Beyond Reproach?

Beyond Reproach?	by Buck Quigley

D’Youville president a questionable choice to lead Superintendent James Williams’s evaluation

This past Monday, both Superintendent James Williams and the Buffalo Public School board submitted their reviews of the superintendent to Sister Denise Roche, president of D’Youville College. Based on these, Roche tabulates the various appraisals and delivers a presentation to the board concerning Williams’s performance over the past year. The overall process wraps up in early June.

Every year this process takes place, and this is the second year Roche has acted as facilitator. Last year, in the wake of some very public scandals, the evaluation did not trigger a raise or a contract extension for the superintendent—as it had in 2007, when lame duck board members voted to extend both a raise and contract extension through 2011 to Williams. That move left some bitter feelings among newly elected board members, who were sworn into their positions after the deed was done.

In order for a raise or extension to be put through, the issue must be introduced either by the school board or the superintendent. Considering the extremely close election recently concluded for three at-large school board seats, wherein the most votes went to a challenger, and the second of three incumbents squeaked by only after a tally of absentee ballots, it’s doubtful any district board members—who are up for re-election next year—will want to go out on a limb advocating for Williams. He could always bring the issue up himself, but it’s unclear—based on comments he made at a school board meeting last week, as well as last year’s aborted bid for the superintendent job in Memphis—if he even wants to remain in Buffalo.

All this prognostication aside, a larger issue remains. On Monday, the board punted on a decision to close schools as mandated by the State Education Department—putting into question some $250 million in state aid that would go toward Phase 5 of the billion-dollar Joint Schools Construction Project.

One of the schools whose fate is in the balance is the popular and successful Leonardo DaVinci High School, which happens to be housed at D’Youville College. DaVinci is considered one of the jewels in the Buffalo Public Schools. Students, parents, and alumni of the school have mounted a strong campaign insisting that it should remain at D’Youville, and not be moved into nearby Grover Cleveland High School. But keeping things the way they are is not free.

According to school district documents, the current annual cost of locating DaVinci at D’Youville is $1.1 million, or $790,000, excluding capital improvements. The lease with the college expires in August 2013, and Roche signed it.

Put another way, the superintendent’s evaluation system is set up in such a way that a school district contractor is in charge of coordinating it. That’s a sticky wicket. Especially when you consider that even the appearance of bias should be avoided in conflict of interest matters.

Nevertheless, board member Catherine Nugent Panepinto took criticism from some of her colleagues Monday night for submitting a letter to Sister Roche, requesting that she remove herself from the process. The letter reads, in part:

I greatly appreciate your willingness to coordinate the evaluation and greatly respect your commitment to education in Buffalo. However, your status as a signatory to a contract with the Board of Education raises a conflict of interest with your role as evaluation coordinator. Interests such as your interest in the contract between D’Youville College and the Board of Education are generally addressed in New York State General Municipal Law § 800, wherein conflicts of interest are defined.

As this issue goes to press, Sister Roche is scheduled to make a summary presentation to the school board at 6pm tonight (Wednesday, May 20), regarding the superintendent’s evaluation. Repeated requests over the past week for comment from her have not been returned.

—buck quigley

Reader Comments

John Szablewski
21 May 2009, 18:09

The Da Vinci price is nothing that the board should be scared about. 1.1 Million a year sounds like a lot, but what you do not know is that the Board pays no upkeep or castodial costs. The College Cleaning staff takes care of Da Vinci's high school. Just because da Vinci doesnt look good on the Board's Excell Spreadsheet, doesn't mean it is too costly. I would like the board to look at all their leases, especially that at WNED where no student is helped by that floor of office space. They are so fast to send us to Grover Cleveland in 2013, but instead of stopping to think about what they are going to do to their most prized school program, they are willing to move it and destroy its identity. I propose that the Board take all of their offices out of City Hall, and all over the city, and place them at Grover. The Buffalo School's could be creative and use what they have.

John Q Blogger
22 May 2009, 00:57

It is not ethical to have a conflict of interest and to ignore questions from the media in a Richard Nixon fashion.

Sister Roche is stone walling transparency once again.

reflip
23 May 2009, 00:12

I think it would be pretty cool if you did an expose on a suburban school district/superintendant. There are many of them and I bet at least one of them has made some pretty fucking bad decisions. Can you please expose some dysfunction outside of the geographic boundaries of the city of Buffalo? If you did, maybe the uncritical masses wouldn't be so fucking quick to move there.

james
23 May 2009, 08:23

Keep on it Buck! It appears you are the only one in the city of Buffalo who cares, shame on the media-if he gets a contract extension there will be lots of people moving to the suburbs. Stay on it!!! What about Alternative School? What about the $7 M? Ressurrect ResulTech, rumor has it it was 4 friends in Maryland who sold the bogus software packet, the business ph was one of the guys home ph. Without an alternative school this district is doomed no matter what they do. By the way, why don't you ask around about his comprehensive construction that is shoddy and full of unusable space that is unsupervisable.

reflip
24 May 2009, 00:17

James,

If people who would otherwise stay in the city move to the suburbs because of the superintendant, then those people are idiots. Outside of that, they would have moved to the suburbs anyway. I think people should just live where the fuck they want to live and stop believing that their kids will get a better education in the suburbs. It isn't true. It's a culturally normative metanarrative. (And, while I don't necessarily expect you to understand that, I do expect the AV staff to understand that.)

If you want to live in the suburbs, then live there. If you want to live in the city, then live there. I'm so fucking tired of this whiny, shallow, self-indulgent, "I wanted to live in the city but the schools..." Well, then you didn't want to live in the city then, did you? There is NOTHING inherently inferior about the education offered in the Buffalo Public Schools.

Mr. Quigley,

Just to clarify, I don't want you to stop your inquisition against Williams. Rather, I just want you to start another one in a suburban district. Just to remind people that "the suburbs" don't have the answers either. Because...they don't. Unless the answer is, "Have a lower percentage of low-income/poverty stricken residents." Enlightening.

Or, how about this: Use your bully pulpit to start advocating for some kind of regional collaborative of District Superintendants. That way the successful suburban superintendants can share their best practices with Williams and maybe he can learn how to do his job better. Wouldn't that be a better solution than "move to teh suburbs"?

For the record I'm not a Williams supporter. I just read what people like James have to say and I realize that the lack of critical thought on this subject is a major impediment to progress.

WNYmind
26 May 2009, 13:47

We demand and EXPOSE on the suburban schools!!! Even the Buffalo News reports on all the rapists and sex offenders in these schools. Wilson HS, that Clarence teacher raping boys in charter schools, etc... etc...

Follow the money Artvoice. Look at the scandals in the suburbs. Look at the budget fraud and the fake contigency budgets. Look at the elections with low turnout in the suburbs (unless you count the teachers and board members voting solo). Look at contracts from schools to family members in the suburbs.

Compare change in test scores in the burbs. Look at teacher credentials. Compare the suburban schools and tax rates to places in other states that produce the same or better results.

Artvoice must do this story. Are you afraid to find out the truth. Are you paid off by the suburban schools.

Also, don't forget the racial dimension. Do the suburbs have minority teachers or should they just not apply? Is it possible for a suburban student to go to school and NEVER have a minority teacher? Is this just perpetuating segregation in WNY?

Don't cop out Artvoice, DO THE STORY, COVER THE NEWS, BREAK THE STORY, PUSH FOR REFORM!!!!!

joe
28 May 2009, 22:50

Buck
Investigate what's being going on (spent on) Harvey Austin.

Beyond Reproach?

by Buck Quigley

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