If 6 were 9

Pardon the take on the Jimi Hendirx song, but the upcoming election for the Buffalo School Board (which has had some discussions that are hardly boring from what I'm led to believe) are coming up.

Buffalo schools need 9 people on the board that are representing the best interests of the students, the parents, the teachers, and the community.

There are three factions at play, at least, in this unfolding drama.

First is the Superintendent's Team – lead by Privatizer in Chief Kriner Cash and his number one general Carl PaladiNO! – that is looking to take as many Buffalo Schools as possible and turn them into privately run and publicly funded charter schools. Never mind that there is very little, if any proof, that private charter schools are any better than public schools. The question isn't about achievement. It's about the money and who's getting it. The more that flows to the 1%, the better. And any facade that they can put over that line helps to cover up the underlying lie about private charter schools.

They also want to lengthen the school day and school year – both which will add costs to the taxpayer and have no proof of increased achievement. (Teacher burnout and student loss of interest in learning, however…..)

The second group is led by Mayor Byron Brown (on the outside) and is known as “Grassroots.” Interesting name. It's a “grassroots” effort, led by the mayor and his cronies, to dissolve the school board and put the school system under mayoral control, just like New York City.

First, how is a “grassroots” effort led by the (seemingly) most powerful politician in the city? I'm at a loss of words here.

Second, Progressives, liberals, and Democrats mike like it having a Democrat in charge of the school system, like NYC has under Mayor DeBlasio. They need to remember something, prior to DeBlasio was Bloomberg and he was no friend of the school system, with the cuts and privatization that happened under his three terms as mayor. Imagine (if possible) a pro-privatization Republican getting in charge of Buffalo. What then?

The third group appears to have a NYSUT (New York State United Teachers) and BTF (Buffalo Teachers Federation) link – pushing to settle the (long overdue) contract and make progressive changes to the school system – smaller classes, hire more teachers, etc. PaladiNO! Claims that this is a conflict of interests – The union electing their people to the board and then negotiating with them on the contract. He needs to remember – teachers also vote in the School Board elections. Should teachers not? After all, these are their “bosses” that they are picking.

A fourth group is BUILD of Buffalo, which established the first community school in 1969 and is looking to reestablish the community schools that were built, rather than having students bussed all over kingdom come for their education. I remember having friends riding on a bus for one hour before getting to school. They were wiped out before the day even started. Honestly, students in K-8 should be on a bus no more than 20 minutes – it's exhausting for them and stressful. It kills learning. And it's hard for parents to get to the school if they need to for an emergency or for a conference. I can understand high school being a longer trek. Elementary and middle? No.

And community schools that bring together social services that support the community? I can support that. And it keeps students and parents close together for support? That sounds good as long as it is a public school, accountable to a publicly elected school board.

As a socialist, I am opposed to privatization. Public money needs to be that – public. The agenda of Superintendent Kriner Cash & Mayor Byron Brown need to be shelved. These dictatorial power grabs need to be shut down.

If the real grassroots can get together and retake the schools from the powers that be and make them into places of education again – a place where teachers are respected and school was a place where children wanted to go because it was an opportunity for them to learn and (more importantly) dream, then let's do it.

Socialists demand:

1. A publicly elected school board that is responsible to the public. No the mayor or some outside power.

2. A return to community schools, where students knew each other and grew up together. Where they weren't burned out before school started because they were on buses for so long.

3. Social services integrated with the schools to help the impoverished so that they would not be jumping around schools so much. This will help increase achievement. Real achievement, not some useless test score that tells nothing of what a child is capable of.

4. A real teachers contract that pays them fairly and respects the work that they do.

We want 9 people on the board that represent the real needs of the students, not the interests of the 1%.