Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - One current member of the Buffalo School Board is looking for some kind of intervention from New York State to help right the ship at the Buffalo Public School District following sexual harassment allegations against the former schools superintendent and another current Board member.
However, a pair of former School Board members are far more skeptical that the current School Board in place at Buffalo City Hall can correct the damage that's been inflicted within the district.
While current Board member Larry Scott is not looking for any type of state takeover, he is hoping the education commissioner Betty Rosa and her office to come in and provide some scrutiny, ask some questions and then give some advice on how to further proceed.
"As of right now, we're not following policy. We're not protecting the rights and dignity of our staff right now," said Scott during an appearance with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski on WBEN. "I think something needs to be done so that there's clear guidance on how we should proceed, based on the current circumstances."
Does Scott feel the School Board, as it is, can be in a position to select the next superintendent of Buffalo Public Schools? Or is a clean up of the School Board what's needed first?
"I think for me, personally, I'm still trying to process what I read in that notice of claim yesterday, and trying to process the current circumstances with this Board. And to some extent, I do feel like this Board is far from being in a place that we should be choosing the next leader," Scott answered candidly. "Somehow, though, I think that is our responsibility, and somehow we have to find a way to get there. But I think some things need to be done and change before we get to a place where we're going to be able to find a leader that's going to right the ship here and get things back on track.
For former School Board member Patricia Pierce, she feels the people that were responsible for bringing in Dr. Pascal Mubenga as the superintendent last year may want to exclude themselves from the next hiring process.
"Obviously somebody dropped the ball and didn't do a very thorough background investigation," said Pierce in an interview with WBEN. "From what I am reading, and if I can believe what I'm reading in the news and hearing on the news, it sounds as though there's a little bit of history there with this guy. And maybe we should have done a little bit more homework.
Pierce strongly feels the district has to look internally with any superintendent hire going forward.
"We certainly have numerous qualified people that sit in administrative capacities that can fulfill the role of a superintendent," Pierce said.
Meanwhile, former School Board member Larry Quinn is strongly in favor of the state intervening and putting the district in receivership.
"I think it's the accumulation of the last 20 years of just an extremely failed system," said Quinn with WBEN. "I saw the other day that [State Assemblyman] Jon Rivera called for this, and I totally support him. Just too many children are being deprived of an education and a future, and the problems of the current School Board are just one more manifestation. But the problem is much much bigger, and I think it's time to end this nonsense and get some real reform and change to this district. It needs to be changed from top-to-bottom."
Quinn goes as far to say the district should dissolve the Buffalo School Board in the aftermath of these latest allegations.
"The best example would be the Fiscal Control Board we had years ago that really saved Buffalo. I think you need something on that scale for the school district, a board that has power to completely change contracts and administration, and the whole nine yards," Quinn explained. "The system is so out of date, so backwards, I guess sounds corrupt now. And it's been this way for a long time. So I'm hoping that although this is tragic and unfortunate, maybe it's the inspiration to finally address this.
"It needs serious people with serious powers, and whether it's a superintendent or somebody that needs more power than the current structure to really change what's going on, it has to change it in a major way. So the issue of who's the next superintendent and who they're going to get, that's peanuts."
He adds whether or not the sexual harassment allegations carry any real merit, it's a distraction from what's really wrong, which is the district not doing enough to help children of the City of Buffalo.
While Pierce agrees that the district can do away with every administrator on staff, she feels there needs to be an overhaul of the educational system from the state level down.
"I think the whole educational system in New York State and educational law has to be imploded. It's ridiculous. We're operating in the dark ages. The way that we did business back in the '60s and the '70s, up until the '80s is not the way we should be doing business today," Pierce said.
"We operate on the agrarian school calendar, which is ridiculous. Kids should be in school much longer than they are, and quite frankly, the people that need to be paid the most attention to in the district are our lowest level employees. They are doing the work. They're at ground level, feet on the ground, touching these kids' lives every day - from bus aides to lunch aides to school aides. And who do we cut first? We cut the lowest people on the totem pole."
