Kriner's Vision Test

In the Buffalo News on Tuesday (January 25, 2016) Superintendent Kriner Cash's vision for the Buffalo City School District was laid out. It was presented as a simple six point plan. He calls it his “New Educational Bargain.”

Simply put – at stake is the future of Buffalo's children and their opportunity to succeed in this world. Either that or get so sick of what's going on that they give up on life and settle for “riding the curve.”

His plan, with my critique, is as follows:

Point #1: Rigorous early elementary education with a focus on math and reading. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard this from a school official. I'd be a part of the 1%. This will mean hiring more teachers, more reading specialists, expanding pre kindergarten services to all children.

And he plans to lower class sizes to 18 students. More teachers and teacher's aides will be needed for that. I have yet to see an elementary school that can survive without the use of aides in the classroom or extensive use of parental volunteers. This is an admirable goal. If he can achieve it.

Question: Will each elementary school have a fully staffed library? (Librarian and aide.) And will it have up to date print material as well as access to the Internet (for something other than games and cheesy YouTube videos.)

It also means making sure that students go to the same elementary school continuously. In my teacher prep days I visited an elementary school in Buffalo where students shuffled in and out almost every week. Without a stable place to live – a home – what good will this idea do? It sounds lofty and ignores the reality of the housing situation that many of the city's poor people face.

Also – what of the ELL population? English Language Learners. Immigrants that don't speak English very well, if at all. Is he planning on hiring more LOTE (Language Other Than English) teachers? And look at the languages in Buffalo. Sure we have Spanish, Chinese, Burmese, Arabic, and many others. I think it is Lafayette HS that had 40 different languages being spoke in it. What's the plan to handle that?

Point #2: Strong Community Schools. This supposedly means schools that serve as education centers, social service centers, and community centers. How many classrooms are going to be sacrificed for all these different venues?

It is great that he wants to make the school the center of the community. But all these services are going to need space. So, either space is being added on or there will be smaller schools.

Point #3: New Innovative High Schools. By this is meant tying the high school to the Medical Corridor, Solar City, or other capitalist venture. It is like the current vocational education programs, but tied to one specific industry and that industry basically controls the school. This sounds like aback door privatization to me. (Both #2 & #3 have been used to privatize schools to my understanding.)

Point #4: Extended Learning Experience for All. This is NewSpeak for a longer school day. Not that any research supports this. Not for students or teachers. Students burn out rather easily, I work with teens and I see it every day. Especially when administering state mandated exams. How does he plan to accomplish this without draining students out completely? And accommodate after school activities like clubs and sports? (Can't cut the sports no matter how expensive they are.)

Point #5: Services to the Neediest of students. Mental health and counseling is what this sounds like. Why he didn't make this a part of Point #2 is beyond me. It is where it fits.

Point #6: New Relationship with Teachers. This means several things.

First: Settle the contract. It has been over ten (that's 10) years since the last contract was in effect. This has been uttered by every superintendent. With a school board that has the possibility of having a hostile (to teachers) majority led by Carl PaladiNO, this is pie in the sky. The Board needs to bargain in good faith. And that means that they need to stop attacking and slamming the teachers.

Second: Get the teachers input into what is and is not working in the schools. They know the schools at the ground level, what's working and what's not. Make sure that they have an important voice at the table.

Third: Most importantly – Take receivership off the table. Currently 25 schools are either set for or are being threatened by receivership. What this means is that they have two years to completely turn around or they will be turned over to an outside organization. That is NewSpeak for “privatized.”

Superintendent Cash came into the Buffalo CSD and, on short notice, began making changes with minimal information. We do not know how he arrived at the conclusions that he has. We have no insight into the methods or methodology that he used to come up with his plan.

In my opinion, he went into an antiques shop with a sledge hammer and started swinging. (I'm speaking metaphorically here.  I can very well see the opponents of public education misusing my intention.) 

And what gets broken can't be fixed.

And all this is going to cost money. From what I have read the teachers alone are going to cost over $40 million. And then there are all the program costs, etc. This is one expensive plan.

And Governor “Status” Cuomo isn't going to pony up all that money without strings attached.

Making me wonder, whose puppet is Cash really?

“Crazy Carl's” or Cuomo's?

Or maybe they are two sides of the same coin.

Update January 29, 2016 Kriner's Cash Flow

Superintendent Kriner Cash made his first lobbying effort in Albany for money for the Buffalo CSD, He is campaigning for $40 million to begin the process of privatizing Buffalo's schools, also known as the New Educational Bargain.” It's a bargain alright – for charter schools.

He plans to use this money to reduce K-3 class sizes, change the math and language arts curriculum, and extend the school day and year.

Gov, “Status” Cuomo is planning to send to Buffalo an aid increase of $18.9 million to help with operations budget and push for more “Community Schools.” Everything I've read on those points to charter school, so don't be surprised if that is what happens there.

The area's representatives were reported to be impressed with his plans. No doubt because they receive PAC money from charter school and other privatization advocates.

He also advocated for the state to pick up the costs of the Pre-K program (which it should), more money from the state to help fund health care services for private charter schools (no – private schools should not be receiving taxpayer dollars), and funding for the receivership schools. These are schools that have two years to make drastic changes or they will be handed over to “outside management.” That is a fancy/code way of saying “privatized.” The state should be providing no money at all for charter schools that are not accountable or responsible to the publicly elected school board.