School Board member Pamela Cahill resigning called board dysfunctional

Pamela Cahill, Ferry District representative on the Buffalo Board of Education resigning at the end of  May citing in a Buffalo News story, "I think the state needs to step in and take over,” Cahill said. “I think this board really needs to be shut down. I don’t think it’s a functional board. I don’t think it’s good for the district.” She added, “I don’t think we have a professional, functional board,” in the same News story.

NYC chancelloer-designate layoffs based on seniority "one of the most crippling policies on the books"

Chancellor-designate Dennis Walcott viewed as a mouth piece for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, while some fear he is too close to the Mayor to be independent from him. Recently at a NYC Council hearing, he is said to have " repeated a mantra of the Bloomberg administration, that the state law protecting the most senior teachers in the event of layoffs was “one of the most crippling policies on the books.”

Student leaders at Francis Lewis High School hope new chancellor joins them at a rally to help him save the school that got him where he is today

Khaair Morrison,
Francis Lewis High School

By Khaair Morrison
We are all excited at Francis Lewis High School about the new Chancellor's appointment. At the same time, we are hoping that he brings the change the school system in NYC needs. With all the politics and false hopes over the past few years, students like me can't help but be a little worried and a bit anxious to see what this means for the city. 
I recall a couple of students and I reached out to Cathie Black and the new Chancellor Walcott. After only a weeks time they came to our school, and most of us students in the meeting agreed on the fact that we thought he should have been the Chancellor in the first place. Walcott came prepared with a pen and a pad ready to take notes on what the students had to say. Walcott was real in all his answers, and by the way answered most of the questions due to Black's inexperience. He said "he likes tough fights."
On April 29th many of us at Francis Lewis and educators around the city are planning a rally outside the school for reform in the education system, to stop overcrowding, help our school, and to stop cutting teachers. 
We are hoping we can get the new Chancellor out there to help him save the same school that got him where he is today. We are at a turning point in this city. We have a lot of work to do, and we cannot wait a week, a month, or a year. It must be done now !

Top officials stepped down since Black appointed chancellor

Five top officials of the NYC Education Department have left or resigned since Cathie Black appointed NYC Schools Chancellor. Chancellor designate, Dennis Walcott faces many challenges ahead as he takes the helm of the largest public school system in the nation.

Francis Lewis High graduate appointed chancellor of NYC schools

Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked Cathie Black to step down.

State Education Commissioner David Steiner quitting top education post

What a day for New Yorkers! First Cathie Black steps down as chancellor of the NYC schools and now it's the State Education Commissioner David Steiner quitting later this year.

Cathie Black stepped down Mayor Bloomberg appoints a chancellor designate for NYC schools

Dennis M. Walcott, chancellor-designate

 Dennis M. Walcott, who joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration in 2002, serves as deputy mayor for education and community development...
Mayor Bloomberg said, “I take full responsibility for the fact that this has not worked out as either of us had hoped or expected..."
 “But now it’s time to look forward, not back,” after he dismissed Cathie Black former NYC Schools Chancellor.
Walcott lacks the certification for the position, requiring Mayor Bloomberg to apply for another waiver from the State Education Commissioner David Steiner.
Steiner announced his resignation today effective sometime later this year. In a NY Times article, Robert Jackson, chairman of the City Council Education Committee expressed his preference for someone with more experience as an educator. Mr. Walcott only worked two years as a kindergarten teacher though has a master's degree in education and social work. He has prior managerial experience from the years he headed the Urban League.  His  experience as an administrator  has  not included anything as large and complex as the NYC public school system with  1.1 million students, a $22 billion dollar budget and 121,000 employees. 
Pedro Noguera a professor of education at NY University said he had to "surround himself with  very capable people and sadly a lot of those have left. " So  his most challenging   work ahead is to assemble a team. 
Yet,  student leader Khaair Morrison from Francis Lewis High School commented positively about the chancellor to be when he show up at a meeting with Black to hear their concerns.

Morrison said, "I recall a couple of students and I reached out to Cathie Black and the new Chancellor Walcott. After only a weeks time they came to our school, and most of us students in the meeting agreed on the fact that we thought he should have been the Chancellor in the first place. Walcott came prepared with a pen and a pad ready to take notes on what the students had to say. Walcott was real in all his answers, and by the way answered most of the questions due to Black's inexperience. He said "he likes tough fights."

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated, April 4, 1968

Attendance a problem in the "turnaround" Buffalo schools

I had to read the Buffalo News story, "Buffalo Plans to Move 200 Teachers" a few times wondering how it's all going to play out. Yet,  the teachers and administrators being removed seemed fearful of what's going to happen to them concerned and troubled by the drastic changes. And the children left behind fearful as well in a building where half of the staff  will be  gone, having to adjust to a cadre of new teachers they don't know. Compounding the problem are the 15-minute interviews teachers have to submit to in order keep their jobs to stay  in their schools, presenting a lesson to a principal that might not be at the school because their jobs have been posted too.

The school reform plan the Buffalo Public Schools chose for seven of its persistently lowest performing schools required they remove the administrators and half of  the teachers as stipulated in  guidelines of the U.S. Department of Education. Why this one chosen? Don't know except the Deputy Superintendent  Folasade Oladele was quoted in this same Buffalo News article saying it came from the input of the joint school intervention team  that earlier  reviewed the schools.  Dr. Oladele told the News, "one recommendation said that unless there were structural changes in these schools that affected teachers and administrators, they did not believe these schools could be changed." 
Yet, those involved making the "turnaround"  decisions from central administration in city hall remain intact, a  school leadership team that many say is the cause of the structural problems in the district. A building administrator wondered when the Buffalo Board of Education would likewise review these folks and start asking the same questions. What about them? Who turns them around?

But "turnaround" has taken on a different meaning here as a teacher   anonymously spoke to the Buffalo News education blogger Mary Pasciak  said how a city hall administrator told them they had to "step up" if they want to be agents of change and "willing to work 12-to-14-hour days" if they want to keep their jobs. And some of the teachers in these schools pointed out that other issues are involved here such as poverty, the high number of students in special education classes, and lower attendance rates as examples they cited in the Buffalo News article. For example,  teachers believe that "in many of the struggling schools, student attendance tends to be very low. In one school, during a recent two-week period, for instance, attendance ranged from a low of more than 25 percent of students absent on a given day to as many as 55 percent absent on another day."  The Buffalo News published a data base of the attendance rates of other districts and Buffalo Schools. Here are the attendance rates of the seven persistently lowest achieving  Buffalo Public Schools. The question is of what benefit is it to "turnaround" a school with persistently low attendance rates  when the district laid-off most of the attendance teachers in 2005?

District	School	Attendance 2009	Attendance 2008	Attendance 2007
Buffalo	Bilingual Center	89%	89%	89%
Buffalo	Harriet Ross Tubman Academy	89%	88%	90%
Buffalo	PS 37 Futures Academy	89%	90%	90%
Buffalo	Buffalo Elementary of Technology	88%	82%	89%
Buffalo	East High	84%	83%	80%
Buffalo	Burgard Vocational High	76%	78%	74%
Buffalo	Riverside Institute of Technology	76%	74%	77%

A Buffalo News Poll revealed desegregation has not been successful in Buffalo Schools

When Buffalo News education blogger Mary Pasciak asked the question, "Do you think desegregation has been successful in Buffalo Schools? Here is the response she got from 813 readers taking the poll.

Do you think desegregation has been successful in Buffalo schools?

• Yes
   15%
• No
   84%

Total Votes: 813