Thursday, July 12, 2012

"Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage." H.L. Mencken


If Somehow you are still unaware of the Green Acres styled communal insanity that seems to be gripping the B-lo Ed scene by its windpipe let's see if I can get us up to speed in a quick paragraph :


Starting out with The Girrrrlfriend's EduBlog aka Da School Zone of da B-Lo Nooze, we have a professional, and, on occasion, quite adept journalist who introduces our new quarter million dollar Harvard PhD'd Superintendent as "Pam Brown." She goes on to mention "Judy" Eliot,  the Educatrix Extraordinaire sent our way courtesy of NYSED's "unfunded mandate in the form of a persona non grata," as described by Calvados in the comment section who then concedes "I have now seen it all." Amen to that.  If we are paying for these PhD's then let's get every penny out of Dr.s Brown and Eliot and save the chummy first name bit for the bonfire or nail party. Equally baffling was last week's dismissal of "Debbie" Buckley by the Board  (and her GlamorShotz firing pic below) 


who refused to say why exactly they voted as they did but a few of them leaked out little remarks implying Buckley had been caught stealing money. Ironic too that she is said to be cooperating with the Federales in their investigation yet she is not the object of it. Anyone talk to Mark Frazier lately ? Last we heard he and "Debbie" were locked in a game of hot potato with an 80K check from the Tower Fund. According to the News  :

School Board President Louis J. Petrucci in July said the district’s legal counsel, Brendan P. Kelleher, had asked Buckley to sign an affidavit saying Frazier had not asked her to sign the check over.Buckley refused to sign such an affidavit, Cambria said.“She was, in fact, asked to sign something that was not accurate and refused to do so,” Cambria said. “[An affidavit] that was accurate was supplied to them. Then, shortly after, she was suspended.

Anyway, with "Debbie" getting fired and "Pam" getting hired I guess it's only fair that "Judy's" deal appears to be mired. Yes the state has selected a person who was bought out of her EDU CEO gig in LA City Schools after abolishing homework and generally pissing off all the wrong people. She was a keynote speaker at a Charter Schools conference though, sports a spiky wacky hairdo and apparently goes by "Judy" not "Dr. Eliot." Well here's the rub for Judy. She was essentially recommended as an expert by NYSED who all but openly loathe Buffalo. Her role is as murky as her payscale, which, come to think of it isn't all that murky, it's steady at zero. The Sisters are in no mood to go negotitating a deal with this lady whom nobody even wants and apparently would only spend a week or so a month here in between all of her various other consulting gigs. I am saying lock her up fast, her one week a month beats the shit outta James Williams time in Buffalo. As it stands according to her lawyer there are no contract negotiations ongoing. Maybe don't go looking at Spaulding Lake just yet Judy, not sure there's going to be any deal if you gather my drift. 

And before I forget Buffalo's foremost expert on the failure of middle class whites to teach poverty stricken children of Buffalo Rod Watson has weighed in at long last on the Stupority Sisters of the Buffalo Board of Ed. No Rod doesn't say the new Super wasn't chosen because she is black. Even Rod knows better than that. He uses his ten foot keyboard to steer clear of that landmine. Instead he gloats that Carl Paladino's lawsuit got tossed. Rod is quick to remind us of all the looney business that came out of candidate Paladino but strangely he is unable to pump up the sisters or defend them in their crusade to seat yet another black Superintendent. No Rod can't say a damned good thing about them because he'd be sued for libel. They have no case, no credibility and they face no level of accountability from anyone in spite of their rabid raced tainted support of James Williams as he ran the Buffalo Schools into the ditch. We are all expected to forget how they defended him and how they took advantage of his free conferences for some policy and how bitter they must have been when Amber Dixon grounded all flights and cancelled all room reservations. So poor old Rod is left to ask how many black managers Carl has at Ellicott Development in a desperate attempt to focus on Paladino's flaws because he knows he can't admit in writing to the Stupority's track record of backing losers until the last dog is hung.   Yes another zany day in the B-Lo EdScene. 

6 comments:

  1. The state appoints "Judy" but we have to pay her?! Are you freaking kidding me? And for all this we'll get maybe one week of her time each month? I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

    I think she should make the same salary as our BOE members...next to nothing.

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  2. School, I think this is the one time I am happy to have the blind squirrels on the B of E. The nut they are going to find is the the one where they just flatly refuse to negotiate a contract with Dr. Eliot. After all they are still trying to impress Dr, Brown with how much cash they can throw at her. Anything they give to Eliot is money they would rather give to Brown and if it means giving Eliot nothing then so be it. I won't even mention the ugly elephant in the room here either, the fact that Judy Eliot is the wrong color for the Stupority's seal of approval. Oh wait I just did. Damn. Can NYSED take action against them for dissing their appointee? Seems like a stretch but I find it funny they are openly dissing this woman and NYSED in their intransigence. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago our esteemed Board member Sharon Bettman Cottmann was raging about the way the BTF and others walked out on John King as he tried to speak and how badly this was going to hurt Buffalo ? I guess it's only an issue when teachers do it not when an entire Board does it.

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  3. In a conversation with sister dear several years ago, I said that I didn't care if they wanted a black superintendent since Buffalo is a minority district, but couldn't they at least find a good one? Sister dear's answer was that there is no such thing regardless of race. Sadly, I think she's right. The whole story now seems to be about agendas. Boards of ed have them, superintendents have them, underlings in city hall have them and not a one revolves around really doing anything for kids to achieve. It's about money and power, getting and hanging on to them while watching the district circle the bowl. Surprisingly, Hamburg finds itself in almost as crazy a situation as Buffalo with conflicting agendas spiraling out of control and the kids losing in a big way. Springville may have some of the same issues and it would be interesting to see how many more boards are in the same shape.

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  4. My compadre Chris lives in Springville and teaches in Hamburg, he has the worst of both worlds.

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  5. Pineapple PrincessJuly 13, 2012 at 1:40 PM

    Oh, this is getting SSOOO good! Both your blog and the Board of Ed situation. Did anyone catch the Board Ladies (and Ralph!) travel agenda? It's all there in the Board minutes. They are planning trips to Atlanta, Indianapolis, and (ta da!) San Diego in April. Let the feasting and shopping begin.... Amber's seat was barely cooled and the ink's not yet dry on Pam's contract signature, but they got themselves some travel swag.

    In terms of Judy's imminent arrival, I put her visit in the same category as one from Dr. John King (can I call you John? or Jack?) and any of the other State Ed Reform agents. They are kind of akin to the Asian Carp coming to the great lakes. BEWARE! From today's News: "A new report says the introduction of fewer than 20 Asian Carp could set off a spawning spree that could forever change the Great Lakes' ecosystem". Let's just hope they (the edubloviators) don't start spawning.

    And finally, looky,looky! There's a meeting Saturday about East and Waterfront being stolen by our local charter school carp(s?). AND, wait for it, there is a WEBSITE you can visit! http:eastwaterfrontblog.com. And on this website, the Chameleons of the Chameleon Community Schools Project (more google fun)have the nerve to say that this is a "community driven educational effort"! Yes, a "community" of a handful of local charter leaders who will use large wads of DFER money to convince the naive parents at East and Waterfront that converting these schools to charters will be just what the Doctor ordered. Dr John King, that is, and his merry band of Albany charter advocates. And NOW we know where Sam Radford and his girl Friday, Hannya, have been hiding.
    Teachers should be out in droves at this little charter meetup. Funny how this is all happening in the summer when teachers are somewhat scattered. Yes?

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  6. Another case of the charter school sleight of hand they are obliged to use everywhere they go. Like those desperate Hello Muddah Hello Fadduh missives we read the other day pouring out of that charter school madrassa Wretch for America or Teach for Pennies, or whatever the hell they call themselves sending these terrified undertrained kids out to teach stuff they know nothing about and calling them failures as part of the breaking down process. You know the military and Coach Norman Dale in "Hoosiers" use the break down/build up process to achieve their missions. Sadly the charterians only know the break down part and they skip the entire build up that comes afterwards. Really though if they DID build these kids back up the kids would figure them out for the low down shitheel mofos they are and skeedaddle.

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