By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Buffalo schools superintendent Pamela Brown says she saved the district $1 million, but the local newspaper isn’t convinced.

In a recent Buffalo News editorial, the paper takes the relatively new superintendent to task for her opaque management style that seems to defy her own claims. Brown stated she saved Buffalo schools $1 million through changes in the administrative office, but district officials have refused to say how, and the News wants a public explanation.

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“Based on interviews and available information, News reporter Sandra Tan found that the reorganization of staff produced no significant change of personnel in the central office – except for adding many new members,” according to the News op-ed.

“That’s not the usual way administrators save $1 million. Indeed, the appearance is that the staff has become larger and more expensive.”

Buffalo residents have reason to be skeptical of Brown’s leadership, the News opines, and refusing to back up words with proof only makes matters worse.

“Brown shows no interest in letting the public know what is going on in the district. There seems to be no understanding of the need to venture outside the bubble and, by doing so, treating parents and taxpayers with the respect they deserve and simultaneously building trust and support among those constituencies,” according to the News.

“Indeed, under Brown’s leadership the district has struck out in the opposite direction, making secret, improper deals with the teachers union in a devious effort to get around the state’s requirements for producing a teacher evaluation system. Those kinds of maneuvers matter; if they don’t reap a harvest of doubt, they certainly plant the seeds.”

Brown was caught red-handed when she crafted an agreement with the Buffalo Federation of Teachers union that would have ensured that teachers evaluated under a new, more rigorous accountability system couldn’t be fired. The side agreement would have saved the jobs of all teachers rated ineffective for two years.

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We suspect BFT boss Phil Rumore pushed the deal, but “the superintendent and the president of the board (of education) conspired with him,” Carl Paladino, a critic of the district recently elected to the school board, told the Buffalo News.

That secret deal put more than $50 million in state aid in jeopardy, though Brown reneged on the agreement after the governor and state officials intervened.

Of course, the teachers union is doing everything in its power to hold the school district to the side agreement, including taking Brown to court.

The whole mess, in essence, is the product of superintendent’s apparent aversion to transparency, and the Buffalo News has had enough.

The newspaper’s conclusion is simple, and it applies to virtually all public schools:

“If she is to succeed as superintendent, then her supporters on the school board and in the community need to make sure she understands the need to communicate what is happening in the district and, in this case, what she means when she says that she has saved the district $1 million when she expanded the staff,” the News writes.

“Verification, please.”