Artvoice: Buffalo's #1 Newsweekly
Home Blogs Web Features Calendar Listings Artvoice TV Real Estate Classifieds Contact
Previous story: The Modern Business Method
Next story: Space for Improvement

The Privateers

On February 12, Artvoice received a press release from former WGRZ-TV investigative reporter Stefan Mychajliw, who now serves as Special Assistant to the Superintendent of the Buffalo Public School District, Dr. James Williams.

The press release, entitled “District Wins Important Court Ruling,” refers to the Buffalo Public School District’s appeal of State Supreme Court Judge John A. Michalek’s January 25, 2007 decision in which Michalek declared that the terms of a 2006 request for proposals to supply the district with athletic uniforms were “impermissibly vague in part and any applicant’s hope of being found to be the lowest responsible bidder is contingent upon participation in the scheme whereby exclusivity (of) a contract was conditional upon payment of compensation to the district.”

In passing, the February 12 dispatch from Mychajliw notes that the Appellate Division “dismissed the petition on procedural grounds.”

More precisely, the State Supreme Court ruling was reversed because the original notice of petition listed Jim Ludtka Sporting Goods, Inc. against City of Buffalo School District and Dr. James A. Williams, in his capacity as Superintendent of Schools for the City of Buffalo School District. Because the petition called for the nullification of the school district’s deal with AdPro Sports (the company that had been awarded the contract), the State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department, ruled unanimously that AdPro should have been included in the list of respondents-appellants. This technicality decided the appeal before the case was heard. Judge Michalek’s ruling was automatically reversed.

Thus, the “victory” keeps in place the District’s six-year uniform contract with AdPro. The press release continues: “…students will continue to wear the highest quality sporting uniforms manufactured by Nike, and the District will receive the best value for the money. Prior to the competitive bidding process that resulted in the AdPro contract, Ludtka enjoyed an exclusive, no-bid arrangement with the District for many years charging the District higher prices than those charged by AdPro.”

Andy Fleming, Ludtka’s lawyer, is planning some sort of appeal to let his clients have their day in court without being thrown out on a technicality. He also objects to characterizing Ludtka’s previous relationship with the district as a “no-bid arrangement.” This, he claims, is untrue.

In any case, what is most interesting about Mychajliw’s press release are the things that aren’t said about the contract between AdPro and the Buffalo schools. For one thing, there were only two bidders on the RFP, AdPro being one of them. Ludtka did not submit a bid, choosing instead to protest the fairness of the RFP in court.

What they objected to was a section of the RFP termed “Evaluation” that reads as follows: “Once proposals are submitted, the District Committee shall evaluate the following criteria, but give no specific amount of weight to any one item.” The items are listed as: Exclusive Rights Compensation, Product Pricing, Customer Service, Community Service, Additional Compensation, and Product Line & Quality.

This is the language that was ruled to be “impermissibly vague” by Judge Michalek.

I first asked Buffalo Schools CFO Gary Crosby to explain this to me back in the spring of 2007. He sent me the RFP with a note explaining that, although Ludtka chose not to bid, he was including a price comparison between AdPro’s Nike uniforms and Ludtka’s uniforms manufactured by Sports Belle, the company that had made the uniforms worn by the city’s teams for many years.

While it was not particularly compelling to discover that AdPro’s uniform prices were cheaper than Ludtka’s old quotes—in large part because Crosby was comparing garments made by two different manufacturers—the devil really popped up in the additional notes at the bottom of the chart. Among other things, AdPro “offered a donation to the foundation of 17.5k per year for 6 years.”

The foundation being referred to is the Buffalo Public Schools Foundation.

Things change

When Dr. James Williams was named Superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools, one of the first things on his agenda was to revamp the Foundation for Arts and Athletics in Buffalo (FAAB). Meetings were held, and the grassroots board of the old foundation, which was made up of concerned and enthusiastic parents and education supporters, was assured that their programs would continue on under the new order. They could also retain two seats on the new board, Dr. Williams agreed, offering a handshake as assurance.

At the time, FAAB was bringing in around $40,000 in donations annually. Not a huge amount by public not-for-profit standards, but what came in always got spent. Part of their goal was to run FAAB with full transparency and accountability. That was why the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo handled their funds.

Those who sat on the board of FAAB directed money toward things like the Buffalo Select Chorus, a citywide high school choral group that requires an audition to join. The goal for singers who make the cut is to perform in a year-end concert and receive a professional recording of the group, which they can then use in the college application process.

On March 13, 2006, that changed. The majority of the old board members was replaced and the name of the entity was officially changed from the Foundation for Arts and Athletics in Buffalo to the Buffalo Public Schools Foundation with the signature of Robert Fleming Jr., an attorney at Hodgson Russ, one of only two individuals to remain on the board of the new foundation.

Daniel Boscarino, head of human resources at M&T Bank, was named president of the new Buffalo Public Schools Foundation. Superintendent Williams became vice president. The treasurer of the foundation is Buffalo Public School Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Gary Crosby. Sundra Rice serves as secretary. Her qualifications include being president and CEO of SLR Contracting and Service Company, a firm she certified with the US Small Business Administration as a disadvantaged minority business enterprise operating in a designated HUBZone. SLR is part of the Ciminelli construction team overseeing the $1 billion schools reconstruction project.

According to the foundation’s 2006 tax return, there are seven other board members who don’t hold a title and list “0” as the average number of hours per week they devote to their positions. They are: Donald Boswell (WNED), Muriel Howard (Buffalo State College), William Mariani (formerly of ECC), Kathleen Rizzo Young (HSBC), Ann Laba Supernalt (FAAB board member), and Hormose (sic) Mansouri (E.I. Team, Inc.).

It’s possible that some of these board members have changed since the foundation’s 2006 tax return was filed. But it’s very difficult to get any kind of information about the Buffalo Public Schools Foundation. I have been told by no less an authority than Gary Crosby that the foundation is immune to Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests. While the foundation does have a Web address (buffaloschoolsfoundation.org), it is still not functional two years into the existence of the organization.

On and off over the past year I’ve tried many approaches to get information about the good works the foundation might be involved in. Surely there must be some things that should be trumpeted proudly from the highest rooftops, I believed. My faith began to waver as I read recent email replies from Crosby and Mychajliw. After first asking me what kind of a story I was writing, I was supplied a bunch of vague and unsatisfactory answers. I sent the answers back, seeking more specifics. I told them both I was giving them the opportunity to take a re-test.

That provoked the following response from Mychajliw: “I’m concerned about your tone, quite frankly, and some of the comments you made concerning the Foundation.” Crosby was also touchy: “Again, I don’t appreciate Buck’s sarcasm and what now appears to be a threat.”

Secrecy begets suspicion

A quick Web search under the broad terms “public school foundation” shows that there are many such groups out there, across the country. They all explain who and what they are, champion their good deeds toward schoolchildren, and, importantly, offer visitors the opportunity to donate in support of the foundation. I found several that include in their donor lists businesses like local car dealerships and restaurants as well as generous individuals.

Here are a few, chosen at random: Irvine Public Schools Foundation (www.ipsf.net), Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation (www.okckids.com), Denver Public Schools Foundation (www.dpsfoundation.org).

It could be that the Buffalo Public School Foundation isn’t so much interested in the peanuts that might trickle in from ordinary citizens’ donations, however. Sure, every little bit helps, but once people start giving money, then they get this sense of entitlement and start nosing around and getting all up in the foundation’s business. Better to stick with the big fish that are happy to cut a check and move on.

But how do you attract those kind of donors when you don’t even have a Web site? Why don’t we look at the list of donors ($5,000 and up) from the Buffalo Public School Foundation’s 2006 tax return, and see what we can learn.

Margaret Wendt Foundation—$100,000

Buffalo Coca Cola Bottling, Inc.—$67,500*

Laidlaw Educational Services—$50,000*

Redline Recovery—$20,540

Johnson Controls—$20,000*

Erie I Boces—$15,000

Voyager—$10,000*

Sopris West Inc., Cambium Learning—$10,000*

The Administrative Assistants LTD.—$10,000*

Harcourt Inc.——$10,000*

CORE—$5,000*

Buffalo Sabres Foundation—$5,000

Houghton-Mifflin Company—$5,000*

McDougall-Littell—$5,000*

The Princeton Review—$5,000*

The asterisks indicate donors who are also vendors to the Buffalo Public School District.

When I called these contributors, I was often told without even asking that the money they gave had nothing to do with the fact that they do business with the Buffalo School District. Some didn’t even know that the money they gave went to a foundation and just assumed it went to the district directly. Others said it was common to give money to districts and foundations—as long as it had nothing to do with them being a vendor. They were all at pains to explain away what can be viewed as the appearance of impropriety.

When asked, Pepsi, who did not win the pouring rights contract to sell their products in Buffalo schools, would not tell me why they wouldn’t support the foundation while their competitor Coca Cola did. I suggested that Coke must care more about kids than Pepsi does. My contact there simply laughed.

The major donors to the foundation appear to account for $338,040 of the $376,494 the foundation claims to have raised in 2006. Since contributions smaller than $5,000 can remain anonymous, we can guess that close to $40,000 came in this fashion. Mychajliw says that much of that amount came from friends of the late Robert Rich Sr., who donated in memory of the local businessman. Recently, the refurbished All-High Stadium was renamed in honor of Rich.

What did the foundation spend money on in 2006? $13,735 went to professional fundraising fees, $225 on postage and shipping, $43 on printing and publications, $63,558 was spent on conferences, conventions and meetings, and $14,641 went to purchase approximately 200 cheerleading uniforms for 10 high schools.

Of the $63,558 spent on conferences, conventions and meetings, $50,046 was spent on an academic retreat “held to build professional capacity and relationships to aid in the success of the District’s Three Year Achievement Plan.” The three-day retreat was attended by staff, board members and the superintendent. The keynote speaker was Dr. Rosa Smith, President and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education.

The Buffalo Select Chorus, one of the main projects of FAAB, the former foundation, did not receive a dime. The old board members soldiered on with a little public support and in-kind help from Righteous Babe, who offer the use of Babeville for rehearsals and the big concert, as well as Mark Recording Studios, who donated time and facilities and made the CD of the chorus a reality for another year.

Imagine

The Buffalo Public Schools Foundation has managed to produce one flyer, which was provided to me in an effort to explain the overall goal of the foundation. (It presumably accounts for the $43 in printing costs the foundation reported on its tax return.) It reads, in part: “Imagine a gift that could: Challenge a future Einstein. Send an aspiring flutist to Juilliard. Mentor the next Picasso. Train an Olympian.”

While it’s hard to see how funding a staff retreat and buying 200 cheerleading uniforms has moved the foundation toward these lofty goals, I’ve been told that in the past year they spent an additional $80,000 on more uniforms. More specifics won’t be made available until its 2007 tax return is filed several months from now. Gary Crosby has also told me that the foundation’s income was $275,000 in 2007, but he wouldn’t break down the names of and amounts given by any contributors.

It’s possible that, as Crosby says, the initial goal of the foundation was to raise money for the first couple of years. But that time is now up, and they are sitting on half a million dollars. It should be exciting to see how that money is applied.

Great things could still come of this secretive public 501c3 organization run by the district’s superintendent and CFO. A good start would be investing in a Web site to establish some kind of communication with the outside world, where the children of one of the nation’s poorest cities await the benefits of all that money raised in their names.