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.

A story in Tuesday’s Buffalo News says that State Education Commissioner Richard P. Mills has called for the Buffalo Schools to investigate many of the charges anonymously made by a former McKinley High School Teacher. (Read the Artvoice story here.) Investigation into some of the charges such as Regents Exam fraud will be made in Albany, but Mills wants a report on the district’s internal investigation by April 18.

Here’s the original letter we posted first on Artvoice.com on March 7, sent by school board member Ralph Hernandez to Mills, the superintendent and the school board: artvoice-mckinley.jpg or artvoice-mckinley1.pdf

That puts a lot of pressure on Mark Frazier (lead community superintendent), Amber Dixon (executive director of project initiatives), Will Keresztes (associate superintendent for educational services) and district CFO and COO Gary Crosby. After all, there are a lot of people wishing the whole thing would simply go away.

Principally, Crystal Barton, who sent a letter calling for disciplinary action against Hernandez, dated March 12: barton-letter.jpg or c-barton-letter.pdf.

It’s interesting to note that I originally filed a FOIL requesting a copy of this letter via email from schools spokesman Stefan Mychajliw and schools legal counsel Kelly Eisenried on March 13. On March 31, Eisenried replied that she was unaware of any such document. By that time, it had become available from many sources, including LSlisz at Buffalo Schools, who had emailed it to me on March 20. I sent that copy back to Eisenried, telling her the letter I was requesting looked just like the one I was sending her, attached in the email. Now that I’ve shown her the letter I was requesting from her, I’ve not heard back.

The day after Barton sent that letter, the following was sent to the superintendent, board members, and Mills by local NAACP head Frank B. Messiah on March 13: naacp.jpg or naacp.pdf.

There’s lots of pressure on all the investigators involved to do the right thing.