School board considers resolution to end contract it extended in June

In June of this year, the Buffalo Board of Education voted to extend a $1.7 million contract to Maryland company ResulTech, “to continue on-going technical support at Academy School 44.” The contract was prepared by Will Keresztes, Associate Superintendent for Educational Services, and recommended by both Chief Academic Officer Folasade Oladele and Superintendent James A. Williams.

The school board cast a controversial vote at the time. Even though the State Education Department was about to issue its report on the school, board members Mary Ruth Kapsiak, Catherine Collins, Vivian Evans, Florence Johnson, and Pamela D. Perry-Cahill went ahead and voted to extend the contract. Chris Jacobs, who usually votes in step with the superintendent’s wishes, voted against the contract extension, arguing that the results of the SED report should be considered before approving funding for another year. Nevertheless, he was in the minority and the contract was approved. The city control board then approved it against the wishes of George K. Arthur, and the money continued to flow.

Then the SED report arrived, sharply critical of ResulTech.

Now, Perry-Cahill has drafted a resolution which, by the time you read this, will in all likelihood have been voted on at the December 3 school board meeting. Among other things, the resolution says, “Every student deserves the chance at an equal opportunity for learning. The ResulTech program has not met the needs or requirements for our students at the Academy. This is a violation of the contract agreement between the Board of Education and Citadel Group, Inc. t/a ResulTech.”

The resolution asserts that paid (ResulTech) coaches are seldom on the premises or even in the city of Buffalo, that $139,167 is being paid monthly for an unused product, and that the program is supposed to service 300 students while the Academy enrollment is 172 and average attendance is 110.

Further, the resolution states that the money being wasted on ResulTech could be better spent on hiring a counselor, or allowing a living wage to be paid to school food service workers, for example. Attendance teachers or other educators could be hired with the money to assist the alternative school students, who are currently failing, according to test scores.

The resolution concludes: “Be it resolved that monies be refunded to the Board of Education because of false information of usage of the ResulTech program of the prior years. The Board of Education must be a voice for our students and advocate for their education and well-being. Our students’ lives are in our hands and we are obligated to work within our powers to see that each student is treated according to the Buffalo Board of Education’s mission statement that reads ‘putting children and families first to ensure high academic achievement for all.’ The request is fair and is considered a travesty to continue to go un-noticed, overlooked, and more importantly to be resolved before the year ends for 2008.”

It’s a remarkable turnaround for Perry-Cahill, who voted to approve the contract only six months ago. Sure to vote in favor of the resolution are board members Ralph Hernandez, Catherine Nugent Panepinto, Lou Petrucci, and Chris Jacobs—who all voted against the contract in June. That will make the five votes necessary to approve the resolution and end the district’s three-year, misguided association with ResulTech. Such an obvious “no-brainer” should pass unanimously.

But the school board meeting doesn’t start for another hour as we go to press, and if we’ve learned anything it’s that nothing is a sure thing when it comes to the inner workings of our board of education. Should this resolution fail to pass, it will be interesting to see how the dissenting board members attempt to justify such a tragic waste of money and complete disservice to our schoolchildren.

—buck quigley