School Board has Cake, Eats it too!
The Buffalo school board held a special meeting at 3:30 this afternoon, called by board member Catherine Nugent Panepinto to “vote on pursuing disciplinary action against the individuals named in the report of attorney David Edmunds and/or as discussed by attorney Karl Kristoff.”
After the Pledge of Allegiance, board President Kapsiak began the meeting by moving to enter into executive section, which was immediately seconded by Catherine Collins, who said that she, for one, intended to mention people’s names—therefore making an executive session mandatory. Within five minutes of typical chaos, the press was again sent into the antechamber that has become their second home since issues involving Crystal Barton and McKinley High School have become public knowledge. Nugent Panepinto never even got to read her motion.
After half an hour, the door opened and BPS lawyer Karl Kristoff read a motion to share all the raw data collected by the $25,000 Edmunds report with school board members—something they’ve never had access to thus far—before deciding if any disciplinary action might be warranted.
Here’s how the vote went down: Four in favor (Nugent Panepinto, Hernandez, Petrucci, Jacobs). Perry-Cahill said she would like to “sustain.” Her colleagues corrected her use of terminology and asked if she would like to “abstain.” She said yes, she would like to do that, and she was joined in her abstention by Collins. Kapsiak and Johnson voted against seeing any more evidence.
Vivian Evans, although present in another room, would not take part in the vote.
Thus, with only four votes in favor of examining all the evidence generated by the $25,000 of taxpayer funds that were used to compensate Edmunds, the motion did not receive the five votes it would have needed to pass. Chief of Staff James M. Kane quickly observed: “It doesn’t pass!” He had the tone of a dealer at a poker tournament, interpreting all the hands for the spectators.
Next, it was time for the board to vote on new officers. Vivian Evans entered to take part in this vote.
Again, the room stood to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Kapsiak retained her position as board president, Collins replaced Hernandez as VP of Executive Affairs, Jacobs replaced Nugent Panepinto as VP of Student Affairs.
In a stunning and unpredictable coincidence, each vote was identical, with Perry-Cahill, Collins, Johnson, Kapsiak, Jacobs, and Evans voting for the winners—while Nugent Panepinto, Petrucci, and Hernandez voted for the losers.
Kapsiak, Collins, and Jacobs were sworn in to their new positions and the meeting was called to a close.
Florence Johnson was the first to move in on the cake. She and Perry-Cahill moved in for a slice after sharing hugs with Collins, Jacobs, and Kapsiak.
And even though it was a big cake, Nugent Panepinto, Petrucci, and Hernandez didn’t have any.
June 27, 2008
ResulTech Achieves 100 Percent Failure Rate, Wins Contract Extension
Without waiting for the results of a State Education Department investigation conducted two weeks ago at Academy School 44, the Buffalo School Board voted Wednesday night to extend a lucrative contract to Maryland firm ResulTech, to continue ongoing technical support. The expected outcome is to “increase student achievement, attendance, literacy and out-of school suspensions.”
After two years of ResulTech’s help, which has already cost the district $5.4 million (the new extension makes a grand total of $7.1 million), this year’s test scores show the following: Speaking to the attendance issue, only one third of these 7th and 8th graders took exams. Of the one hundred students that took the tests, 79% of 7th graders failed English, while 90% of the 8th graders failed English. In addition, 91% of the 7th graders failed Math, while 100% of the 8th grade students who took that exam failed it.
Voting to extend the ResulTech contract were (shown left to right) Mary Ruth Kapsiak (Board President, Central District), Catherine Collins (at large), Vivian Evans (East District), Florence Johnson (at large), and Pamela D. Perry-Cahill (Ferry District).
At large board member Chris Jacobs ordinarily votes in step with superintendent Williams—who advocates ResulTech despite its performance—but he voted against the contract extension. Jacobs felt the results of the State Education Department report should be considered before moving ahead another year.
The vote had been delayed since May 14, when it was pulled off the school board agenda at the last minute as stories surfaced in the media about Academy School 44. Teachers there harshly criticized ResulTech, which prompted the State Education Department investigation two weeks ago. The contract extension passed quietly this week as school ended, and as the public was distracted by the district’s inept response to the Crystal Barton/McKinley scandal, and the District Attorney’s response to the bungled handling of reported sexual abuse at school 67.
On the bright side, after two years of trying, ResulTech now has literally nowhere to go but up when it comes to producing improved results for 8th grade math.
May 20, 2008
High School Principals to Williams: Get Out of Town
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.
May 16, 2008
James Williams Withdraws From the Running in Memphis
“It wouldn’t be fair to the children, ” said Buffalo Schools Superintendent James A. Williams, announcing this afternoon that he had withdrawn his name from consideration for a job as head of the Memphis schools. Upon reflection, Williams said—pulling out the regal first-person plural—”Our greatest achievements are here, in Buffalo. We’ve had a very good three years.”
Williams had been due to interview for the job in Memphis on Monday, May 19. That would have been the formal interview; he’d already done a phone interview, which landed him among the finalists. As Jamie Moses wrote in AV this week, Williams trolled for jobs in other cities while he was superintendent of Dayton schools, too. He said at today’s press conference that Buffalo was it for him; that he’s made a commitment. Moses’ article indicates that he’s said that before as well.
Williams was joined at the press conference by senior staff and the five school board members who seem to think he can do no wrong: Mary Ruth Kapsiak, Vivian Evans, Chris Jacobs, Florence Johnson, and Pamela Perry-Cahill. The four who tend to challenge Williams and his steamrolling style—Ralph Hernandez, Lou Petrucci, Catherine Nugent Panepinto, and Catherine Collins—were absent.
Williams’ performance was recently evaluated by the board, and the overall score he received—comprising an average of the individual scores given him by each board member—was reportedly pretty good. (Of course, it was an average, and there has been some grumbling that dissenting opinions never made it into his final evaluation.)
Did that vote of confidence, asked Channel 2’s Rich Kellman, figure into his decision to stick around?
“I’ve always had the confidence of the board,” Williams said. “When I say ‘the board,’ I mean the majority.”
May 8, 2008
Williams Interviewed for Memphis Job
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…)
