Kriner's Shuffling.....

Superintendent Kriner Cash has been busy this week. And it looks pretty bad from my point of view. Rather than taking time to learn about the district, find out what's working, and where work needs to be done, he jumped right into the deep end and I don't know if he even knows how to swim.

On Thursday his cabinet was announced and he made it up of the same wood that has been used before without much success. A few new faces are in the mix as he kowtowed to both sides of the school board in picking his cabinet members, but we've read this story before. We know the characters and the actors, and quite frankly, nobody's impressed. For someone that promised “bold action,” we have… milquetoast. The same old same old. The same people that have disrespected teachers and their union in the past are back. And the teachers are going to have confidence in them because?

Kriner tries to defend the choices by saying that the people he chose are not known well. In his four (that's 4) months being here he really knows them, has seen them work, and wants to “heal” them. (Is he a school superintendent or a psychologist?) I have worked with teachers for 10 years and I still don't know some of them, though from the students I hear both good and bad. (We have a teacher that should really lay off the Red Bull and other energy drinks and another that the students wish would leave their religion at home.) How is Superintendent Cash going to judge their abilities for sensitive positions in such a short period of time? 

 I feel a real urge to read the Peter Principle right now.

There are a few principled members of the board that voted against the cabinet for sound reasons – former superintendent candidates that were rejected for good reasons (being pawns of Carl PalidiNO, too hostile to teachers, former school board members, etc). And the students and parents of Buffalo should thank them. Barbara Nevergold and Sharon Belton-Cottman deserve thanks and praise for their principled stand.

And the overhaul of the schools under receivership. The data that the district office has is nowhere near a complete picture of why those schools are struggling. That information is a black and white photograph of a rainbow after a summer shower. Those reports highlight school grades and attendance. They tell him nothing about the student's home life – Do they have a home? What is its condition? Do they have a steady source of income and food? Health care? And so on. The social issues issues that impact education so much more than anyone wants to admit.. Receivership is going to explode in a bad way. But who will be blamed for the failure? The leadership? Or will it go beyond trickling down?

In the district where I work we recently had a new superintendent come in and the first thing he did was a series of needs assessments with the entire administration, faculty and staff, the students, and the community. He proposed no action for one (that's 1) full school year because he wanted data to make informed and educated changes on. Yes, the superintendent can be a little heavy handed at times, however they also give us the freedom we need to do what we need to and the students' achievement is improving greatly. They too the time to listen before they acted. And the results are getting better. Not so with Buffalo. The teachers seem to be out of the conversation completely. The students seem to be ignored. The parents are there and are given their moment to speak. Are they being taken seriously?  Only if they are a special interest group that is interested in privatizing the school system.

And then there was the announcement today (that I hope the BTF files suit over and wins) about the district sending a contract offer directly to the teachers and ignoring the selected negotiators altogether. This is wrong on so many levels and infuriates me so much that I don't even want to go into it. What the district did was act in bad faith, which is a violation of negotiating principles.This is plain and simply wrong on so many levels,

The teachers are correct in being angry with the district leadership. And the union is correct in calling the district out on bad faith negotiations.

It seems to me that the superintendent is indeed shuffling.

He thinks he's playing poker.

He's really shuffling deck chairs on a ship that's in danger of sinking.