Today’s Buffalo News features a story about Rev. Darius Pridgen’s plan to convert 998 Broadway into a banquet hall and performing arts facility. We spoke with Pridgen about his plan a few weeks back and we wish him the best in bringing new life to these six acres on Broadway that have been vacant for so many years.

The News story says that until Pridgen came along, “the only serious interest in the structure came from the Buffalo School District. The district had been reviewing plans to renovate the old Kmart building into an alternative school, but that plan has yet to be finalized.”

Yet to be finalized? Not quite. We first wrote about the owners of that real estate last May. ResulTech, the Maryland company that finally lost its contract with the Buffalo Schools after dismally failing the students at Academy School 44 for three years, is the current owner of the property. They bought it in 2007 for $1.25 million with the hope that they could fix it up and lease it back to the school system as the new Alternative school.

That plan has been dead for about two years. Here’s ResulTech President David (Pat) Wright, quoted in Business First in May, 2007 saying “a definitive development plan will be decided in the next few weeks.” Sure it will. In the same article, he envisions the place as a school, a distribution center, or a health care facility. It didn’t really matter to him then, and it doesn’t matter to him now that he’s leaving town in disgrace.

ResulTech made off with $7.1 million dollars from the school district while failing our most at risk students. They simultaneously spent the last couple of years sitting on the “most famous address” in Buffalo, doing nothing to bring it out of its currently blighted state. Let’s hope they don’t drive too hard a bargain with Pridgen.

Remember, ResulTech used $1.25 million of the school district’s money so they could play real estate mogul now.

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…)

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.

Responding to a May 15, 2008 memorandum sent to Albany by Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore, the State Education Department is sending “a team of subject area experts in math, Social studies, reading/English language arts, instructional technology and technology” to Buffalo for two days this week to check up on Academy School 44.

The SED is proposing a “three-fold action plan” to increase student learning at the school. Step one “will include, but not be limited to: observing the teaching and learning process; interviewing school administrators; teachers and non-professionals; and reviewing educational documents.”

Next, curriculum specialists will make specific recommendations for improvements at the school. The third step of the process will take place next school year, when representatives of the team will return to see if their recommendations are being implemented—the aim being to improve student achievement.

Recently, the school received harsh criticism from Rumore, who cited teacher surveys that were critical of ResulTech, the Maryland company that has provided technical support at the school since 2006.

Recently, Artvoice published a pair of stories critical of the fact that although the ResulTech contract was being pushed forward for renewal, the second year of the program had yet to be evaluated.

As the State Education Department arrives in town to look into the matter, we thought it was a good opportunity to take a walk down memory lane by reading the initial ResulTech proposal, circulated by then Associate Superintendent of support services Diane Collier, dated June 8, 2006. (resultech-proposal)

Compare it with the actual contract signed two weeks after that (resultech2006-contract), and compare that one with the current contract, signed and ready to go once it gains school board approval—which it has not yet received, since being pulled off the agenda at the last minute on May 14. (resultech-2008-contract-proposed)

Now, with inspectors from Albany arriving to study the school this week, it seems like a difficult time for the administration and school board to push through the contract extension for ResulTech, which is for $1.7 million dollars next year. The company has already received $5.4 million for the first two years.