As this issue goes to press, the outgoing Buffalo School Board is meeting behind closed doors tonight at City Hall, where the agenda will include extending the contract of Superintendent James Williams. Williams, whose current contract runs through July 2008, is being brought up for a raise by the largely lame-duck school board.

Why? And why now? Because there’s a chance the four new incoming members of the school board, who were elected on May 1 but don’t take office until July 1, might oppose such a move.

The current board has been in near total lock-step with the Superintendent, whose recent list of accomplishments includes maintaining a long running standoff with teachers, swearing at critics, siding with students who assaulted a teacher before escorting the offenders back to class, taking over the Foundation for Arts and Athletics in Buffalo and changing its name to the Buffalo Public Schools Foundation (a private not for profit corporation that leverages money from corporations but refuses to share its financial information with the public), responding to an embarrassing State audit from the Albany Comptroller’s office that concluded the district couldn’t account for over six-million dollars worth of work done (or not done) by the Center for Applied Technology in Education and by the Education Innovations Consortium—groups affiliated with SUNY at Buffalo—and being generally combative toward print media outlets that don’t charge a cover price, among other things. It’s also worth noting that student test scores fell this year under Williams’ firm guidance.

Meanwhile, The Buffalo News quotes outgoing board member Jack Coyle: “A majority of the board feels [Williams] has done a stellar job.”

So stellar, in fact, that he should be rewarded with an extension through 2010 that would guarantee his job through the duration of the new incoming board members’ first terms. It would also pay him $205,000 a year and supply him with some other fun perks. Like what? Like a credit card worth $25,000 that he doesn’t have to pay back. Like 11 weeks of vacation and a free car complete with chauffeur.

This is all being rushed through by departing officials while eight different unions, including teachers, continue to work under contracts that expired two years ago.

Incoming school board member Catherine Nugent-Panepinto, has concerns. While she notes the Superintendent’s good works, she questions the need to renew the contract before the new members have a chance to move in. “I can’t speak for anyone else but I think it inappropriate at this time. Even if Dr. Williams were doing a perfect job, it is the wrong time and message to this community to extend his contract. It is a slap in the face to every teacher, firefighter and police officer to grant Dr. Williams an extension when no-one else is able to be so granted.”

Similarly, new board member Pamela Cahill says, “We are the ones coming in who will have to work with this individual—what is the need for the extension? The existing contract already runs through 2008. So what’s the hurry? Is there something that we should know about?”

There could be, Ms. Cahill, but if the outgoing board extends his contract you will be powerless to vote on the Superintendent’s contract for the duration of your first three-year term.