Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Buffalo Public School District has a new Superintendent after the official resignation of Dr. Kriner Cash on Wednesday during a special school board meeting at Waterfront Elementary in Downtown Buffalo.
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The baton has now been handed off to local school administrator Dr. Tonja Williams, who takes over as Superintendent on an interim basis.
"We, as a district, are pleased that we have Dr. Williams on board," said President of the Buffalo School Board, Lou Petrucci following the announcement. "The Buffalo Board of Education looks forward to working with Dr. Williams in her capacity as interim superintendent, and continue to create, support and guaranteed pathways to opportunity that will lead to achievement and success for all of our Buffalo Public School students."
"We know that Dr. Tonja Williams has been an educator in Buffalo Public Schools for 30 years," said fellow Buffalo School Board member Larry Scott on Thursday during "A New Morning" with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski. "She's attended Buffalo Public Schools, a graduate of Riverside. She is from this city, she knows this city, and I believe that certainly has value."
Dr. Williams has recently served as an Executive Cabinet Level Leader in the role of Associate Superintendent for the Buffalo Public Schools. She earned an Ed.D in Executive Leadership from St. John Fisher College, a Master’s Degree in Educational Counseling from Canisius College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Health and Human Services from Medaille College, where she graduated with Magna Cum Laude Honors. In addition, she has completed a certificated program in Turnaround School Leadership at Harvard University and holds New York State School and District Administrator Certifications.
While Dr. Williams seems like the right fit for the job for the immediate future, the decision from the Buffalo School Board came as a bit of a surprise to some.
"I really wasn't anticipating it to be her yet. She has been on the cabinet since 2019... So I guess I didn't think it would be her just yet," said Wendy Mistretta, President of the District Parent Coordinating Council on WBEN. "I don't know why I didn't think that, but we have been working with her in her role as Associate Superintendent of Student Support Services. She still has overseen parent engagement since then, so I just was surprised last night when they promoted her into that position."
It already appears one of the key factors when it came to naming Dr. Williams the interim Superintendent is her connection with the Buffalo community, having grown up and spent most of her time in the city.
"Someone who is familiar with the history of the Buffalo Public Schools and its culture and its hierarchy and its infrastructure and its plans may be a better candidate simply because they hit the ground running," Petrucci said with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski on Thursday. "They know the little nuances, they know who the players are, they know what the community wants, and as such, they can more effectively implement them in a quicker period of time."
"The connections are very important," Mistretta added to Petrucci's point. "I'm not originally from Buffalo, but I've been here for more than half of my life. So I'm not sure at what point you become a Buffalonian, but there's definitely a deeper understanding of the people and the history and the city that's really important for making real change."
Mistretta also adds importance of being willing to collaborate with other working groups of the community that made Dr. Williams a candidate for the Superintendent role of Buffalo Public Schools.
But what about the long-term outlook for the Superintendent's job in the district? Does having the local ties give Dr. Williams the upper-hand for earning the full-time position with the schools?
"I believe, personally, and I know I've heard this from many others, having somebody that has some strong local connections would be able to do that more effectively," Petrucci said. "I don't want to discount somebody from outside - we'll gladly look at the entire pool of candidates - but I think that value that comes from having someone that has a come up through both Buffalo Public Schools and the actual schools themselves, but also on the administration side by working for the district."
As Dr. Williams is set to get started as the interim Superintendent on Thursday, many will be glued in to see how much of an influence she will have on the district compared to Dr. Cash, who had taken a brunt of criticism for his lack of action over the past couple of years.
"I'm really curious to see how this is going to go when she can use her own voice and not have to be reporting to someone else, because she's always been open to meeting with us," Mistretta said. "We have met with her, which Cash stopped doing. So I'm looking forward to hopefully resuming our meetings with a person in the position of superintendent, which Parent Leadership had for years and then Kriner Cash ended."