Voice of Revolution

Remove Lafayette and All Schools from Receivership List

It has been announced that Assembly people Sean Ryan and Crystal Peoples- Stokes are calling on New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia to remove Lafayette High School from its “out of time” status. This would be positive and enable the district to place freshmen at the school. More importantly however, it would not remove Lafayette from state control, in the form of receivership. A press conference is scheduled for Wednesday, August 5 at 2:30 at Lafayette.

It is interesting to note that Ryan and Peoples waited until after Lafayette and 24 other Buffalo schools were taken over by the state and placed in receivership to come forward with this request. And that there is not a similar call to remove other schools, such as Bennett and East, from “out of time” status. It is also the case that both Lafayette and East made progress yet were still arbitrarily placed in receivership. Neither school got their School Improvement Grants (SIG) as promised by the state, so putting them on the “out of time” list in the first place was not legitimate. This history indicates that with its increased receivership powers, the state will no doubt be even more arbitrary and unfair.

The many efforts by students, teachers and parents together over more than a year to stand united in support of redesign plans for Lafayette, Bennett, East and MLK, contributed to the strength of that fight. Indeed, actions since that time have opposed receivership and mayoral control and demanded Public Control of Public Schools as what is needed to raise their quality. To now separate Lafayette from the rest does not assist — indeed it makes it more vulnerable for whatever measures Commissioner Elia and her receiver have in store. What is needed is a united stand to demand Take All 25 Schools Off the Receivership List! It is perhaps because both Peoples-Stokes and Ryan voted in favor of receivership that they are now silent on this crucial issue facing Lafayette, 24 other schools and the district as a whole.

Twenty-five Buffalo schools are under receivership. The receiver has great powers, including control over budget, curriculum, testing, discipline, length of school day and year, hiring and firing and more. The receiver can fire the principal and all the teachers and staff of these schools. Imagine the chaos and disruption for students and all concerned. He can also impose separate “receiver agreements” on each school, basically removing them from the district. If teachers and staff oppose lowering standards and working conditions and vote no to an agreement, the Commissioner can impose it anyway.

Receivership is designed in part to start disintegrating the district. The power of parents, students and teachers is weakened as those at each school are separated from the district, using the “receiver agreement.” Teaching conditions, which are learning conditions, will be worsened. The public, as a united district-wide public, is to be split and weakened. Indeed, the Commissioner has put forward that among the barriers receivership is intended to address are: governance (elected school boards replaced with appointed receivers); school leadership and staffing (principals like Naomi Cerre of Lafayette who fight for students); collective bargaining (contracts eliminated using individual “receiver agreements); and parent and community engagement.

It is also the case that both have waited until after Principal Naomi Cerre was unjustly terminated. She fought hard for students, teachers and staff at Lafayette, including getting more translators for some of the main languages spoken by students at the school — which is about 70 % English Language Learners. Principal Cerre has also played an important role in opposing the various attacks on all Buffalo schools, speaking out at rallies, opposing receivership and joining the call for Public Control of Public Schools. She also involved the community in developing Lafayette’s redesign plans, which were rejected by the board and the state. She is known as a fighter and one we the public say must remain at Lafayette!

Receivership means all the principals like Cerre can be fired without cause, as can the teachers resisting. It is a means to keep parents, teachers and students from standing together. It is a means to block the drive of all those fighting for the equal right to education to be the decision makers — this is what is needed. Enhancing and expanding democracy is key, not imposing the dictate of the Commissioner and receiver.

Remove Lafayette and All Schools from Receivership List!
Keep Principal Cerre and No Firing Without Cause!
Refuse Receivership! Our Schools, We Decide!

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An Open Letter to Superintendent Brown and the School Board on Receivership

From a Public Speaker at School Board Meetings

Now that state Education Commissioner Elia has determined that 25 Buffalo Public Schools will be taken over by a receiver, you, members of the school board and Interim Superintendent Brown have important decisions to make. You can submit to receivership and the chaos, uncertainty and disruption it will impose, or you can join in refusing. You can submit saying it is the law and nothing can be done, or you can, as an elected board, represent those who elected you and reject this brutal attack on your powers. I urge you to stand with the public and refuse. Recognize, as those who battled for civil rights, and women’s rights, and immigrant rights have, that when injustice is law, resistance is duty.

No evidence has been presented by the state that receivership serves to raise the quality of public schools. No evidence exists that firing teachers, principals and staff, which necessarily also causes hardship on students and parents, solves any problem. Indeed it necessarily lowers the quality of education, as it removes consistency, experience, and love of teaching that a stable, coherent teaching staff provides. There is nothing to say that after firing teachers and rehiring only 50 percent of them, that the receiver will then turn to inexperienced people like the uncertified college graduates with Teach for America, or even decide non-certified teachers are acceptable. After all, the receiver dictates qualifications for the jobs.

Certainly, the powers given to the receiver to fire everyone and force them re-apply were included so they would be used. And in case there is doubt, the Commissioner’s regulations state that one measure of school improvement will be “the degree to which the superintendent has successfully utilized the powers of a school receiver…” How can such upheaval in staffing and for students give rise to improvement within one year?! I urge Interim Superintendent Brown to refuse such measures. I urge Brown and the board to instead join in efforts to reject receivership and enable the public to decide.

At a recent school board meeting, the public once again put forward some of its solutions to existing problems. These included providing music for all students and fighting for the state funding required for this. It included exposing that the so-called “data” for “improvement” are seriously flawed and do not provide an accurate picture of the quality and character of a given school, its principals and staff. Comments from and about South Park High, on the “persistently struggling” list, made this clear. Indeed, the data and preoccupation with quantity serves to hide the quality of education and staff and what is needed to raise it.

The demand to empower parents rather then disempowering them, as receivership does, was also made. It is well-known that parent involvement plays a crucial role in raising the quality of schools. Yet apart from including a few parents appointed to the Community Engagement Teams, receivership serves to undermine parent participation and greatly limit it. Parents already have numerous ways to consult and do not need yet one more. What is needed is actual power to decide, to play their role with teachers and staff as a decisive part of educating our youth.

Instead of submitting, I urge you to refuse. Take a public stand against receivership, in writing and at board meetings. Pass a resolution that speaks to why receivership is anti-democratic and harmful, or at least put one forward for the public benefit. Call for the Buffalo City Charter, which calls for elected governance of the public schools, to be upheld. Join the efforts being organized to Refuse Receivership! Stand up as elected officials and representatives of the public schools for Public Control of Public Schools!

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