B-Lo Prepares to Welcome Geppetto and Spinocchio

People in B-Lo are Going to Be Hard on the Beaver

No surprise Lil John and Old Bob are trying to do an end run on facing the music here in B-Lo. King has always managed to say something snotty or just rude in his visits here and he really should never play cards for money since he has no capacity for hiding his inner snark. Old Bob thinks he's on his home turf which he is --  geographically -- but in terms of the damage his policies are doing to kids and teachers and parents he may as well be walking into the Cleveland Dawg Pound wearing a Roethlisberger jersey. John King and Bob Bennett are not welcome in Buffalo. If you look at the barbed wire, broken glass, alligator pits and landmines they've planted to keep Buffalonians from getting at them the way folks did in other places around the state, it's pretty clear they would rather be spitting on pedestrians from one of Meryl's balconies than facing the mongol hordes here.

While King and friends have been totally inaccessible to other parent groups who've requested an audience they were only too happy to accommodate Sam Radford of the DPCC. This group, run out of Radford's back pocket, claims to be the voice of parents of kids in Buffalo Schools. It's Radford's voice and a few of his homies don't let anyone kid you.  Parent complaints especially from white parents all run along the lines of being excluded, not being informed of events and activities etc. etc. etc. It's not for all parents, just the ones who agree with Sam and/or hang with him. They align themselves with the local Ed Reform group here started by the perky and loveable Katie Campos who has recently announced plans to leave the Cuomoshpere for law school. At 27 she was Cuomo's most senior person in that illustrious cadre of yuppies who'd never be caught dead teaching or taking ed courses but feel totally qualified to write policy and direct educational practices with the deep insights they've gained studying Sociology and Poli Sci. Radford aligns with them because they are Buffalo School and Buffalo teacher hostile. They are also virulently anti union. Radford is only too happy to lock arms with them on their little marches around the BTF offices. They hold little forums where they all look terribly somber and oppressed and when Radford leaves they chuckle about their own private educations and what a shitty operation public schools are. He is no dummy though and knows a money cache when he smells one so staying close to DFER money and the other various sources of baksheesh this bunch bumps elbows with could come in handy for Sammy the Moocher. To the surprise of nobody Radford will actually be moderating this event with a WNED person. It's kind of the way Washington takes a CEO from a mining company and puts him in charge of mine safety on the federal level. You can pretty much tell which way the direction of the discussion by the way it's being framed.

As I predicted these two did themselves no favors by trying to hide from the people they've affected with their obnoxious over testing, their warped speed Common Core immersion and their absolute refusal to listen to any of the firestorm of criticism they've created. People are frustrated, they are pissed off and they are tired of public servants acting like Masters of the Universe. These two don't think their job is to serve anyone but themselves and their corporate masters. The rest of us beg to differ and some of use will be reminding Old Bob in front of his house tomorrow in Tonawanda that he is a servant, not a master and he needs to stop dictating and start serving. Arrogance will always bite you in the ass in the end. Tomorrow Bob's going to get bit in the ass for his arrogance and it won't be pleasant. Here is what's floating around the interwebs these days:



Philip Rumore, President, BTF
Dec 7 (1 day ago)

to me 

MEMO TO:     All Buffalo Teachers 

FROM:             Philip Rumore, President, BTF

RE:                    National Day of Action 


Please wear blue on Monday, December 9 to commemorate the National Day of Action in support of public education. 

BTF, along with parents, will also be picketing the home of New York State Regent Robert Bennett on Monday, December 9th, from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. to protest the over-testing of students. His home is located at 201 Millwood Drive, Town of Tonawanda (North on Niagara Falls Blvd. to Greenhaven Terrace, west on Greenhaven Terrace, right on Evergreen, 2nd left is Millwood).

Please have a representative from your school attend. We hope to have a representative from each school there. 

Well now there's something we can sink our teeth into. This is what's been so long overdue in our struggle, the actual return fire on these people who think nothing of sending our kids home swamped in pointless stupid homework, of stressing out our teachers over meaningless data and making our parents wonder if it's time to look into homeschooling. This shit comes straight into OUR HOUSES and OUR LIVES every goddamned day. I say it's high time some of it makes its way into their afternoon, their routines, their dinner table talk and their attempts to go to sleep at night. Picketing Bob Bennett in his own castle where he lives and eats and sleeps in exactly how this thing should go. When people discussed picketing King's house a while back it was quickly shouted down out of concern for his kids, not wanting to upset them or traumatize them I guess. At the time I agreed but now I am not so sure. It's the trauma to OUR kids that's motivating many of us to act. Maybe John King needs to understand what this feels like to make him act.