Business First has released its findings on Erie County school district salaries. Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent James Williams tops the list at a base salary of $220,000. According to the See Through New York Web site, that figure was $227,427

Members of Williams’s cabinet don’t do too badly, either. Chief Academic Officer Folasade Oladele makes $159,399. Chief Financial Officer Gary Crosby makes about the same amount. Lead Community Superintendent Mark Frazier makes $129,075. Former principal, now Associate Superintendent Will Keresztes makes $127,335.

Williamsville school superintendent Howard Smith was second to Williams in terms of pay at $206,500. Business First rates Williamsville the number one school district in WNY, and they point out that Williamsville also pays its teachers the most money based on “median pay.” Buffalo ranks #28 by this standard.

But if  you factor in starting salaries for teachers, Williamsville slips to second place, while Buffalo is at a dismal 70th. Peak salaries for Buffalo Teachers are ranked near the very bottom, at 71st.

Could there be some kind of connection?

At 5:55pm yesterday, after our weekly print issue went to press, look what showed up in my email inbox. It’s a letter from Michael J. Looby, legal counsel to the Buffalo School District. Nice of him to stay in touch.

Attached are those highly sensitive financial disclosure papers that I requested on Monday, April 20, and was allowed to see, but not copy on Thursday, April 23.

Is it a coincidence that Looby responded just a few hours after receiving this Show Cause Order?

“Campaigns report required information in eclectic ways,” he writes, “not necessarily using a standardized form. Accordingly, until seeing the actual filings, it is not possible to ascertain if a given report might contain information which we are prohibited from transmitting, or which is statutorily exempt.”

Translation: It took the legal staff of the BPS nine days to reach the same conclusion I came to in half an hour last Thursday—that there were no Social Security numbers included in the 24 pages that constitute the candidates’ financial statements.

Looby then followed up with an email to me at 6:36pm yesterday, asking me to forward the attachment to another petitioner named in the Show Cause Order. It’s the same 24 pages of documents with a different cover letter, asking me again to remit $6.00 for the PDF. So, looks like I’m up to $12 in debt to the Buffalo Board of Education for essentially the same information.

At this rate, he could just fill up my email inbox with the same documents, over and over, until my bill equals any shortfall in next year’s school budget.

Read it and weep, folks. Today’s the deadline for candidates to file their April 30 updated financial disclosures. Prediction: The incumbents drop theirs off at the William Street Post Office at 11:59pm tonight. They will arrive at City Hall on Saturday. On Monday, the BPS legal cousel will begin the laborious task of scouring them for SS numbers. The school board election will take place on Tuesday, so no one will know in time just how much money was poured into the attempt to elect the incumbents to their $5,000/year positions.

Unless, of course, the 11am court date Monday compels them to release this clearly public information in an immediate manner.

Click here to read the Show Cause Order filed today by attorney Peter A. Reese seeking to impel the release of financial information pertaining to the upcoming Buffalo school board election on May 5.

Five qualified voters are the petitioners seeking, among other things, the release of this public information. The respondents are superintendent James A. Williams, BPS clerk James M. Kane, school board members Christopher L. Jacobs, Catherine Collins, and Florence D. Johnson, the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, Buffalo Students First, and NYS Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills.

The court date is set for Monday, May 4 at 11am. Hon. Frederick J. Marshall, J.S.C. presiding.

Additional relief sought includes, in the alternative, the filing of revised campaign statements by the incumbents, or an injunction against further participation in school board elections by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and/or Buffalo Students First.

“Of interest, the section of the education law which allows the judge to order filing or revision of campaign statements contains a provision allowing the judge to grant immunity from criminal prosecution and thus compell testimony. Such a course of action would require further proceedings and take much more time than can be accommodated prior to the May 5 election,” Reese adds.

The petitioners’ primary objective on Monday will be to obtain a bench court order requiring the immediate release of all documents filed with clerk James M. Kane, pursuant to the conduct of the 2009 Buffalo school board election.

Here’s the letter from BPS Assistant Legal Counsel Kelly Gale Eisenried, faxed to Artvoice Wednesday afternoon, explaining why they wouldn’t immediately release public documents pertaining to the school board election that’s now just 11 days away. The letter offered me the opportunity to “examine” the records, so Thursday morning I went to City Hall, where Chief of Staff James Kane handed me a slim folder of public documents. I was allowed to look, but not to have copies.

Here are the notes I took. There is no standard form for the candidates to fill out, so the info is pretty hodgepodge. No big surprises. Chris Jacobs has raised and spent the most—over $13,000 spent—while challenger John Licata lists no contributions, putting him $131.59 in the hole. The other incumbents, Catherine Collins and Florence Johnson join Jacobs at the head of the pack, money-wise. All these figures are expanding as we speak, and the grand totals won’t be known until April 30. Then there’s another disclosure date after the election is over.

I would have liked to supply the voting public with more legible information, but both Eisenried and schools General Counsel Michael J. Looby have explained that they need time to scour the documents for sensitive information like Social Security numbers before the unwashed masses can view them.

It took me about forty minutes to go through and take notes. I didn’t see any Social Security numbers anywhere, but what do I know? I’m not a lawyer. Just because I’m a nice guy, I redacted the phone numbers I jotted down in my notes.

But I’m not so nice that I’d just walk away from this violation of our right to access public information without a fight. Click here to read the demand for access that was dropped off at city hall this morning.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 21 at 6:30pm, stop by the True Bethel Baptist Church (907 East Ferry) where all of the candidates but one have agreed to attend a forum organized by the Coalition for Economic Justice. Incumbent Florence Johnson has not yet confirmed her participation, according to an event coordinator.

Candidates will have (more…)

The Buffalo Ruse is always leading the discussion. This week: ChillDay, the compromise between Phil Rumore of the Buffalo Teachers Federation and Buffalo Schools Superintendent James Williams on the start of the next school year.

The State Education Department has released its report on Academy School 44, and it faults—among other things—ResulTech, the Maryland firm that provides technical support for the failing school. Unfortunately, the project was turned in too late to receive any credit from the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, who already approved ResulTech’s $1.7 million contract extension two weeks ago, on July 8. (more…)

The Buffalo School district may have officially decided to just forget all the problems regarding McKinley High School principal Crystal Barton, the dysfunctional School Board, Superintendent James A. Williams and McKinley basketball coach and accused serial seducer, James Daye, but apparently one Buffalo citizen is not going to let them off the hook that easily. Developer Carl Paladino has purchased radio spots on WBEN chastising all of the above and giving a little instruction of his own. “James A. WIlliams, it’s time for you to go.”

Carl Paladino on the Buffalo School Board (MP3)

A friend called in to tell us that a friend called him just now with this news, which he heard third-hand: (Does that insulate our sources sufficiently from the fury of the Buffalo Public Schools administration?) Last night Buffalo’s association of public high school principals registered a unanimous vote of no confidence in Superintendent James A. Williams. The vote of no confidence follows closely on the heels of Williams’ announcement that he is staying in Buffalo; his contract (renewed last fall by an administration-friendly, outgoing board of education) runs through 2011. Williams had been a finalist for the superintendent’s job in Memphis, Tennessee. Word is, Williams is furious about this and has been burning up the phone lines, chewing out those principals he deems responsible for the measure. To which one might reply: Dr. Williams, the vote was, according to our sources, unanimous. UPDATE: The secondary school principals apparently asked the entire principals’ union to join them in taking a vote of no confidence in Williams. Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore told Channel 4 News at Wednesday’s school board meeting that his executive committee might ask union members for a no confidence vote as well. If both those things happened, the only folks left in the district supporting Williams would be his cabinet and a handful of board members.

When the Memphis Commercial Appeal published details of the search for that city school district’s superintendent position on Tuesday, May 6, Dr. James Williams was named as one of the five finalists for the position.

The next day, as the story was breaking here, the Buffalo Public Schools Web site posted an official statement from Williams, which reads in part, “The Memphis City School District and their representatives recently contacted me regarding my possible interest in the position of Superintendent of their District. I was approached about this position and I have not formally interviewed for the position.”

Williams does not elaborate more on his new job prospects, but Alvin Johnson, speaking today on behalf of Ray and Associates, was able to shed a bit more light on the situation.

Ray and Associates is the executive search company that has been contracted by Memphis schools to find suitable candidates for their Superintendent position.

Johnson says that Williams was contacted by a letter sent to him from Ray and Associates headquarters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Apparently, Williams will open a letter from a “professional organization that specializes in school executive leadership searches” even if he won’t open a certified letter from a teacher in his own district. In defense of not reading that important message that was reporting alleged fondling of a young student by a teacher’s aide, Williams went on the record saying he doesn’t open any of his mail.

Somehow, this letter was different. (more…)