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Friday, May 27, 2016

Back Door Privatization


The Buffalo City School District is “relaunching” five under-performing” schools next September. They are announcing it now so that they have sufficient time to sell the parents and students the lie behind each of the schools.

The lie?

Bennett High School is being relaunched as a school with a focus on computer science and engineering. Students will focus on computer programming and other software applications. This will prepare those “lucky” enough to attend to be able to walk into careers that are focused on computer science and engineering. From what I have read, many of the 43 North competition companies are focusing on software and programming. Graduate from Bennett & join a 43 North company.

The South Park High School Solar Pathways program will allow those that graduate from the school and its program to walk across the stage, receive their diploma, and then walk right into Solar City – the “local” company that is helping with the program.

The Bioinformantics and Life Sciences Research Lab, located on East Delevan, is a college prep school that it teaming up with SUNY Buffalo and Buff State, and Empire Genomics to prepare students for the burgeoning medical campus and medical industries that are coming to Buffalo and WNY. Graduate, go to UB,get your degree, and walk right into a medical research job in downtown Buffalo.

Lafayette High School, which is noted for its struggles with ELL students (that's English Language Learners) is going to be transformed into a school that serves the immigrant population and prepares them for degrees in international business, law, and teaching. What a better use of an immigrant's native language. Teach them how to act as front men (and women) for US corporations that want to build factories in their countries and exploit the cheap labor costs and non-existent environmental regulations.

And East Community High School will teach its students about law, corrections and security, and public safety. Presumably to help with all the law enforcement issues that Buffalo and Erie County is having?

And in all (or most of these cases the taxpayer is footing the bill for educating students that are going across the stage and right into the private sector. It's almost like the schools are attached directly to private industries that the Buffalo Billion is bribing companies to come here and start.

And the students that used to attend these schools? Anyone that researches these schools will notice that they are all the “turnaround” schools – they were performing so poorly on state mandated exams (that have no validity anywhere in educational theory) that either Buffalo did something with them or the state was going to come in and take them over. So Superintendent Kriner Cash took the schools and made them publicly funded private schools that march students across a stage and right into the open arms of private corporations. Except East, East graduates will be policing the streets and keeping the city and county “safe” from trouble makers.

And the students that were attending these schools and not meeting the expected standards? They will be shipped off to other schools where they might make it or drag down the school's rating so that the Superintendent can make those schools publicly funded private ventures.

No where in this privatization plan is there anything that looks at the students that are failing, asks why they are failing, and works to address or remedy their situation. Instead they will be shuffled around Buffalo where the district hopes that, at best, they will be able to be swept under the rug and lost in the shuffle or drag the school down so that the state forces a change.

Or to be less than kind, sacrificial pawns in the chess match of school privatization.

So this plan draws the best and brightest out of the schools that they are attending and puts them into programs that prepare them for specific careers after school. It replaces the high performing and highly interested students with under performing students that will drag the school down.

I'd say I smell a rat, but I have had pet rats and they are quite intelligent animals that are very clean.

This is something worse and it will only serve the interests of the corporate class that is looking to privatize and take over the Buffalo City School District any way it can. If not by outright coup, like what happened in New Orleans after Katrina, then by more subtle and secretive means.

Either way, the public schools are being privatized and students are losing out.

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