers more competition, and more control for schools and States."

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Obama wants to all states to raise compulsory school age to 18. Who pays for for it?

2012-01-25T02:49:00.001-08:00

We also know that when students aren't allowed to walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. So tonight, I call on every State to require that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn eighteen.

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OBAMA state of the union speech 2012 same as in 2011

2012-01-25T02:41:00.001-08:00

Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let's offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren't helping kids learn.

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Obama state of the union rhetoric about teachers

2012-01-25T02:36:00.001-08:00

"At a time when other countries are doubling down on education, tight budgets have forced States to lay off thousands of teachers. We know a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance. Every person in this chamber can point to a teacher who changed the trajectory of their lives. Most teachers work tirelessly, with modest pay, sometimes digging into their own pocket for school supplies – just to make a difference."

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2012-01-24T22:15:00.001-08:00

"Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let's offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren't helping kids learn."

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How much is it costing districts to comply and implement State and feds Race To the Top mandates...is it worth it?

2012-01-24T04:31:00.001-08:00

In 2006-07, education spending in NY was about 30 billion. In 2007-08, education spending in NY was about 33 Billion. In 2011-12 educational spending will grow to about 42 Billion. The growth rate remains pretty consistent, a 6% jump year over year. But now King is telling us that educational spending in NY will just about double in 4 years? 80 million in 2016? A 25% annual growth rate over 4 years? I know healthcare, pensions and other benefits are inflating the budget but are they really capable of driving things up this much? I have a feeling King is either inflating his estimates to support his political agenda or there are other factors at play here... To be more specific, exactly what are the long-term costs of implementing the federal mandates associated with Race-To-The-Top? Many states like Virginia and Texas are choosing not to participate. The main reason given by their Governors was the fear and uncertainty surrounding the price tag. I think Kings testimony today may give credence to these concerns. I would like to know one thing, what exactly are New Yorks long term costs toward implementing Race-To-Top? Can someone at The News ask the question? calvados on Mon Jan 23, 2012 at 09:04 PM

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Hawaii Teachers Reject New Contract With State

2012-01-22T04:04:00.000-08:00

Hawaii Teachers Reject New Contract With State

Gov. Cuomo wants union to withdraw lawsuit on teacher evaluations...

2012-01-20T11:40:00.001-08:00

He's fighting for kids...

So what's all the fuss about...is it really about the kids or are public schools under seige by politicians and government officials elected to safeguard them?

Commissioner John B. King, appointed less than 8 months ago stopped SIG funding to several financially struggling school districts earlier this month. Then, Arne Duncan, the top ed dog in the U.S Department of Ed Office threatened to withhold billions in Rttt grants. Now it's the governor of New York threatening to withhold state funds to public school or to reduce their budgets if contract talks are not settled in 30 days on a teacher evaluation system favorable to the state education commissioner and governor.

But what is it that they really want? Many believe it's unfair to pressure NY State Teachers United union to withdraw its successful lawsuit the state education folks are appealing. It's what causing the mess and the kids are caught in the middle of the conflict. And teachers have had enough?

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Gov. Cuomo doing the competitive grant thing again no data to support his position

2012-01-19T14:17:00.001-08:00

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/schools/article714271.ece

New York first in spending 38th in results? Hmm? Is it true?

$250 million again for competitive grants, yet no data available on what happened with the last round of grants.

Many experts in the educational arena question why Gov. Como did not provide the funds to the neediest districts?

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comment from reader NY Daily News court ruling teacher evaluation system

2012-01-19T03:47:00.001-08:00

This ruling makes sense. For those of you who don't understand this, read the NYTimes article "When The Numbers Lie" by Michael Winerip. It follows a very dedicated and excellent teacher's journey with her class. Not only did the principal admire her, but so did the parents and staff. Yet, do to a mere less of a tenth percentage point under the evaluation system called VAM, the city deemed her ineffective. Editors and some people from their comments here don't understand how these tests are evaluated under a system called VAM. Studies have proven this system to be skewed. Because of it, a truly excellent teacher may now leave teaching forever. This ruling states that if under VAM a teacher is found "ineffective" and the other 60% of the rating found that teacher effective, you cannot still rate the teacher as being ineffective. This is a ruling that makes sense.

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Gov Como to deny increase in state ed funds... developing his own rating system for teachers

2012-01-19T03:33:00.001-08:00

The statewide teachers union successfully sued the state Department of Education to block their standards on the teachers ratings. The state Department of Education is appealing the ruling. New York State Teachers United president Richard Iannuzzi rejected the governor’s accusation that the union was the obstacle, noting in 90 of the state’s school districts, the local unions have already agreed to the new ratings. “The evidence certainly contradicts the rhetoric coming from both the governor and the [state education\] commissioner,” Iannuzzi said, noting the state union has already conceded on two key issues. Teachers who score a zero or minimal points on the student test scores will not be considered effective, Iannuzzi said, but he won’t fold on the issues where courts have already determined the state rules violated the Race to the Top law. “The only thing that’s preventing the full implementation of the law is the State Ed Deparment’s appeal,” said Iannuzzi. Cuomo has called on the two sides to settle the lawsuit within 30 days — or else he will write his own teacher evaluation standards and put them in his budget submission to the legislature.

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Education under siege

2012-01-16T22:31:00.000-08:00

Are we under siege? State Education Commissioner John B. King suspended the SIG funds of a few public school districts in the state for failing to meet a December 31 deadline during Christmas and New Year's. King wanted a "rigorous, transparent teacher evaluation plan" that has left many scratching their heads since the state still has its own RFP out on what to do in this area.Yes, it's nice to tell districts to simply read the paperwork, but what is he really saying? If that isn't enough what about Gov. Como calling himself a lobbyist for children trying to link state education funding uto districts developing a teacher evaluation system? While Arne Dumbkin had threatened the loss of one billion in RTTT funding for New York. Is there any taxpayer funds left that's not dole out on a competitive basis? What use to be a right, a constitutional right for children has become a competitive game for a few philanthropist, hedge fund investors and equity firms. In the name of highly effective teachers, testing, teacher evaluation plans, merit pay, and competitive grants that use to be based on the poverty level of districts, New York State children are being denied their constitutional right to a basic education to prepare them for work or for higher education. And this is happening unfortunatelly after the Campaign for Fiscal Equity had to close its doors in june .

Rebell still a voice for equity in education

2012-01-16T13:50:00.001-08:00

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Rebell_by_David_Shankbone.jpg

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Michael Rebell Campaign for Fiscal Equity former director on closing down of CFE offices

2012-01-16T13:40:00.001-08:00

Commissioner John B. King suspended the SIG funds of several public school districts in New York that included Buffalo City School District. Never mind Buffalo had already fronted some of the money hired nearly 70 to work in the six struggling schools including attendance teachers.

"That children's education rights cannot be temporarily suspended is not only a matter of law but also of common sense: A child who misses her opportunity to learn to read during the critical early school years forever falls behind. A teenager who drops out of high school rarely will return to complete his education. This is especially true for the low-income and minority-group students whose educational needs are the greatest and who tend to be the most detrimentally affected by service reductions.” Michael Rebell

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Where the TURNAROUND schools madness started in the living of room of Bill and Melinda Gates

2012-01-16T10:09:00.001-08:00

"To support the new initiatives, the Gates Foundation had already invested almost $2.2 million to create The Turnaround Challenge, the authoritative how-to guide on turnaround. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called it “the bible” for school restructuring. He’s incorporated it into federal policy, and reformers around the country use it. Mass Insight Education, the consulting company that produced it, claims the document has been downloaded 200,000 times since 2007. Meanwhile, Gates also invested $90 million in one of the largest implementations of the turnaround strategy—Chicago’s Renaissance 2010. Ren10 gave Chicago public schools CEO Arne Duncan a national name and ticket to Washington; he took along the reform strategy. Shortly after he arrived, studies showing weak results for Ren10 began circulating, but the Chicago Tribune still caused a stir on January 17, 2010, with an article entitled “Daley School Plan Fails to Make Grade.”

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UFT forcing NYC chancellor back to negotiating table on teacher evaluation talks after filing impasse with PERB

2012-01-16T07:32:00.001-08:00

UFT President Michael Mulgrew on Jan. 13 announced that the union has filed an impasse petition with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). If PERB finds that an impasse exists, it will appoint a mediator and force the city to participate in attempts to reach a new agreement on the teacher evaluation process.

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Evaluations yearly in Tennessee on their First to the Top Act annual system

2012-01-15T09:56:00.001-08:00

The Tennessee First to the Top Act requires, beginning in Fiscal Year 2011, annual evaluation of all teachers and principals and that personnel decisions – including promotion, retention, tenure and compensation – be based in part on these evaluations. Fifty percent of the new evaluation must consist of student achievement data, of which 35 percent will be Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS) data or some other comparable measure of student growth. The remaining 15 percent will be other measures of student achievement as determined by the committee.

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Student submits proposal for non-voting member on school board

2012-01-15T09:21:00.001-08:00

He's young, gifted and black. His name is Stephon Wright, a student at Emerson High School, a Buffalo City School District premier culinary school.

He told the Buffalo school board they should serve food as a way to bring people together.

What else does he want?

He submitted a proposal to the board to appoint a student as a non-voting member on the school board. Stephon was a candidate to fill the at-large seat Chris Jacobs vacated recently to become Erie County Clerk.

Although not appointed, his proposal merits consideration and the school board should develop a process to appoint a student to serve on the board.

There are student reps on school boards across the nation. And their voices are needed now to provide a student perspective on educational policies that impact them.

Photo credit: Buffalo News

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Denver school superintendent Tom Boasberg telecom tycoon no education credentials

2012-01-14T08:12:00.001-08:00

Boasberg, you see, refuses to live in the district that he governs. Though having no background in education administration, this longtime telecom executive used his connections to get appointed Denver superintendent, and he now acts like a king. From the confines of his distant castle in Boulder, he issues edicts to his low-income fiefdom — decrees demonizing teachers, shutting down neighborhood schools over community objections and promoting privately administered charter schools. Meanwhile, he makes sure his own royal family is insulated in a wealthy district that doesn’t experience his destructive policies.

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Teacher commits suicide in Illinois school district

2012-01-13T22:56:00.001-08:00

Intimidation is a tactic in a nationwide strategy to de-professionalize teaching, as a precondition for the dismantling of public education and the selling off or leasing of its related assets. The so-called educational reforms, begun under the Bush administration and expanded by President Obama, have largely been couched in the highly confrontational language of “accountability,” which implies that teachers are overpaid and undeserving of professional status. This has accompanied a frontal assault on the workplace gains teachers struggled to win throughout the 20th century.

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Mayor bloomberg to give highly effective teachers $20,000 salary increase

2012-01-13T03:55:00.001-08:00

Bloomberg also said he is offering to forgive $25,000 of student loans for teachers who finish in the top tier of their college classes.

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Buffalo School officials preparing for mid-year cuts

2012-01-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

Buffalo Board of Education members, "learned that district officials are bracing for a worst-case scenario of possible midyear layoffs in the event that the state permanently withholds $9.3 million it suspended from the district this week," according to a story in the Buffalo News today.

Gov. Cuomo a lobbyist for students?

2012-01-04T14:48:00.001-08:00

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his first year in Albany he learned that everyone has a lobbyist from superintendents, principals, to teachers...but not students. So, he proclaimed himself a lobbyist for students in his State of the State address today.

He said they have to redo the teacher evaluation they had worked on in 2010 after State Education Commissioner Dr. John B. King's decision to suspend grants to school districts this week.

Cuomo cited problems with school management and efficiency and announced the formation of a bipartisan commission to overhaul public education.

Yet, clandestinely Cuomo's educational allegiance some say is to the privateers of public education such as the group Democrats for Education Reform. Their website is collecting donations for him, while he appointed a former development employee Katie Campos from Democrats for Education Reform as his secretary of education last year. Campos was the director also of the Buffalo based group Buffalo ReformEd.

"Transforming Public Education: New York spends more money on education than any other state, yet places 38th in graduation rates. To reform the state's education system, Governor Cuomo announced that he will appoint a bipartisan education commission to work with the Legislature to recommend reforms in key areas including teacher accountability, student achievement, and management efficiency."

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2012-01-03T22:12:00.001-08:00

The carrot has now become a big stick after NYS Education Commissioner Dr. John B. King Jr suspended the SIG Funds of several school districts in the state. Some say he was the real grinch who stole Christmas, expecting school districts and union leaders to work out a teacher and principal evaluation system before a December 31 deadline, during a traditional school holiday break in the nation.

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Applications for Gov. Como incentive performance grants due January 2012

2012-01-03T01:11:00.001-08:00

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the launch of the School District Performance Improvement Awards program that is designed to transform New York State's education system by incentivizing student achievement and encouraging school districts to implement innovative reforms to improve student performance. The performance awards will be granted to school districts in the state that have demonstrated the most success in increasing student performance, narrowing the achievement gap, and increasing academic performance among students with the greatest educational needs. The awards will also be available to school districts that exhibit the greatest potential for continued improvements in student performance. Up to $75 million in grants will be distributed over the next three years, with additional awards to be distributed in future years. Districts that do not receive awards are eligible to reapply.

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Teacher evaluation and the Danielson Framework for Teaching | United Federation of Teachers

2012-01-03T00:58:00.000-08:00

Teacher evaluation and the Danielson Framework for Teaching | United Federation of Teachers

Cuomo creating education reform group

2012-01-03T00:26:00.001-08:00

Gov. Cuomo creating an educational reform commission to address what he views as an unaccountable system of public education. Cuomo's State-of-State will be all about momentum

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Hawaii targeted high at risk must submit receipts to feds before withdrawing its SIG funds

2011-12-31T09:37:00.001-08:00

As a condition of being designated a high-risk grantee, the State will be placed on cost reimbursement basis effective immediately. Under a cost reimbursement payment basis, the grantee is required to submit receipts for expenditures to the Department for approval prior to drawing down any grant funds. In addition, the State must notify the Department prior to obligating funds and must provide documentation to ensure alignment with its approved plan, as requested. Please note that failure to comply with the high-risk conditions may constitute a material failure to comply with the requirements of the grant. If the grantee disagrees with the high-risk designation, it may request reconsideration by the Implementation and Support Unit.

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Capitol Confidential » King says he’ll cut off SIG funding to schools (update)

2011-12-31T09:18:00.000-08:00

Capitol Confidential » King says he’ll cut off SIG funding to schools (update)

A school principal speaks out on the principal and teacher evaluation madness in New York!

2011-12-31T09:09:00.001-08:00

Race to the Top (RTTT) and its requirements have caused serious problems for states, such as New York, that are forging ahead with implementation. My own district wisely pulled out of this particular part of the ongoing insanity last month, saying ‘thanks but no thanks’ to the RTTT money. (As noted below, we can’t similarly opt out of the equally awful state’s APPR law.) Our superintendent realized that the RTTT mandates would cost more to implement than the money received. Not one pencil could be responsibly purchased nor local tax dollar responsibly offset by quickly implementing mandates that are neither effective nor wise.

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Commissioner King response to districts failing to meet the December deadline on teacher evaluations

2011-12-31T08:50:00.001-08:00

“A rigorous, transparent evaluation system grounded in evidence of effective practice and student learning is critical to providing quality professional development, identifying models of excellence, and raising student achievement. Fair, sound teacher and principal evaluations are good for educators and vital for students. "

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Commissioner King criticized for failing to ask for waiver on teacher evaluation deadline requirements.

2011-12-31T08:17:00.001-08:00

New York State United Teachers criticized the commissioner, saying he could ask the federal government for a waiver to extend the deadline, as has been done in at least 14 other states.

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Yonkers super looking at legal options to respond to commissioner King deadline on teacher evaluation system

2011-12-31T07:47:00.001-08:00

“Yonkers has been working, in good faith, with its unions to reach settlements regarding requested modifications to evaluation systems,” he said. “However, settlements by Dec. 31 are impossible considering that both Yonkers Federation of Teachers and the Yonkers Council of Administrators are unavailable until the end of holiday break, Jan. 2.”

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Commissioner John B. King threatened to cut funds to NYC Schools

2011-12-31T03:04:00.001-08:00

City schools stands to lose $60M from feds

In what many have viewed as the stick approach instead of the carrot, Commissioner John B. King threatened to cut the funding of NYC schools Friday after an impasse reached in negotiations due to disagreement over the appeals process on the teacher evaluation system.

It has long been suspected the federal government designed Race to the Top as a ploy to break down the powerful education unions across the nation.

And New York state has become the testing ground for this battle.

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2011-12-30T09:09:00.001-08:00

Barbara A. Seals Nevergold was selectedl Wednesday as the new at-large member of the Buffalo Board of Education by a 5-3 vote.

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Unions sign MOU on the new principal/teacher evaluation system; absenteeism and ESL cited as a problem

2011-12-29T18:07:00.001-08:00

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/buffalo/article689068.ece

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Community called on Commissioner King to keep Lafayette High School opened

2011-12-26T11:07:00.001-08:00

"Lafayette, our dear old Alma Mater, we gather here to sing thy praise. Our hearts are filled with true devotion, gaining strength as fewer grow our days."

Lafayette High School was the scene of a public meeting on Saturday, December 17, organized to get the message out to Commissioner Dr. John King that "we are united when it comes to keeping the doors of Lafayette High School open." King had threatened to close it if the district had not submitted an acceptable school reform plan before January.
Principal Naomi Cerre and supporters of the school gathered in the auditorium at 12 noon. The event sponsored by a group of parents had the support of teachers, staff, students, community stakeholders, politicians and religious leaders.
The presence of an alumnus, a grandfather of a teacher at the school added a bit of nostalgia to the days when Lafayette High School had produced graduates linked by "bonds of white and violet.." the colors of the school.
Principal Cerre and the teachers had to work under a deadline viewed too short to produce an adequate timely plan. But Cerre led the faculty through one of its most difficult and challenging period to come up with a turnaround plan for a high school designated as one of the persistently lowest- achieving in the Buffalo Public Schools by the NYS Education Department.
And the plan the school had submitted to the district had some unique features that included a full time attendance teacher in an office with a staff to address the high absenteeism rate in the high school. Fortunately, Cerre assigned additional help to the attendance office that is already showing signs of improvement over the dismal rate last year from 78% to 85%.
Also, the turnaround plan housed the 9-12th grades along with a welcome center in the main school building. And the older overage students, SIFEs and a new-comer center at an annex building with ESL and a CTE program. Community organizations would have provided additional support such as closing the gap services. The faculty and staff wanted the involvement of Buffalo State College as the EPO followed by the turnaround plan but in the end the school board voted for John Hopkins University as the EPO for Lafayette.
The Rev. Bruce McKay from Pilgrim St Luke's Church at the public meeting who earlier had observed the work of the Site Based Management Team at the school when they voted on the turnaround said it was disrespectful for the school board to ignore how the team at the school voted.
A colorful caravan of cars displaying the school colors violet and white traveled from Lafayette down to Elmwood Avenue to Forest up around Grant Street back to the high school.
Appearing at the public meeting were: VOICE-Buffalo, El Nuevo Camino UCC, Pilgrim St. Luke's UCC, PUSH Buffalo, interim Superintendent Amber Dixon, Niagara Council Member David Rivera, Assembly Member Sean Ryan, J. Rivera, Rev. J. Claudio, Rev. Bruce McKay, Lisa Griffith, Principal Naomi Cerre, Cariole Horne, and faculty, staff, students, administrators, and others. A film produced at the school showed students talking about Lafayette High School in their native languages. The Community has been asked to call Commissioner King at 518 474-5844 tell him they are united to keep the doors of "Lafayette opened."

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48% schools labeled as failing since Bush signed NCLB in 2001

2011-12-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

Forty-eight percent, up from 39 percent in 2010, is the highest proportion of schools labeled as failing since President George W. Bush signed the education law in 2001. Schools acquire the label when they fail to raise student reading and math scores enough to keep up with testing targets set by their states.

School board votes for turnaround plan at bilingual center school #33

2011-12-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

The Buffalo Board of Education met yesterday to consider what school reform plan to choose for Bilingual Center School #33. When the School Board met on Wednesday they didn't get the complete turnaround proposal to read so opted to decide on Friday afternoon. Two board members were absent Florence Johnson and Jason McCarthy so only six showed up to vote and to discuss the at-large board seat vacancy.
The six voted unanimously for the turnaround plan at #33 but Buffalo Teacher Federation, Phil Rumore voiced concern about the involuntary transfers of teachers under the proposal using a dual language immersion approach for pre-k through 2nd grade. In the third year it will be up to the community to decide if they want to continue it in the upper grades. Rumore insisted the teachers at #33 voted for the First Hand Learning, the educational partnership plan, EPO. And though the collective bargaining agreement has specific language about teacher transfers, Rumore said ..." it's not educationally sound to move 50% of the teachers and there is no study that says its works."

Time for Buffalo Schools to look back at magnet schools as turnaround plans cause disagreement at school board meeting

2011-12-15T04:49:00.000-08:00

The Buffalo News reported this morning the Buffalo Board of Education decided what educational partnership organizations and turnaround proposals to forward to the New York State Education Department next week. The battle ground still waged will be in two schools facing the turnaround model options---Futures and Drew Science Magnet. Interim Superintendent Amber Dixon and Buffalo Teacher Federation Phil Rumore uttered different views about the involuntary transfers of teacher at these schools under the turnaround model. While Rumore indicated the involuntary transfers violate the collective bargaining agreement, Dixon suggested the State Ed folks will allow recent staff changes at the school to remain. Rumore threatened a court challenge if district moves forward with the turnaround plans recommended that it forgo the model. The union chief believes there is hardly any evidence in the research that supports the transfer of the teachers increases student achievement in these low persistently achieving schools. Interim Super believes it all about the children meeting their needs.
Buffalo Schools started a magnet school system in the latter part of the 1970's as part of the desegregation of the schools and there are stakeholders in the community that think it may be time to revisit it to see how it might shed some light or direction on how to solve some current issues. The idea is that the community at one time had a successful magnet school system,so all was not what it is today and it's time to look back in order to move forward,.

2011-12-12T04:33:00.000-08:00

Hundreds gathered at the first Parent Assembly the District Parent Coordinating Council organized last Thursday at the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. But the accolades interim Superintendent Amber Dixon received were noticeable.
A few of the speakers and parents participating in the event recognized Dixon and the congratulatory words came from Sam Radford VP of the DPCC, parents asking questions and Regent Bennett himself who commented, "hats off to Amber Dixon" while a parent commented, "we appreciate having you as our superintendent."
So when is the next serious discussion about the search for a new superintendent? Well, at the Buffalo Board of Education meeting last week it's suppose to be in January.

Educational partnership organizations and turnaround plans discussed at Board meeting last night

2011-12-08T05:06:00.000-08:00

Interesting things happened last night at the School Board meeting on what educational partnership organization plan the advisory committee selected for the seven persistently low achieving schools in the Buffalo Public Schools district.
For one thing Futures and Drew Science no longer have an EPO as an option and they have to write turnaround plans. The EPO's that submitted plans to run the two schools didn't meet the expectations of the Board advisory group reviewing the proposals. This advisory group is composed of the following members: Kapsiak, Helene Kramer, Lloyd Hargrave, Richard Jurasek from Medaille, Casimiro Rodriguez, Phil Rumore, Blythe Merrill, Deb Sykes, Thomas Vitale. It's slightly different in composition from the one reviewing last spring.
Buffalo State College Foundation appears to be out of the running the group preferred the proposal of John Hopkins University experienced in working with public school districts in other cities such as Baltimore, Chicago and NYC. Florence Johnson employed at Buffalo State College asked if the School Board can override the decision of the advisory committee and Debra Sykes the district administrator overseeing the plans responded "yes."
So it appear both East High School and Lafayette advisory committee voted in favor of moving to the next phase of the selection process with John Hopkins as the EPO. Still there are turnaround plans for both schools the School Board might consider of these schools as the faculty votes Friday for what they see is best for them. Sykes said the School Board to get the packets on Monday with the information on the schools, statements and reasons why not selected.
While East High partnered with Niagara University on their turnaround plans Lafayette had a grant writer from the district helping its plan.
Buffalo Elementary School of Technology (BEST) PS #6 committee voted in favor of Research to Practice a group from NYS though they had put in to run four schools now district has to ask if they are interested in only one and revamp their fees designed for four instead of one school. The Waterfront School committee favor Canisius College as the EPO. Canisius is already partnering with Forham University in NYC to work with over 29 schools an anonymous person following the live blog commented. And Bilingual Center #33 school has a turnaround model that is being seriously considered along with one of the other EPO.
The finalist whether turnaround or EPO the boards selects next week and the proposals chosen sent to Albany by December 23.
What has been a positive thing throughout is Interim Super Amber Dixon allowing for the entire community to be part of the process including the schools.

2011-12-07T20:38:00.000-08:00

The Educational Partnership Committe EPO met for the last time today. There were the nine folks appointed to the advisory group by the Board of Education to help it select an EPO for each of its persistently failing schools (PLA). The Central District school rept, Mary Ruth Kapsiask and eight other composed this committee along with Helene Kramer, Lloyd Hargrave, Richard Jurasek from Medaille, Casimiro Rodriguez, Phil Rumore, Blythe Merrill, Deb Sykes, Thomas Vitale.

Buffalo school board votes to open at-large seat to entire community

2011-12-07T17:29:00.000-08:00

The selection is on to fill the at-large seat on the Buffalo Board of Education. Details appeared tonight on the Buffalo News School Zone live blog of meeting. Candidates must be a U.S. citizen, eligible to vote in City of Buffalo, resident for three years and no felony convictions.
Buffalo School Board voted tonight to fill the at-large seat vacated by Chris Jacobs today by opening up the process to the entire community instead of appointing themselves as it has been past practice.
At one time a squabble developed between which district board member to fill the seat but tonight the board voted to accept resumes from the entire community, including any board member that wants the seat.
However, any board member interested in being considered can not be part of the selection or voting process. Rosalyn Taylor, vice-president of the Executive Affairs Committee asked: " We can go two ways. Fill it from within or fill it as an at-large seat? And they voted unanimously to fill it as an at-large seat.
Interestingly, former Ferry District School Board Member Florence Johnson, an at-large board member now had been appointed to fill an at-large vacancy back on December 2003 and sworn in on January 2004, but said "if we acted in error," then the board should not do that. She said she supported opening the process up" along with West District Rep Ralph Hernandez and North District Rep.McCarthy later joined by all the board members.
The dead-line date for resumes is December 16, by 4 PM and the news to appear in the newspapers by 12/17 and interviews set tentatively for December 21 or 22 if needed. Board ask to provide questions for the interviews based on their expertise or areas they represent. Interviews to last 20 to 30 minutes and candidates selected by the week of December 28 and sworn in on January 4, 2012. Interested candidates can e-mail a letter of intent, resumes with three letters of reference by December 16, 4 PM to :
James M. Kane
Buffalo Public Schools
801 City Hall
Buffalo, NY 14202
jkane@buffaloschools.org

Seven consultants submit proposals for Buffalo superintendent search

2011-12-02T23:17:00.000-08:00

How serious is the School Board search for a new superintendent? Well, the RFP the Board sent out at the end of October generated 7 responses before the cut off date of November 15. The four-member ad hoc committee responsible for reviewing the proposals met Tuesday this week to go over them, select the finalist to present to the Board. But only two members showed up, so the two decided to provide all the Board members with copies. So it appears the full board will vote on the finalist. Don't forget that June is the deadline the Board expects the consultants to help them hire a candidate.
And the Board conducts the oral interviews with the educational partnership organizations (EPO) under consideration to run the persistently low achieving schools (PLA) on Monday or Tuesday December 5 or 6. The following week on December 14, the Board votes on what EPO's they sent to the State Ed in Albany. Then, there is the Christmas school break in three weeks folks return to do business in January 2012.
In the interim there is an at-large seat the Board has to fill by the first week of January or else the Mayor appoints. Central District Rep. Mary Ruth Kapsiak and Park District and Board President Louis Petrucci both vying for the coveted seat Chris Jacobs vacates to become the new Erie County Clerk when he resigns next week.If either Kapsiak or Petrucci picked there is a district seat that has to be filled in January or February.
And there is a school break in February 20-24, and another in April 9-13. And sometime in-between while the district waits to hear from Albany about the status of the proposals submitted in December in the spring, there may be time for the superintendent search.
Yet, with interim Super Amber Dixon winning a few feathers in her cap so far by successfully settling a union contract, appointing an African-American woman to a top academic post in district, cutting down exempt employees in central office even if a few just moved over to other non-exempt union positions in City Hall, and asking the entire community to get involved in participating in choosing a school reform model whether EPO or a turnaround one, it leaves one wondering about the superintendent search. After all an ad hoc committee meeting didn't generate enough interest to even review the resumes of the consultants who submitted proposals to do the search.

Buffalo board to vote on turnaround proposals soon

2011-12-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

"It's critical the plans translate into real, substantive change in the schools, whatever [turnaround] model is chosen," said Commissioner John B. King, Jr in the first round of proposals submitted for the PLA schools in Buffalo.
Yet King has not sent the "disinquished educator" he announced back in August to the Buffalo Schools to help "reconceptualize" the EPO models that didn't pass State Ed folks review last rounds.
Meanwhile, the advisory panel the School Board appointed in June selected five of the eight educational partnership organizations (EPO) that submitted proposals to turn around seven of the persistently lowest achieving schools in the district.
What do three of the five have in common? How about location, they're all from Buffalo---Buffalo State College Research Foundation, First Hand Learning and Canisius College. In fact these last two listed addresses located on Main Street not far from each other. One other group is from New York called Research to Practice who had submitted a turnaround plans the State Ed folks in Albany previously had rejected. The only real outside group to submit an EPO was John Hopkins University from Baltimore Maryland.
Why were the five selected might have more to do with the advisory panel that six months ago had an interesting motley crew that included union heads, Hispanic religious leader, a former Buffalo School Board president and local literacy advocate, higher education leader, the Oishei Foundation, and a retired school administrator.
Back in June this advisory panel included Phil Rumore, Crystal Barton, Casimiro Rodriguez, Helene Kramer, Canisius College's dean of education, Blythe Merrill and Lloyd Hargrave. The School Board had appointed this advisory panel back in June.
Schools have until December 5th to submit revised plans to the district. And Mary Ruth Kapsiak, Board Rep from Central District and chair of the Academic Achievement Committee announced the selection of the five EPO's at last night's board meeting. She reported the oral interviews would be held on Monday December 5, described as the first phase of the process before the School Board votes on what finalist to send to Albany by the end of 2011.And Buffalo now has an Office of School Innovation and Turnaround that listed the five EPO proposals for the public to review.
Out of the five proposals selected by the advisory panel three were for Lafayette High School such as First Hand Learning. Sam Alessi involved in the project was a former assistant superintendent in the Buffalo Schools.The State had rejected their earlier plan remnants of it resubmitted in this latest round.
Research to Practice and Johns Hopkins University also submitted EPO plans for Lafayette.
And Research to Practice submitted EPO plans for #33 as well as First Hand Learning. Canisius submitted EPO plans for School #95 along with the Research to Practice group. And John Hopkins submitted plans for East High while Research to Practice had plans for the Buffalo Elementary School of Technology (BEST) PS #6. Research to Practice submitted a proposal to manage four schools the highest number from any of the EPO's. Futures School 37 and 59 had no viable options but the turnaround model to be implemented requires the involuntary transfer of teachers in these two schools. A Board member asked about the possibility of reviewing the EPO the advisory panel didn't choose, but discouraged after told the group had looked at the proposal very seriously.
Research to Practice, a Long Island group that includes an assortment of high-profile names in education, including Manny Rivera, former Rochester superintendent; Rudy Crew, former Miami-Dade County superintendent; and McGraw-Hill Education, according to Buffalo News Education Zone Blog.

School resource police officers axed in the Syracuse district

2011-11-26T07:12:00.000-08:00

Districts around New York State have to trim and balance their budgets, while the Commissioner of Education John B. King told them they had to do more with less differently.
So, Syracuse school Superintendent Sharon Contreras didn't hesitate when she told the school board at a Wednesday night meeting back in September they had the resources to keep the schools safe and wanted to ax six middle school School Resource Officers from a fleet of 15 inside the buildings.
Contreras argued the nine School Resources Officers assigned to the high schools can respond to the middle schools as well, while the district already had 31 in-house uniformed security guards plus hall monitors. And no other school district outside of New York City had police resource officers exclusively in the middle schools.
So the six officers were reassigned to community policing positions, continuing to respond to the middle schools as part of their duties.
Buffalo City School District had only four police School Resource Officers in the schools until last May when Mayor Byron W. Brown and former Superintendent of Schools James A. Williams increased the fleet to 16 including a Chief of Police and a Lieutenant with two off-duty officers assigned to Bennett HS (daily), two off-duty officers assigned to East HS (daily) according to WIVB-TV and the Buffalo News coverage of the expansion.
Also, the Buffalo Schools Police School Resource Officers worked in a successful partnership with the Attendance Officers in the AIM Team (Attendance Intervention Mobile) until both were cut in 2005 and 2002.
One of the powers and duties of Attendance Officers under school law 3213 is the arrest of truant students. And in January the district recalled three Attendance Officers laid off in 2005, and eight additional ones in September, increasing the number of Attendance Officers to 13 in the Buffalo Schools.

Thanksgiving from a Native American point of view...

2011-11-24T21:09:00.000-08:00

"For me, Thanksgiving serves as another remembrance of how my Native American ancestors were maltreated; annihilated; ousted from their land; and consigned to reservations, eradicating every trace of their pre-existing life. Thanksgiving reminds me of how my great-grandmother had "to pass" as a light-skinned black person to avoid being forced on a reservation..."

Are the Buffalo Schools ready for change?

2011-11-24T12:45:00.000-08:00

As leaders of the Buffalo Public Schools move forward in their efforts to transform their persistently lowest-achieving schools (PLA), it's important to take a sankofa view of what others have done to turnaround and transform low performing districts into high performing ones. But if there are any lessons learned from the early efforts of the the New American Schools started in 1991 to transform low achieving schools to high performing ones it was the contributing factors that had made the difference founded in the selection process, the design teams, the school structure and site factors.
And " higher levels of implementation were associated with school districts that had stable leadership, lacked political crises, had a relationship of trust between the central office and the schools, provided more resources for professional development and training, and ensured more school level autonomy."

Can Buffalo Say Yes to Education?

2011-11-20T18:14:00.000-08:00

Nearly twenty-five years ago George Weiss started the Say Yes to Education Program, offering to pay the college education of a group of 112 sixth graders that graduated from Belmont Elementary School in West Philadelphia.Back then Say Yes to Education "guaranteed a college education to all the youngsters... paid for every bit of it," if they graduated from high school.
Say Yes to Education is coming to Buffalo following the program model established in the Syracuse City School District.

Today the funds don't directly come from Mr. Weiss but from local foundations such as the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and the John R. Oishei Foundation both had been working on the idea for the last four years. The way it works is that local students graduating from high school apply for college financial aid and Say Yes to Education fills in the gap for what is not covered.
The initiative in Buffalo has garner the commitment of a diverse group of stakeholders including Phil Rumore, President of the Buffalo Teachers Federation, and from Mayor Byron W. Brown who has donated $500,000 seed money over a three-year period.
Say Yes requires cooperation and collaboration from the partners involved, including the consultants managing the program. These consultants help to review the budget how funds are allocated district wide to determine how effective it's being done while they pull all the stakeholders together to support the students.
In Syracuse consultants of Say Yes recommended cutting most of the teachers aides during budget problems which was not received well by the union though the collaboration has worked out well for them Kevin Ahern President of the Syracuse Teachers Association noted. And it's "not always happy talk at their regular meetings," he added.
And in the BCSD there are union contracts that still need to be settled,on-going teacher step litigation in federal court, while a superintendent search RFP process is still in progress with a permanent one possibly appointed next year. Still the State Education Commissioner Dr. John B. King, Jr has yet to appoint a "distinguished" educator and the persistently lowest-achieving schools (PLA) in Buffalo frantically are involved in writing turnaround proposals due in central office by Wednesday, November 23rd.
Yet, Amber Dixon, interim Superintendent of Buffalo Schools is hopeful Say Yes will provide a blueprint for her own ideas of turning around the Buffalo failing schools.

Attendance teachers needed Buffalo Schools should be included in contract negotiations

2011-11-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

"... Rumore says the No. 1 impediment to progress in the district is not him -- it's staggering student absenteeism. He works daily with district officials to improve the schools, he says.
"Did I block the stupid 50 percent solution [to move teachers]? Yes. That's the only time I had any kind of power at all," Rumore said. "I really wish I had the power people think I have. I don't. I really don't."
This quote appeared in the Buffalo News story today " A Growing Divide."
Yet what the article in the Buffalo News didn't discuss is the on-going contract negotiations of Buffalo School teachers that expired in 2004. Phil Rumore the Buffalo Teachers Federation President has the most power during contract negotiations, a topic woefully neglected in the Buffalo News story.
And he has the power to do something about absenteeism in ensuring adequate staffing in the buildings, including class sizes.
So in the case of student absenteeism Rumore has the power to negotiate with the district that a certain number of attendance teachers are needed in order to ensure daily school attendance of Buffalo Schools students especially after the Regents Reform Agenda proposed and the Board of Regents adopted the new principal teacher evaluation system where teachers will be evaluated on the academic progress of their students.
No matter how highly effective a teacher is in the classroom if a student is absent daily, it has an impact on their academic achievement and progress as well as how they are rated.
Therefore, it's important the attendance teachers are adequately represented in the staffing of school buildings particularly in those designated failing schools. And more Buffalo Schools 14 were added on Monday after the state education department released its latest list of failing schools.
Therefore it is imperative for the head of the Buffalo Teachers Federation, Mr. Rumore to insist and to include an adequate number of attendance teachers in the Buffalo Schools in contract negotiations, otherwise, many teachers will be wrongfully evaluated because of student absenteeism, while he has advocated it as a fundamental problem.
Several times an attendance teacher asked Rumore to consider it as a topic in contract negotiations but he continuously has said he can't do it.
So it's time Mr. Rumore revisited this timely topic and consider negotiating attendance teachers into the contract talks, otherwise, what happened on August 2005 when the district laid-off most of its attendance teachers may happen again not only jeopardizing the career of good teachers but the instruction of Buffalo Schools students.

Christopher Jacobs at-large school board member to step down soon if wins erie county clerk race

2011-11-11T07:17:00.000-08:00

He was one of former Superintendent of Schools Dr. James Williams most fervent supporters responsible for ensuring his long embattled tenure with the Buffalo Schools.
Yet at-large school board member Christopher Jacobs, a candidate for the Erie County Clerk office is in a heated battle with former Majority Leader of the Erie County Legislature Maria Whyte for the highly coveted seat vacant since Kathy Hochul elected to Congress in a special election in May this year.
Governor Andrew Cuomo could have appointed Maria Whyte the Democratic contender for the vacant seat but media pundits speculate the Jacobs family contributed large sums of money to the coffers of Cuomo in his bid for governor reason why he didn't appoint a Democrat to help Jacobs a Republican win the race.
But Chris Jacobs leads the race by nearly 4000 votes and it would be difficult for Whyte to overcome this lead. And she has not conceded the vote her campaign lacking the financial advantage of Jacobs, a millionaire.
There are still over 8,000 absentee and military ballots to open yet in this race that will determine the winner.
Republican Elections Commissioner, Ralph Mohr says "mathematically it's possible but what we have seen traditionally is the absentees as well as the provisional ballots follow along the similar path as votes in the general election."
The Buffalo School Board will have to appoint an at-large candidate if Jacobs steps down.

School board approves contract of Professional, Clerical & Technical Employees' Association

2011-11-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

Professional, Clerical & Technical Employees’ Association known as PCTEA contract approved at the Buffalo Board of Education meeting tonight. Chief Financial Officer Barbara Smith said the savings for the district is in health care and the elimination of summer hours she called significant.Current employees pay 1.25% into their health care benefits, cosmetic rider and summer work hours eliminated, but any new employees to contribute 20% to health care insurance and 25% when they retire. Future employees less personal days from 5 to 4 while sick days reduced from 15 to 13 days. And $2,500 added to the base pay of all PCTEA employees. Saying they are looking at long-term structural changes, the contract through 2012-2013 provides a net cost of $7.3 million overall $9.4 million with a $2.1 million savings to the district. It's future savings they expect to realized as new employees are hired and retire and current ones retire.

Interim superintendent Amber Dixon says, "people want to believe in our children again"

2011-11-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

In her characteristic optimism for the Buffalo Schools and the staff interim Superintendent of the Buffalo Schools Amber Dixon opened the Attendance Summit yesterday at the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts
She told about 400 district staff, students and community stakeholders "people want to believe in public education in Buffalo again," while the clapping of the audience resonated throughout the auditorium to her message of optimism. And, " People are ready to believe in our children again," she added.
She pointed to the work of the BAVPA Gospel Choir under the direction of George L. Brown as an example"... in the faces of the children we saw today. She said "it was a important day for the Buffalo Public Schools."
And she shared a personal story about a student she saw leaving a school building as she walked out. She said, " I saw a young man spilling out the door and I spilled him into my car. He was headed to his girlfriend's house things not going right for him at home." And she told him about a whole lot of people in the schools building that can help him. " I talked to this young man and brought him back to the school." She asked the principal to talk with him.
She said, "the other side of attendance is we care about you. This is the right place for you to be. You belong in school gaining skills." And "next time a child wants to walk out the door make sure someone is there to talk to them," Dixon said.
Dr. Will Keresztes, an Associate Superintendent provided the introductory remarks and shared the strategies the district has embarked upon to solve the high absenteeism rates where an average of more than 40% of Buffalo Schools students are absent at the chronic or severely chronic levels. It included recalling seven attendance teachers laid off in 2005.
He cited Buffalo School award for implementing the PBIS nearly district wide along with the Safe and Civil Schools program at the secondary level. And he thanked John Crabbe, Supervisor of Attendance for his help in assisting with the Summit, while Hedy Chang appreciated his readiness to share data that made her work possible.
Jane Ogilvie, Director of School Support Services at Erie 1 BOCES was a facilitator and organizer of the Summit. She said Buffalo Schools the only one of the five big school districts in New York combining both PBIS and Safe and Civil Schools.
A panel all from New York City composed of four members from the Children's Aid Society National Center for Community Schools, the Mayor's Interagency Task Force on Truancy, Chronic Absenteeism School Engagement and a school principal from PS 149 Danny Kaye in Brooklyn talked about the strategies they used to combat absenteeism.
Regent Robert Bennett, and board members Ralph Hernandez, Mary Ruth Kapsiak, and School Board President Lou Petrucci attended the event.
Ten attendance teachers met with the group at BOCES the following day to meet with Hedy Chang and share their ideas about absenteeism in the Buffalo Schools and their efforts to combat it.

Hedy Chang attendance consultant says real issue student suspension

2011-11-09T05:15:00.000-08:00

Hedy Chang, director of Attendance Works was the keynote speaker at the Attendance Summit November 8th at the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts.
Chang presented information based on the attendance stats she got from the district earlier this year when hired as a consultant. She noted at the end of the Summit that her figures didn't include the suspension rates of students in the Buffalo Schools and warned the 400 parents, district staff and leaders this is an area they need to worry about and address.The most interesting part of the Summit were the presentations Buffalo Students shared with the participants on Tuesday about 10 students from various schools in the district.

They said students don't attend school because of:

lack of motivation

What they offered as solutions to the barriers:

more opportunities to express themselves to get experience with career paths to help them in the future
There needs to be more after school programs
more opportunities created for them to be motivated
less detention and suspensions
parental involvement
and programs to address teen pregnancy
communication, collaboration, cooperation between district, students, parents, teachers the community
stop bullying, students get scare don't come to school, students want teachers to intervene, they need to talk to someone in the school, stop bullying at home

The students mostly secondary represented Hutch Tech, Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, Lafayette High School, and Build Academy.
A Lafayette High School student spoke about the need for more parental involvement in the schools and programs for pregnant teens. The Buffalo Schools had a school for pregnant and parenting teens it closed down about 10 years ago at Fulton. Erie County has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the nation.

Race to the Top needs to reform itself lack of Latinos troubling

2011-11-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

The RTTT "Staffing at a Glance" is in the Regents Reform Agenda report published on January 2011. Buffalo has been criticized for many things including failing schools and a dysfunctional board but the Race to the Top Regents Reform Agenda Report showed the staff in Albany is composed almost exclusively of whites overseeing the reform efforts state-wide-- 86% of the RTTT employees are white, 11% African-American, 4% Asian and 0% Latinos. While 54% hired were internal candidates, 46% were external and nearly all are whites.
Ironically there are no Latinos in the group. Since the largest population of schools vying for the RTTT funds have large numbers of African-Americans and Latinos it's troubling few employees from these groups compose the RTTT in Albany.
While the lack of Latinos is not only unacceptable but difficult to reconcile with the mission of the Race to the top school reform agenda. So, who is the distinguished educator Commissioner John King is sending to Buffalo? Hopefully, a Latino to make up for the gross disparity in his own staff.

Buffalo schools superintendent search RFP out in October

2011-11-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

Things are moving pretty fast in the search for the next superintendent of the Buffalo Schools. Board President Louis Petrucci signed the RFP on October 20, 2011 with a cut off date of November 15, 2012. The board expects the consultant hired to help them appoint a candidate by June 1, 2012. So there's only about five months for the board to choose a candidate. As it happened when James Williams had been chosen six years ago, a committee of the board first interviews the candidates and present the finalist to the board in March.
Back in September Buffalo News blogger Mary Pasciak described it as an adhoc committee of the board with East District Rep. Rosalynd Taylor, Board President Petrucci and Central District Rep. Mary Ruth Kapsiak who suggested a fourth person come on board.
West District Board Member Ralph Hernandez expects at least the top five finalist presented to the group. Funds from security and charter schools used to cover the costs of the search according to James Kane, a district central office employee.
The comments from the community in the News suggested the process should have been started as soon as James Williams stepped down on September 15, to hire the next superintendent by January. While many of the comments are positive about interim Super Amber Dixon appointed to the position on September 16. Others think the net should be cast far and wide to recruit the best candidate though it may prove to be a challenging thing in a district the state expected to name a distinguished educator to run it alongside the superintendent.
Also, there are all the parties involved in the turnaround reform school process, something in progress now in the district that the new super inherits. And of course there is the money factor Dixon accepting a salary lower than what other candidates may ask for. It will be interesting to see what happens if Dixon is a candidate it might discourage others to apply, especially competing with a candidate the board finds amicable. One thing the ad hoc board committee interviewing the first candidates needs is a person on board from the ELL community that is able to ask the candidate questions about their record with the students from this background, as well as a Latino. What about the community? How the consultants chosen plan to engage them in the search effort?

Parent groups draws a crowd to hear about the reform plans in Buffalo schools

2011-11-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

Interim Superintendent Amber Dixon confidently took the podium to address 30 parent facilitators and the 100 people who attended the Monday night meeting of the District Parent Coordinating Council held at the Makowski School #99 on Jefferson Avenue on the East Side of Buffalo.
She told the group that she had just finished meeting with the principals of the persistently low achieving schools had challenged them to come up with their own turnaround plans, providing these schools additional resources such as teachers, administrators and community supports.
The meeting was a very informative one as well as tempestuous after Phil Rumore, President of the Buffalo Teachers Federation and Samuel Radford vice-president of the DPCC engaged in a heated confrontation about the topic of the involuntary transfers of teachers at the PLA schools the turnaround federal Race to the Top model required instead of the educational partnership organization (EPO) favored by BTF. Then from the back of the room steps attorney Steven H. Polowitz, a co-founder of Tapestry Charter School to challenge what Mr. Rumore had said about how charter schools are a drain on public schools.

Interestingly, Dixon told the audience why the New York State Education Department didn't fund the school reform plans the district sent to them back in May. She responded the state rejected the plans because "...there was a sense that Buffalo was not serious about turning around the academic achievement in those schools."
Yet, Rumore provided his version of why the state rejected the reform plans saying they didn't think the district was prepared or in a position to oversee the EPO model.

The district submitted three reform plans based on the EPO model and four others were not submitted that troubled Radford from the DPCC who had expected at least a turnaround one sent to the state. He blamed Rumore, causing the angry discourse between the two leaders. Ironically, the meeting was suppose to be an "initial conversation to agree" to benefit the parent and students that's highly unlikely after what happened at the meeting last night.

Interim Superintendent Dixon's message to the parents get involved! She told them to work through the DPCC to have their voices heard. Do something for our kids...make this happen...your recommendation has to reflect what you think is best for the children."
A committee will pick the best one similar to last year. It goes before the board in December then back to the community before submitted to the state.
Ralph Hernandez, West District Rep discussed the Free lunch program for all students in the district. A school official discussed the Contract for Excellence---reduce class sizes, LEP program, Alternative Ed and Counseling all found on the district website.
There was talk about Buffalo State College involved in opening up a center on Grant Street for English Language Learners. Many at the meeting including the parent facilitator at Lafayette High School concerned about what's going to happen to the school as Super Dixon reiterated the state commissioner comments to close it if the plan submitted is not an adequate one.
Kudos to the chef who provided the meal at the DPCC Tuesday night.

Sagging: the feminizing of students in public schools

2011-10-31T20:06:00.001-07:00

We see it daily in public schools but little is done to stop it. Young men walking the hallways, sitting in classrooms, and in cafeterias wearing their pants down.
It's called sagging allegedly a fashion inmates denied belts in prison created from their ill-fitting uniforms. And pants down signal to other inmates the readiness to engage in sexual behavior of some sort. While others say rap stars from the hip-hop culture sag and promote it in their music.
Yet, few understand how it promotes and contributes to the feminizing of urban youths before they are caught up in criminal behavior and sent to prison as many more children are being tried as adults across the nation. In New York youths 16 years old are automatically prosecuted as adults under the age of majority statutes.
The Children's Defense Fund campaign from the cradle-to-prison-pipeline was created a few years ago to provide preventive supports in order to reduce detention and incarceration of black and Latino youths. Kevin Hawkins shared photos of these young men sagging on Facebook.

State Education Commissioner King tells school board leaders to "...do different with less

2011-10-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. admonished school board members across the state attending the annual convention of the New York State School Boards Association meeting at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. Mary Pasciak education blogger for the Buffalo News covered the convention.

Addressing hundreds gathered to hear him on Friday, Commissioner King told them although districts are experiencing a decrease in enrollment, revenues and a tax cap, still they are expected to continue providing " a better education to students. And expected to "not...do more with less but do different with less" while encouraging them to allocate dwindling resources toward academic achievement.

King recommended distant learning as a way for districts to use technology better and for students to access courses not offered in the curriculum.

And the audience had an opportunity not only to hear the struggles other boards are confronting in districts around the state but to hear a distinguish panels of policy makers on a panel that included Chancellor Merryl Tisch, Regent Robert M. Bennett, Deputy Secretary for Education David Wakelyn, Buffalo School Board member and president of the state school boards association Florence Johnson and Katie Campos former director of the Buffalo ReformEd.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed Campos to the post of Assistant Secretary of Education in his administration last June.

Local trailblazers in historical preservation

2011-10-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture presented the Buffalo Preservation Awards for lifetime achievement to five outstanding local residents, including a philanthropic foundation. The standing room only audience that packed the Western New York Book Arts Center in downtown Buffalo on Tuesday night had the distinct privilege of listening to the struggles and contributions of some of the most distinguished citizens in the historical preservation movement.

Left to right:
Howard Zemsky, President of the Richard-Olmsted Corporation
(William Dorsheimer Award for Civic Leadership);
Donn Esmonde, columnist Buffalo News
(Lifetime Award for Public Commentary);
Susan McCartney (Preservationist of the Century);
Edward Healy of Visit Buffalo Niagara
(Lifetime Award for National Civic Promotion);
David Franczyk, Buffalo Common Council President
(Grover Cleveland Award for Lifetime Public Service);
And not present (Margaret Wendt Foundation (Lifetime Award for Philanthropy).

Kudos! to Tim Tielman and the board of directors of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo for a superb awards program.

"These numbers are not acceptable," said Commissioner John B. King about NYC schools English language learners outcomes

2011-10-13T19:13:00.000-07:00

NYC schools must improve the outcomes of the English language learners student population or face sanctions, the NYTimes reported state education officials announced on Wednesday.
NYC school leaders released their 31-page corrective action plan to address the problems of the ELLs in the city's schools. And this plan outlined the violation of state law in city schools in the services provided to the ELLs. The corrective action plan has been in the works for more than a year after state education officials directed the city to improve services to the ELLs.
John B. King Jr. the state education commissioner called "...the services poor, and the best indication of that are the student outcomes," of English language learners in the NYC schools. King cited how only 7 percent of ELLs graduated on time, 12 percent proficient in English in the lower grades and 35 percent in math, percentages way below the city averages.
The plan has targets and time tables for the improvements, covering such issues as:

The large number of students who were not timely administered the LAB-R;
The LEP/ELLs not receiving the mandated bilingual and or ESL services because of shortages of certified bilingual and ESL teachers;
Parent choice...steps to create new Transitional Bilingual Education Programs (TBE), awarding annual TBE and Dual Language (DL) planning grants...;
And long term LEP/ELLs must receive bilingual and/or ESL services until they are no longer LEP/ELLs based on the NYS proficiency exam and the NYSESLAT
among other issues.

The Council of Great City Schools presented a report to the School Board about the ELLs in the Buffalo Public schools "Raising the Achievement of English Language Learners in the Buffalo Schools" last year, while the Buffalo News commented on it on August 2010.

Alabama law targets immigrant school children

2011-10-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

A classroom in Birmingham, AL.
(Photo: Terry McCombs/flickr)

"Last Friday, close to 2,000 Latino students in Alabama didn’t show up at school. That is roughly five percent of the Latino children in the school system. Their parents kept their children away out of fear – twenty-four hours earlier, Alabama had begun asking students for papers," according to the online publication Feet in 2 Worlds.

Super Dixon rumored to appoint an insider as chief academic officer

2011-10-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

Buffalo News education blogger, Mary Pasciak wrote today the elevator talk in City Hall is that interim Super Amber Dixon plans to appoint an insider to the second highest academic post in the Buffalo Board of Education. Fran Wilson, a community superintendent rumored to be appointed to the exempt post of chief academic officer. Former Super James A. Williams abolished this post to create instead the deputy superintendent to appoint Dr. Folasade Oladele who once held the job. Yvonne Hargrave held the post until appointed interim superintendent in 2004.

Poughkeepsie and Syracuse schools models for Buffalo what's the beef?

2011-10-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

The State Ed folks suggested Buffalo School leaders look at Syracuse and Poughkeepsie schools as models for good school reform plans. Poughkeepsie was awarded a multi-million dollar School Improvement Grant (SIG) through June 2014. Poughkeepsie High School is a persistently low-achieving school because of its low graduation rate. They are implementing the Transformation Model, extending the school day by adding another instructional period from nine to ten, increasing professional development, a new staff evaluation system rewriting their curriculum and intervention for failing students.
They are not only enhancing the rigor of the academic program but bridging the gap between the home and school through parent workshops improving technology to train parents to monitor the academic progress and attendance of their children. And educational consultants hired to monitor and evaluate the progress of the reform. Interestingly, the unions both teachers and administrators were involved in the application process that resulted in obtaining the SIG. After professional development provided staff deemed inadequate will be removed.
Syracuse City School District focused on systemic wide reform incorporating the Say Yes to Education program and the Rapid Results structural entry process to improve academic achievement. The district didn't achieve AYP in graduation rate with Latino students lowest 35% followed by African-Americans 49%.
Also, Dr. Sharon Contreras was appointed superintendent of the schools in Syracuse in March. Dr. Contreras is an African-American-Puerto Rican-Venezuelan graduate of the Broad Superintendents Class 2010 program.

Buffalo to look at Syracuse city school district and Poughkeepsie for good school plan models

2011-10-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

A team of Buffalo Schools central office administrators along with principals and assistant principals traveled to the State Education Department Office of School Innovation for two days on Monday and Tuesday this week to learn from a Harvard professor about the turnaround school reform model commented Debbie Sykes, Associate Superintendent Teaching & Learning at the Board Student Achievement Committee meeting tonight. Mary Pasciak, Buffalo News education blogger recorded the meeting and the comments of the board members in her live blog in the School Zone.
As usual the State Ed folks are looking for dramatic and comprehensive intervention with a quick rise in student achievement. Sykes said that all 13 persistently lowest achieving schools (PLA) submitted new annual performance plans had spent a couple of weeks reviewing the plans and had benchmark where they are at setting targets. So they now have real targets they monitor during the year.
The State Ed folks to do on-site monitoring visits next week to Riverside and Burgard High School issuing a report a few weeks later. Sykes commented they are meeting with the seven PLA schools to get input from them on the model. She said "will conduct a bidders webex." She said, "state has suggested we look at Syracuse and Poughkeepsie for what good plans look like, a variety of approaches, a portfolio."
This has to be determined because they have to write the plans in November for January deadline. Interim Super Amber Dixon commented it's up to the board to choose the model after presented with the feedback from the schools. The plans have to be into the State Ed by January 1 and they could approve them as early as this spring for 2012-13. Dixon said,

"We're under the gun for these seven. We have until January. We were specifically told by the commissioner if we don't have approved plan for Lafayette by January, he may close that school. Lafayette has had two plans rejected, and that's important to note."

Board President Lou Petrucci asked what is different now than last year about the turnaround model. Sykes responded more time to talk with the Buffalo Teachers Federation regarding the 50% what it would look like---shifting teachers around again. Dixon commented they have started discussion with Phil Rumore , BTF President about all the models, including looking at the turnaround model through a different lens. At October 12 meeting Sykes bringing copies of the Syracuse and Poughkeepsie models for board members to review.

A "distinguished educator" during Buffalo School superintendent search process confusing folks a bit

2011-09-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

The "distinguished educator" is coming to Buffalo Schools as an advisor to interim Super Amber M. Dixon even gets to sit as an ex-officio non-voting member of the Buffalo Board of Education, Buffalo News education blogger Mary Pasciak wrote on Wednesday. State Education Commissioner John King, Jr. has the power to appoint one for a year with possibly another extension. The state is suppose to appoint 10 of these consultants in schools across New York with the districts picking up the tab.
Interestingly, not only is the district obligated to cooperate fully with this consultant but,

"Upon receipt of any recommendations from the distinguished educator for modification of a district improvement plan and/or any corrective action, restructuring, or comprehensive plan, the board of education, trustees, or chancellor shall either modify the plans accordingly or provide a written explanation to the Commissioner of its reasons for not adopting such recommendations. The Commissioner shall direct the district to modify the plans as recommended by the distinguished educator unless the Commissioner finds that the written explanation provided by the district has compelling merit."

And besides the commissioner establishing the consulting fee for those appointed to a school district as opposed to a school, the fee is increased "by an additional 10 percent."
But there was some uncertainty and confusion among School Board members at their meeting Wednesday evening about the role of the "distinguished educator" appointed to the district in tandem with the superintendent search. So it was suggested the board contact the state education commissioner and ask what is the role of this consultant.
It would seem the best place for this person to work is out of the district turnaround office rather an advisor to the superintendent in the Buffalo Schools especially during the superintendent search process.
Some in Buffalo wonder if there is too much intrusion from the State Ed folks in the Buffalo Schools for the small amount of money it was awarded through the Race to the Top funds.

Interim super Amber Dixon chucked the old boy doctor system in the district

2011-09-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

Mary Pasciak education blogger for the Buffalo News reported that interim Super Amber Dixon of the Buffalo Schools headed out of town this week to attend a superintendents pow wow in Saratoga Springs....sure enough she bucked the old-boy network system in the district, the ordained doctors....you know...Dr. so and so and Dr. so and so.
So who did she leave in charge of the Buffalo Schools, while she went out of town this week? Barbara J. Smith, the chief financial officer. The CFO's of Buffalo Schools have wielded too much power some say since former Gary M. Crosby who held the titles of both chief financial officer and chief operations officer of the district. Crosby had little formal training in education. Hey, boys the girls can do it just give them a chance, right girls?

Want to eat at the school board buffet, at a school meeting or travel to your favorite conference? interim superintendent Amber Dixon cutting costs

2011-09-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

Amber Dixon, the new interim superintendent is keeping a tight rein on travel to conferences, meals at staff meetings and central office administrators treating themselves to the buffet served to School Board members at Wednesday night meetings Buffalo News education blogger Mary Pasciak reported on Sunday.
Yet, some folks wonder if it's up to the superintendent of schools or the prerogative of the individual School Board members to decide who eats at the buffet. Amber Dixon, interim Superintendent of Buffalo Schools disapproves of the practice of central office administrators partaking in the feast in between the meetings on Wednesdays. So she said, “I’m asking staff not to eat in the boardroom on meeting nights.”
"Taxpayers spend $200 to $300 in a typical week for the meal itself, plus about $100 a week more in drinks and snacks for the boardroom..." wrote the Buffalo News.
And Dixon is curtailing the conferences and out of town travel of administrators and staff that had increased during the tenure of previous Superintendent James A. Williams. For example the Buffalo News cited that last year in June the former Deputy Superintendent Oladele Folasade and entourage rake up a bill of over $15,000 to attend leadership training at Harvard University, while previously this year in January about 24 administrators and other district staff flew to a conference in San Antonio Texas that cost over $11,000 just for the flight alone.

Buffalo public schools moving to automated lottery and registration process in 2012

2011-09-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

Buffalo Public Schools moving to install a computerized electronic paperless automated lottery and registration process different from the tedious manual paper application families currently submit. The new automated system would allow parents with web access to register at any remote computer whether in the home, library, or elsewhere in English or Spanish as well as to see if a grade at a particular school is a choice at a specific time. The new automated process allows the district to have real-time accounting of seat availability in each school and grade, something it currently does not have. The system is a hosted one that would run the lottery as well for the district. Plans are underway to make room to provide computers at School #12 for parents to use in the new automated electonic lottery and registration process. And those parents helping students to select high schools use the automated system including any attachments requested in the registration and lottery process.The system is expected to start after January 2012.
For the entire discussion on this issue see the Live blog of School Board Committee, September 12, at 5 PM with Mary Pasciak.
I did run into Mary over the weekend with her 5 year old school age son. When I asked him where he attended school, Pasciak interjected "off limits" question. So we just talked about many other things except where her son goes to school.

New superintendent Amber M. Dixon challenges ahead

2011-09-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

Amber M. Dixon, former executive director for evaluation, accountability and project initiatives stepped into her new role as interim superintendent of the Buffalo Schools.
She earned $109, 000 in her old post now $179,000 as interim superintendent $45,000 less than predecessor James A. Williams $220,000 salary. Her contract has no set end date just 30 days notice when either she or the district terminates it.
With the exception of two board members who didn't vote for Dixon for interim, at large Florence Johnson and new East Ferry Rep. Sharon Belton Cottman, she has the support of the other members and there is a likelihood if she does well she'll be a strong candidate for superintendent of the Buffalo Schools when she applies for the post if she is interested.
Dixon more than Williams spent ten years working as a math teacher unlike Williams who had a business degree, pupil personnel background and limited experience as a classroom teacher mostly as a substitute. If she is able to negotiate the outstanding contracts in the district from teachers to administrators while she is an interim superintendent undoubtedly she'll be a leading contender for the post as the Buffalo Board of Education already embarked on the process to search for a permanent superintendent for the Buffalo Schools.
Some of her greatest challenges ahead:

negotiating the expired union contracts,
fortifying a relationship with Albany bureaucrats in the state education department to obtain Race to the Top funding for the persistently lowest achieving schools,
trimming the exempt employees among the Central Office staff many of them her former colleagues,
establishing relationships with the unions,
developing a relationship with the school board that doesn't pit one against the other,
establishing a new administrator selection process that is fair to the candidates interviewing for leadership positions in the districts,
appointing a diverse leadership team at the school building level including administrators from the English Language Learner student population,
appointing a diverse superintendent advisory cabinet representative of the school and community,
recreating the Attendance Department and appointing a director of attendance with similar rank as a principal of a school to ensure attendance policies followed and implemented district-wide,
revisiting the social promotion policy and its impact on overage students in the elementary schools
developing a rapport with the community especially parents.

Massive exodus of Indiana public school children in voucher program

2011-09-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett called the massive exodus of public school students in Indiana's schools to private ones receiving vouchers as "off to a great start" this week in what he described as:

"...the biggest first year school choice program in the history of the U.S., with 3,685 students receiving vouchers to leave public schools in favor of private schools."

The Indiana State Teachers Association challenged the legality of the voucher program, as well as, the controversial evaluation system grading schools same as students from A to F.

No child on earth should ever have to sleep... hungry or die hungry

2011-09-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

In an opinion article as he "Remembered a Hungry Childhood" Peter Kimeu wrote, "Hunger is an unforgivable disease because it is the easiest one to cure. Hunger is dehumanizing. It is a traumatizing situation as a young child to be without food. It is incumbent on all of us to band together and fight this very curable disease. No child on earth should ever have to sleep like that."

Third World country famine unacceptable as the "First World" profits from it through the predatory lending policies of the International Monetary Fund.

Superintendent James Williams buyout mentioned in outgoing superintendent of Philadephia of school story

2011-09-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

Arlene C. Ackerman, Ed Week credit

The buyout of Superintendent of Philadelphia Schools, Arlene C. Ackerman, on August 22 made headline news across the nation. Education Week published a story on August 26 even mentioned the buyout of Superintendent James A. Williams. Although Ackerman settlement with the district included

"... a lump-sum buyout of $905,000 with health, dental, vision, and prescription-drug benefits through June 2013, as well as up to $6,000 toward a $500,000 life-insurance policy through June 2013."

Williams, Buffalo Superintendent of Schools got a better deal less money, (a mere $110,000, including $8,000 vacation days, and a $10,000 consulting fee) but received life's-time health care benefits while Ackerman's only runs through June 2013.
Ackerman operated a public relations team paid through district funds to promote and protect her image at the tune of $440,000.
Interestingly, Arlene Ackerman was a board member of the Broad foundation and she vigoursly defended charter schools. So Ackerman is another "broad" Foundation ally gone awry ousted from an urban school district.

Assistant superintendent Buffalo schools continues on paid leave escorted out office last week

2011-09-08T04:46:00.000-07:00

Deborah Buckley an assistant superintendent in the Buffalo Board of Education grants department in City Hall was escorted from her office last week put on an administrative leave, a move warranted by the outgoing Superintendent James A. Williams, the Buffalo News disclosed yesterday.

The Buffalo school board met several times since the incident happened though some frustrated about the pace it's taken to resolved the matter according to West District member Ralph Hernandez interviewed after the latest board committee meeting yesterday and a decision left for next week's board meeting.

And there are questions of asking an outside auditor to review the grants department. Interestingly, the matter can not be sent to the board's ethic commission because the term of six of its members expired that records showed the Buffalo News disclosed.

The Wisconsin teacher brain drain

2011-09-05T21:38:00.001-07:00

Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Legislature in Wisconsin passed a law that took effect on Wednesday, June 29, 2011, that caused a major brain drain of veteran teachers from public schools across Wisconsin. The Associated Press obtained documents, showing twice the number of public school teachers jumped ship in the first half of 2011 than in the two preceding years. What has been called a mass exodus is a brain drain of veteran teachers, happening when the federal government under President Barack Obama introduced school reform measures requiring highly qualified teachers in school districts across the nation.
A teacher in Green Bay, retiring after 24 years said:

"You can't get experience through a book, you've got to teach," she said. "I think a lot of talent has been lost."

While, a superintendent of schools in Beloit said:

"It's a significant loss to our system, it's a significant loss to education...We lost a whole bunch of talent and a whole bunch of talent all at the same time. It disrupted the normal cycle."

And already some boards of education around Wisconsin took punitive measures certainly to continue the teacher hemorrhage from the schools.
In Walker's union busting bill:

The law takes away the right of teachers and other public workers to collectively bargain over anything except salary increases no greater than the rate of inflation. It also disallows the automatic withdrawal of union dues from workers' pay checks and requires unions to vote annually on staying organized, making it tougher for public sector unions to stay viable.

The Wisconsin teacher brain drain

2011-09-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Legislature in Wisconsin passed a law that took effect on Wednesday, June 29, 2011, that caused a major brain drain of veteran teachers from public schools across Wisconsin. The Associated Press obtained documents, showing twice the number of public school teachers jumped ship in the first half of 2011 than in the two preceding years. What has been called a mass exodus is a brain drain of veteran teachers, happening during a time when the federal government under President Barack Obama introduced school reform measures requiring highly qualified teachers in school districts across the nation.
A teacher in Green Bay, retiring after 24 years said:

"You can't get experience through a book, you've got to teach," she said. "I think a lot of talent has been lost."

While, a superintendent of schools in Beloit said:

"It's a significant loss to our system, it's a significant loss to education...We lost a whole bunch of talent and a whole bunch of talent all at the same time. It disrupted the normal cycle."

And already some boards of education around Wisconsin took punitive measures certainly to continue the teacher hemorrhage from the schools.
In Walker's union busting bill:

The law takes away the right of teachers and other public workers to collectively bargain over anything except salary increases no greater than the rate of inflation. It also disallows the automatic withdrawal of union dues from workers' pay checks and requires unions to vote annually on staying organized, making it tougher for public sector unions to stay viable.

Questions arise about control of schools in promise neighborhood project

2011-09-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

There is still some confusion about control issues surrounding the Buffalo Schools in the federal Buffalo Promise Neighborhood grant under the Westminster Foundation.
The President of the Buffalo Federation of Teachers, Phil Rumore resigned from the Westminster Foundation board recently.
Buffalo News reporter Mary Pasciak wrote because foundation wanted the district to commit too much of its funds and cede control of the schools under the Buffalo Promise Neighborhood project. The two schools are Highgate Heights Elementary School and Bennett High School essentially, adopting a model similar to Westminster Community Charter School.
Eleven years ago in 1993, M&T Bank started a partnership with Buffalo Public School #68. One year later in 1994, Dr. Yvonne Minor-Ragan was recruited and appointed principal, the named changed to Westminster Community School in 1995, and ten years later in 2004, it was converted to the Westminster Community Charter School . In its charter school phase the Buffalo Board of Education had to deposit the school funds into M&T Bank responsible for operating the school including staffing it. And its charter was renewed for another five years in 2009.
The plan is to open an early childhood center on Bailey Avenue and Amherst Street to serve as a feeder school into the Westminster Community Charter School, Highgate Heights and Bennett High School that Yvonne Minor-Ragan called a pipeline. She said, "Our goal is to take them through this pipeline and have them go on to college and careers."
There are about 12,000 residents in the 14215 area expected to bring in another 14,000 from adjacent communities to include in the Buffalo Promise Neighborhood project. Buffalo applied and obtained a planning grant that only 21 communities out of 339 received across the nation.
There is confusion regarding if Highgate Heights and Bennett High School don't meet Adequate Yearly Progress AYP that Westminster Charter can availed itself of remedial options that caused Rosalynd Taylor, the Board of Ed East District Rep to ask she hopes its in consultation with the district. Also, West District Board Rep. Ralph Hernandez asked a question re the budget saying, "getting back to the issue of the budget. Is it safe to assume when we're talking about your budget (it) will exist within our budget. Once we pass a budget, your budget is approved, right?" Then, David Chamberlain from the Westminster Foundation responded, "That's correct."
Chamberlain added that part of the Promise Neighborhood funds extend beyond the schools so,

"All we're requesting is what you currently fund those two schools at and what you would fund similar schools."
It appears the partnership is with the Superintendent of the Buffalo Schools not the Buffalo Board of Education, Chamberlain responded they structured the project that way.
If $4 million to $6 million allocated to the Buffalo Promise Neighborhood project with M&T Bank fully matching the grant, including raising another $9 million privately as it stated through Chamberlain, the bank becomes a key player in the project. The Buffalo Board of Education has to grapple with the issue of funding the budget for and control of these schools in the Buffalo Promise Neighborhood project.

Teacher rescind, recall and Promise Neighborhood grant updates

2011-09-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

As per Barbara Smith, Chief Financial officer of the Buffalo Schools at the Buffalo Board of Education meeting today, Friday, September 2, there were 14 teachers and 12 aides reinstated Mary Pasciak wrote in her School Zone Blog for the Buffalo News live chat.
The money to reinstate these laid-off employees came from the $1.2 contingency funds the board had allocated previously that included $505,000 to reinstate the laid-off attendance teachers. The classroom teachers were reinstated in their tenure areas even if they were laid-off literacy coaches. They get placed on the seniority list in their tenure area as they are reinstated.
Interesting to know some of the literacy coaches were hired first in this area and have no tenure area to fall back to. And teachers who were given a 30-day laid-off notice effective on September 30th, they come back to work in September and laid off again though Eileen Fleming, Executive Director of Human Resources said that could change. The latest figure is 51 teachers and 80 aides being laid off but again Fleming said that could change too if enrollment, teachers going on unemployment compensation, etc.. then a recall happens.
West District Board Member Ralph Hernandez commented the Superintendent Williams said there was a 500 enrollment deficit while he reported a 300 to 400 English Language Learner enrollment increase, so is it a zero-sum game he asked.
Kapsiak, from Central District mentioned her concerned about the probationary teachers who have not gotten laid-off notices yet. She said one enter her classroom and there was another teacher sitting in her classroom. Fleming said that has something to do with placement while another central office administrator commented there's lots of movement of teachers going on now and they are working on this issue all week.
A teacher commented she has been reinstated but not placed yet wonders what is going to happen to her. And Pasciak responded in the live chat Kapsiak Central District board member investigating this point. Licata, at-large board member brought up the issue of 16 reading teachers laid off, Fleming responded the numbers he has are the most recent.
Taylor from East District mentioned concerned about the large kindergarten classes numbering 33 in a classroom at one school. Taylor advised the schools fully staffed by the opening of school with certainty by high level central office administrator.
Board President Lou Petrucci sounded frustrated at the number of call he received from community members who wanted a specific teacher replaced, but it's done through seniority. At the same time he mentioned the public has the perception the criterion based schools--those requiring testing to get in get more resources and he looked into it and said it's not true in fact they were sometimes the lowest funded per capita and schools funded based on highest need, he said. But one wonders if City Honors a criterion based school gets less resources.
Promise Neighborhood discussion:
Buffalo one of 21 groups to get a planning grant out of 339 applicants nation-wide to implement the Promised Neighborhood concept zone. The application has to be out to the Feds by September 6, 2011.The Fed to grant four to five grants of $4 million to $5 million each one for five year period. Pasciak commented it's a concept similar to the Harlem Children's zone where wraparound services are provided to children from birth to college age. Medical services offered and housing improved in the zone areas.
A David Chamberlain from the Westminster Foundation talked about the Memorandum of Understanding, the MOU and a community needs assessment. Buffalo Schools received a $500,000 federal grant and M&T Bank contributed $150,000 and Oishei Foundation $100,000 matching it, while M&T raising another $9 Million privately.
Chamberlain said the goal is at least 60% of seats in the Promise Neighborhood School Zone reserved for the children in the zone area zip code 14215. Chamberlain mentioned the partnership is with the Superintendent of Buffalo Schools, so the program structured that way for the schools in the Promised Neighborhood Zone that is Highgate Heights and Bennett High School. Westminster Charter School M & T Bank has operated since 2005.

Attendance teachers coming back to Buffalo schools decided a more pro-active school board as Williams steps down

2011-08-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

Finally district officials are recalling laid off attendance teachers from the preferred eligibility list required in NYS education law after the Buffalo Board of Education in a more pro-active state insisted they rehire the attendance officers and other teachers recently laid-off immediately at a meeting on Monday. Still a few board members Florence Johnson, at large and Christopher Jacobs, at-large squabbled about the evils of the cosmetic rider, seniority and a job description requiring attendance teachers to work evening hours until district attorney advised hours set in the contract the item had to be negotiated with the union.
Also, the newest board member Sharon Belton-Cottman, Ferry District made troubling offensive comments about the work attendance teachers performed in the past saying they had to really work now instead of "sitting in offices," forgetting it was a contract dispute in 2005 not the job performance of the attendance teachers the reason district had laid them off.
The board voted to allocate $505,000, at a meeting on May 25th this year. Yet many of them were frustrated to see little progress had been done since this period. And John Licata, at-large board member commented, "I'm frustrated we continue to maneuver around the edges of this issue. We're going to be sitting here in October and I'm going to be heavily medicated if we don't have attendance teachers in place by then because that's the only way my voice is going to be calm, while Ralph Hernandez responded, "good point."
Previously in the discussion Hernandez commented, "As the discussion keeps taking place, time keeps lapsing. Unless there's some law that prohibits the board from hiring these people back, let's do that. Work out the details later."
There is the issue of the back pay the district owes to attendance teachers and other similarly laid off ones from 2005, especially if they had tenure/contract status with the district as a result of the board appointing them to permanent positions after passing their three-year probationary period. Ruth Kapsiak, West District Rep. said, "If you don't get the back pay, they're still working. Why penalize them by keeping them out waiting to see if you're going to get the back pay when you know you need attendance teachers?"
Superintendent James A. Williams stepping done on September 15, after a highly contentious and embattled six years at the helm of the Buffalo School finally ceded it was a decision of the Board to hire the teachers wrongfully laid off in 2005 that included 15 attendance teachers.
What held up the rehiring of the teachers had been Williams insisting the union drop the grievance dealing with how the positions of these teachers had been wrongfully abolished in 2005, in the dispute the Buffalo Teachers Federation and the district had on the single health carrier. Now that Williams is out of the way, things are starting to move forward the attendance teachers rehired from the preferred eligibility list while the district posting the job. And district officials have to settle the old grievance with these teachers because it was wrongful to have abolished their positions when the mid-year crises they had alleged never happened in 2005, while thousands of children stayed home from school in the intervening six-years period from September 2005 to September 2011, under the tenure of Williams who neglected these students in order to continue pressuring the teachers' union to drop their grievance during a time period the district wallowed in funds from difference sources, allowing the superintendent to increase his exempt employees from 13 when he had arrived to 28.
Thus, what's so tragic and shameful about this matter is the district had to only settle with a handful of teachers since many of those laid-off in 2005 were recalled, i.e, guidance counselors and librarians, while some had gone back to other tenure positions in the district. And the children in the Buffalo Schools sacrificed because Williams didn't want to settle with a few teachers, while the district had the funds and continues to have it. Many in the community believe for this reason, allowing Williams to have resigned for retirement without holding him accountable for his negligence was wrongful.

Behind the scenes look at board room after School Board goes into executive session to interview candidates for interim superintendent of schools

2011-08-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

James A. Williams, Superintendent of Buffalo Schools steps down on September 15, after six turbulent years. The Buffalo School Board interviewed two candidates for superintendent of schools on Wednesday night at a scheduled meeting in the board room, 801 City Hall at 5:30 PM. And less than half hour later at 6 PM, the Board announced it was going into executive session. After, the security guard asked the public to leave the room instead the Board members left went into an adjacent area.This video captured the frustration of the audience waiting as they conducted the interviews in private in a back room behind closed doors in a meeting that lasted for over two hours. In the video are teachers recently laid-off at City Honors scheduled to speak about their plight asking for reinstatement, Citizen Action members signed up to speak about school suspensions, the Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore speaking on a resolution to bring back the laid-off attendance teachers and those recently laid off at City Honors though he spoke before the executive session, as well as other speakers. Adding to the anxiety and frustration of the public was waiting over two hours until after the Board finished the executive session to resume its meetings to allow the speakers on the agenda an opportunity to address them.

Amber Dixon new interim superintendent Buffalo Schools

2011-08-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

Although they conducted the interviews behind closed doors in executive session, the Buffalo Board of appointed a 20-year veteran internal candidate Amber Dixon as the new interim Superintendent of Schools.

Gov. Rick Perry, the public education president?

2011-08-20T02:18:00.000-07:00

"Education is a state issue, and the federal government has no business dictating academic standards or curriculum to states...” so goes the thinking in the State of Texas where Governor Rick Perry announced last Saturday he was running for president. And Gov. Perry sent a letter on January 13, 2010, to U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan informing him that:

"I will not commit Texas taxpayers to unfunded federal obligations or to the adoption of unproven cost-prohibitive national curriculum standards and test. RTTT would amount to as little as $75 per student in one-time funding, yet the cost to Texas taxpayers to implement national standard and assessment could be up to an estimated $3 billion. In the interest of preserving our state sovereignty over matters concerning education and shielding local schools from unwarranted federal intrusion into local district decision-making, Texas will not be submitting an application for RTTT funds."

Gov. Perry published a book, FED UP!, critical of the federal government role in state matters and has already garnered the support of a group of local prominent Republicans in Buffalo who last Thursday announced their support for his candidacy.

Super Williams negotiated a "sweet" resignation/retirement deal

2011-08-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

The Buffalo Board of Education is meeting on August 24, 2011, to pick a successor interim superintendent of schools. After the meeting today to discuss the second step in his termination process. Williams arrived with his private attorney where he opted to resign for retirement purposes effective September 15, 2011.
Whether this option exists in his contract is not clear, but according to at-large School Board member Chris Jacobs this option allowed Williams to obtain life time health care benefits, something he may not have received if he had been terminated under the "no cause" or "for cause" options in his contract.
Jacobs commented after the meeting the board could have negotiated better with Williams because his option to resign/retire, a very costly one to the people of New York State.
The meeting started at 12 noon and at 2 pm, Williams stepped into his conference room in City Hall to give a press conference. And as the cameras, lights and microphones appeared in front of him as he stood in the limelight Williams said:

"James Williams is a household name all over the country. I've received hundreds of calls. I'm very well respected. I'm leaving with dignity. I'm leaving with happiness. With a resume that would stand up against anyone who's sat in this seat in the history of Buffalo."

"I'm looking forward to moving onto other things in my life. You've only got two bites at the apple, to retire and settle the buyout that was offered to me, based on contractual issues. That's all I can say about the agreement. I need to read it. I'm able to retire and also I'm able to turn the system over with dignity and respect."

"The mark of a good leader is what happens after he or she leaves. I'll give you two or three years (to decide how good of a leader I was)."

"Main thing I want this community to recognize, if you are not in school we can't educate you."
"The reason it's not working, those who are coming to school and consistently participate are successful."

It took Williams six years to acknowledge the importance of daily school attendance, something he had the power to influence and he chose not to, instead too busy traveling to conferences around the country to the tune of 130 days from May 2010 to June 2011 from the cell phone records Buffalo News blogger Mary Pasciak gleaned from a FOIL request to the district last week. A board member had commented he spent more time out the district beyond the cell phone records.
After seven days have passed, allowing Williams an opportunity to review or reject the agreement, the public will have an opportunity know the terms of his resignation/retirement.

Williams retires in September, with health care benefits for life...it's over!

2011-08-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

Buffalo School Board voted 7-2, to accept the resignation of Superintendent James A. Williams for retirement purposes, effective September 15, 2011. At large School Board Rep. Chris Jacobs thought the board could have done better because of the life-time health care benefits Williams obtains yearly, a costly expense for New York State taxpayers.. And so that ended the turbulent, embattled termination feud between the Buffalo Board of Education and Williams.
And a meeting has been scheduled for Monday at 4:30 PM to address the issues of the teachers Williams laid-off recently especially those at City Honors. Roslyn Taylor commented she had gotten reassurance from Williams some to be reinstated again.

Williams now wants to resign rumor school board to negotiate a deal

2011-08-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

The latest news on the merry-go-round circus like ordeal involving the options to terminate Superintendent James A. Williams is that he now wants to resign. Previously he opted to retire....then the School Board decided to invoke either the "no fault" or the "for cause" options in his contract to terminate him. But now the Buffalo News published a story today on the Education Zone blog that alleged the School Board might allow Williams to stay on through September.
If the rumor is true, Super Williams gets to keep raking in $611 daily, $3,055 weekly or $18, 333 monthly, while he resigns. Yet, still to receive his $110,000 six months pay even though he has been out of town more than one-third of the time from June 2010 through May 2011 and graduation rates declined, students in the 8th and 7th grade had the worst English proficiency scores and overall district performance described as "flat-lined" in the math and English Language Arts tests State Ed released this month. The Board of Education live blog meeting is today to consider terminating his contract.

Commissioner king assigning a "Distinguished Educator" to Buffalo Schools

2011-08-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. sent a letter to Superintendent James A. Williams on August 9, 2011 besides rejecting the turnaround plans based on the educational partnership organization model (EPO) the district submitted that he was considering possibly assigning a "Distinguished Educator" to the Buffalo Schools.

"...as a means to assist you to develop a plan for reconceptualizing the educational program for students at Lafayette High School and building district capacity for supporting dramatic change in Buffalo’s lowest performing schools."

Yet, the joint intervention team report on Lafayette High School had recommended the district close the school or re-open it under an education management organization group, an option the district had chosen when it selected an educational partnership organization (EPO) until State Ed folks rejected the plan last week. And the turnaround plans Williams submitted previously to the Board on April 13, had caused an uproar among the teachers at the schools who had to be transferred and re-interviewed for other positions in the district. Then, the turnaround plans changed again before the School Board met on May 9th, while Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore would not sign any plans where the teachers had to be reassigned, replaced or transferred out and Williams changed plans again. And finally at its May 5, meeting the School Board accepted the revised turnaround plans that included contracting out with educational partnership organizations to run seven of the schools though in the end three schools chosen in July under this restart model while district decided to wait on the others what had generated an uproar in the community and the wrath of the State Ed folks.

Super Williams absent one-third of time from district

2011-08-14T06:11:00.000-07:00

Superintendent James A. Williams has been absent from the buffalo schools one-third of the time from June 2010 through May 2011, according from cell phone records the Buffalo News got through FOIL. So if Super out of town so many days, who did he leave in charge? And if he was out of town when important deadlines had to be met to State Ed for the grants, especially for the low-performing schools, why the "no fault" pursued to terminate his contract with the district? And what about the dismal attendance, graduation, and drop-out rates?

A legacy of Educational neglect: Latino and English Language Learners

2011-08-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

http://thebuffalopuertoricanpress.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/a-legacy-of-neglect-of-puerto-rican-students-as-williams-contract-termination-considered/

School board member Licata on News live chat: Attendance teachers need to be in place...by September job decription still to be resolved

2011-08-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

School Board member at-large, John Licata, an attorney on the Buffalo News live chat today at 2 PM taking a series of questions as Mary Pasciak passed them on to the computer screen. Mr. Licata answered many questions many about the exempt employees, Superintendent James Williams pending termination, charter schools, etc.

When asked what's happening to attendance? Didn't the Board allocate $500,000 for attendance teachers? When are they suppose to come on board?
He responded, "We did. There is an issue about job description that it... to be resolved soon. They need to be in place now to have the benefit of getting students in class by September. I share your urgency and expect an update on this on Friday."
Interestingly, Licata offered a clue about who will be the interim superintendent when and if Williams goes on the no fault provision of his contract. He said, "It is my expectation that the interim superintendent will be someone with working knowledge of the district and will have a seamless entry into the post during the search for the permanent replacement."
And he added the Board is meeting on August 17th with a rep from the NYS School Boards Association to discuss the process for a new superintendent search and move forward from there.
A few asked why the Board chose no fault instead of for cause to oust Williams.
The "for cause" is a longer process an appeals involved while the "no fault" has the benefit of speed and finality, the reason why it was chosen as one of the contractual options for Williams.
His last parting words to the community:

"Education will only improve if we as a community improve the process by participation. Parents have to get their kids to school. The central office has to supply the teachers with the necessary technology to educate; teachers have to participate in professional development to continue to improve their skills. The era of confrontational education has to come to an end. Students are in the schools on a daily basis without any motivation or even sense of why they should be in school at all.
My hope is we can devise an education system that taps into the natural curiosity of children when they are four years old and cultivate that like a flame instead of dousing whatever intellectual pursuit is there in the need to have a rote education that can be measured by the standardized test."

Dr. James A. Williams Tenure As Buffalo Schools Superintendent : Photo Galleries : The Buffalo News

2011-08-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

Dr. James A. Williams Tenure As Buffalo Schools Superintendent : Photo Galleries : The Buffalo News

This Bill Reinke photo from Dayton Daily News shows a slick and debonair, circa 1999, Superintendent James Williams addressing a School Board meeting in Dayton, Ohio. The Buffalo News arranged a slide show of his tenure in the Buffalo Public Schools after the Buffalo School Board on Tuesday voted to invoke the no fault clause to terminate his contract
Back in"... August 1999... the... (Dayton Public Schools) was awash in crisis after then-Superintendent James Williams and Treasurer Kennon Goff were forced out following a state audit that showed the district had a multimillion dollar deficit."
Jerrie Bascome McGil who replaced Williams in the financially crisis ridden school he left behind died 12 days ago credited for having steadied the school system. And to think she was one of two finalist for the job of Superintendent of Dayton Public Schools, but the board picked Williams and she left the district, to come back a decade later to fix up the mess he left behind. Willilams served as Superintendent of the Dayton Public schools in Ohio from 1991 to 1999 until fired because of a $14 to $16 million deficit that mysteriously appeared in the budget.

Florence Johnson called board meeting to terminate Williams a Kangaroo court, board to meet next week to vote on no fault clause

2011-08-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

While, the motley crew gathered tonight in room 801 City hall from Carl Paladino to Commissioner John B. King via telephone from Albany, the Buffalo Board of Education met today at 4PM to discuss issues from the new buyout package of Deputy Superintendent Folasade Oladele to terminating Superintendent James A. Williams.
It all happened with a special outside counsel Karl Kristoff from Hodgson Russ that Board President Louis Petrucci sought, while Brendan Kelleher the district counsel formally from the same law firm until he left to work for the district stood at the door of the board room in City Hall with Superintendent James A. Williams absent as per Mike Powers, his personal attorney, also a judge in Clarence,
Buffalo News School Zone blogger, Mary Pasciak was taking live questions from audience many questions on who will be the interim successor of Williams. Pasciak mentioned several names many of them central office or building principals but the name of Erie 1 BOCES Superintendent Donald Ogilvie came up again as a possible succssor to Williams.
Two Latinos, one African-American, two whites mentioned all district internal administrators. John Licata an at-large member brought up the issue to table the resolution to discharge Williams for cause, but Florence Johnson a staunch supporter of Williams interjected she thought they had come to discuss other personnel matters which she said should "have preference." Then, Hernandez said the meeting notice clearly said they will discuss personnel matters, including anything the board deemed necessary.
At large member Christopher Jacobs, a candidate for County Clerk under the Republican line, voted to second the motion about tabling the resolution to discharge Williams for cause and it passed.
Board President Louis Petrucci motioned to go into executive session to discuss the agenda items begining with the buyout contract for Oladele, but Licata wants the resolution to discharge the superintendent for no cause under his contract moved up , but Florence Johnson opposed the move though it too passes. Licata reminds the board he submitted the resolution in a timely fashion on Friday to be considered to day, according to Pasciak live blogging. At this point, Hernandez wants it noted in the record, that Superintendent Williams or his legal counsel not present but the other board members see Brendan Kelleher district attorney standing a the doorway of the Board room. It is at this point that Florence Johnson called it a Kangaroo court. Licata continue to speak said part of the no fault in the contract requires the board to vote on it to invoke it.
Also, Licata, an attorney in private practice said he believed the voting to invoke the no fault clause in contract to discharge Williams that no executive session applied to it as far as he is concerned. He added discussing the continued employment of Williams "can happen in open session. " Hernandez reminded the board the no fault clause on table any board member that they thinks it should be invoked should speak. Licata withdraws resolution until they go to executive session to get legal counsel to voting on whether to invoke the no fault resolution in public. So at 4:22 PM, the Board goes into executive session to get legal opinion on whether they could vote in public to invoke the no fault clause of Williams' contract.
While Buffalo News blogger Pasciak leaves to talk via telephone with State Education Commissioner Dr. John King, Jr. about half hour later she returns to the live blog, and the board that went into executive session at 4:22 didn't return until 5:37 PM, one hour and a half later all but three voted to accept the resignation of Oladele and all voted on" Motion to pursue proceedings to terminate Williams' contract. Meeting to take place later this week."
Only three African-American Buffalo School Board members voted no---the newest Ferry District rep Sharon Belton Cottman, Florence Johnson, at-large, and , East District, Roslyn Taylor.

Buffalo board votes today to terminate Williams contract sooner... while state education department didn't approve funds for EPO turnaround plans

2011-08-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

Buffalo School Board is meeting today to decide how or in what way to terminate the contract of embattled Superintendent James A. Williams. And the State Education Department will not fund the turnaround plans for three of its persistently failing schools--Lafayette High School, Dr. Charles R. Drew Science Magnet, and Bilingual Center School 33-- because they chose the restart model based on the educational partnership organization (EPO) .
Yet, the state threatened to revoke the registration of any failing schools if drastic changes were not made by the opening of the school year. It appears the State Ed likely preferred the turnaround model over the restart one the teachers' union advocated it lessened the massive movement of teachers what the union and the teachers had opposed.
And Williams either will be fired for cause or released on a no fault arrangement where he leaves with six months pay, $110,000 and life time health care benefits for himself and spouse at 60% instead of 70% had he stayed until next June 2012. If the first option chosen, for cause, means a suspension immediately, and he'll get 90 days pay with benefits while he seeks due process. The super gets over $18,000 monthly, nearly $55,000 during the suspension. And if he prevails in any lawsuit brought against the district, Williams is surely to leave with much more than the $110,000 originally proposed in his contract. School Board President Louis Petrucci sought outside legal council instead of using the district attorney Brendan P. Kelleher the one the board relied upon for advise when they met to oust Williams in late June but failed to do it.
Also, at-large School Board member John Licata cited his job performance, that he is an obstructionist and the lay-offs at City Honors, hiring more exempt employees as a few reasons for terminating him, while president of the teachers' union mentioned stalled contract talks , Williams ridiculous offer of 1% raises with 15% pay into health care benefits, the lines of communication not opened as they seemed to have been previously, and teachers laid-off while he continous to increase his cadre of exempt employees.
It may be best to move forward with the no fault termination option in his contract rather than a long drawn out legal process that takes away from choosing an interim successor and there is the likelihood if Williams prevails legally he'll get a larger settlement from the district.
And the step case the district prevailed on March 29, this year, where it did not have to pay three contractual steps to teachers, instead they got only one after the wage freeze is not chump change, while Williams at the helm though the Buffalo Teachers Federation is challenging the ruling in federal court.

Buffalo Schools report card figures released today mixed reviews

2011-08-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

Stated Ed Dept released new figures today, Buffalo City Schools students, "... Some schools had fewer than 10 percent of students at grade level in some categories, while others had well over 50 percent." And Buffalo Figures though lower than Yonkers and NYC, tests scores higher than Rochester and Syracuse.

Buffalo school board working out another buyout for deputy superintendent Oladele again

2011-08-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

Buffalo News reported today she's taking accumulated vacation time off in July while another buyout package is in the works for embattled Buffalo Schools Deputy Superintendent Folasade Oladele. The first buyout Superintendent James A. Williams worked out for her costing about $215,000, a year's salary instead of the three months pay in her contract caused an uproar in the community. Even Carl Paladino threatened to sue in State Supreme Court if she got the pay while at-large Board Member John Licata took a similar stance arguing another reason. When the case went before the Buffalo Fiscal Control Authority, reviewing any expenditures over $50,000 there were not enough votes to disapprove the buyout package subsequently they sent it back to the Buffalo School Board. The Board is not disclosing the terms of the new buyout package until it's a done deal. Saying the confidentially close has no legal weight,

"Bob Freeman, executive director of the state's Committee on Open Government, says despite the confidentiality clause in the separation agreement, the board could disclose the terms of the buyout if it chose to."Clearly, if the board wants to disclose this proposed agreement, it may do so."