Buffalo Schools General Counsel Linked To Pigeon Bribery/Extortion Case

New details on the Steven Pigeon/John Michalek corruption case, with an education angle:

A new element from Michalek and Pigeon’s relationship emerged in court over the last two days – an extortion charge against Pigeon.

One of the favors Pigeon allegedly asked from Michalek was for the judge to appoint a young local attorney as a receiver. Appointment of a receiver to temporarily manage a business, property or other entity involved in a foreclosure action or some other litigation can be lucrative for an attorney, according to legal experts.

“Depending on the length and complexity of the litigation, a receivership can earn an attorney anywhere from a few thousand dollars to six figures,” one knowledgeable Buffalo attorney told The Buffalo News.

Michalek admitted in court that, in 2012, Pigeon asked him to appoint a local lawyer as a receiver in a case Michalek was handling. The attorney was a recent law school graduate and had not yet been approved by the state courts as a qualified receiver. Nonetheless, Michalek gave him the assignment.

“We pushed it through anyway … have to give them a spec reason etc. … will figure it out … John,” Michalek emailed to Pigeon in May 2012.

Later, according to state prosecutors, Pigeon pressured this receiver to hire some of Pigeon’s “cronies” to do some work on a property the receiver was overseeing. The receiver refused to hire the “cronies,” and Pigeon retaliated by taking $5,000 from the receiver by “extortion,” according to court papers.

That receiver was Edward A. Betz, a former Pigeon associate who is now general counsel for the Buffalo Public Schools.

While declining to talk in any detail about the receivership or the alleged extortion, Betz told The News: “My only involvement in this matter is that I was asked to violate my ethical responsibilities as a receiver, and I steadfastly refused to do that.”

While Betz confirmed that he was the attorney appointed to the receivership, he declined to address any further questions about the Pigeon case. Sources said he has cooperated with the state attorney general’s investigation.

Here's a fun question to ask: How did Betz get the Buffalo schools gig?

Here's how:

It was several months in the making, but it’s official: Rashondra M. Martin is out as general counsel for Buffalo Public Schools.

Edward A. Betz is in.

After a closed-door session lasting about an hour and a half Wednesday evening, the Buffalo Board of Education took only a matter of minutes to fire Martin and appoint Betz, who was recommended by Superintendent Kriner Cash.

The two separate resolutions were supported by board majority members Jason McCarthy, Carl P. Paladino, Patricia Pierce, Larry Quinn and Board President James Sampson. The actions were opposed by the other board members who were present – Sharon Belton-Cottman, MaryRuth Kapsiak and Barbara Seals Nevergold. Theresa Harris-Tigg was absent.

In the end, Martin, who was hired by then-Superintendent Pamela C. Brown, was fired effective immediately and Cash was given the green light to negotiate a contract with Betz to take over the position at an annual salary of $160,000, which is $33,000 more than Martin was making.

Prior to voting, Belton-Cottman, Kapsiak and Seals Nevergold said the termination seemed like “punitive action” against Martin, who had filed a civil rights complaint against Paladino with the state Division of Human Rights. It was filed after a February 2015 board meeting in which Martin was asked to give advice on a key matter of parliamentary procedure. Her response frustrated members of the board majority, including Paladino, who asked Martin, “How can you be so ignorant?”

Terminating Martin was not an act of retaliation, argued some of the majority members of the board, but rather an issue of incompetence.

Paladino said Martin failed to disclose pertinent and time-sensitive information to the superintendent and the board, and she has failed to cooperate with Cash.

Members of the minority bloc said hiring Betz gave the perception of favoritism because Betz has no experience in school board law or as a district counsel, and he will be paid more than Martin was. They also pointed out that Betz was Quinn’s campaign manager when he won his School Board seat last year, and represented McCarthy in a matter that went before the state Education Department.

Members of the majority bloc and Cash countered that Betz is a former assistant corporation counsel for the City of Buffalo, a former general counsel for the Erie County Water Authority, has extensive knowledge of state Civil Service Law and the Taylor Law and experience in public employee relations matters. 

I'm sure Betz's "extensive knowledge of state Civil Service Law and the Taylor Law and experience in public employee relations matters" was why Betz got the general counsel gig.

I mean, three and a half years out of law school is a lot of time, you know?

Here's one commenter on the Betz hire:

There is no doubt that Martin was incompetent and needed to go. However, what happened to hiring QUALIFIED candidates? This is yet another disappointing hire by the superintendent. He continues to hire every political hack that Quinn and Paladino send his way. (For the record, I supported Quinn and Paladino until they continued the nepotism that they vowed to correct.)

I challenge the Buffalo News and the Board of Ed to pull the resumes of the attorneys who applied for this job and then tell me that Betz, a lawyer with NO education law experience, is the man for the job. Moreover, look into HIS resume and I think you will find that his qualifications, as noted in this article, are inaccurate. It is clear that qualifications didn't come into play, as it was common knowledge that Betz had the job before it was even posted. I did a little research and Betz isn't some prize lawyer, every job he has had was given to him as a favor. Take this one for example: http://www.buffalonews.com/app...

As for the salary, while Martin clearly ended up not being the person for the job, she was more qualified and paid much less. Explain how that works?

Follow the link above and you'll find this:

Edward A. Betz, an attorney who has been active in Democratic political campaigns, was promoted last month on a temporary basis to serve as associate attorney at a salary of $117,877. Betz previously worked in the Law Department at Buffalo City Hall and has managed local political campaigns.

Pigeon only extorted $5000 from Betz?

Hell, the number of sweetheart gigs Betz was getting from his connections, he could have hit him up for so much more.

What a sewer New York is.

Cuomo Ally To Be Arrested For Bribery

Wheee!!!!!

A New York State Supreme Court judge pleaded guilty on Wednesday to bribery in connection with the state attorney general’s investigation into his relationship with a Buffalo-area political consultant with ties to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The judge, John A. Michalek, who also pleaded guilty to offering a false instrument for filing, said he would cooperate with the probe.

...

 A spokesman for the state courts system said that as part of his plea agreement, Mr. Michalek had resigned as a state Supreme Court judge.

Mr. Michalek has been under investigation for months by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office in connection with his relationship with Steven Pigeon, a former Erie County Democratic chairman who has raised money and occasionally advised the governor on western New York-related matters.

According to the criminal complaint filed Wednesday, Messrs. Michalek and Pigeon had “an understanding” in which the judge “engaged in official conduct” that benefited Mr. Pigeon’s interests, which included lawsuits before the judge. Mr. Michalek received benefits from Mr. Pigeon, such as hockey tickets and assistance seeking judicial appointments for himself and jobs for his relatives.

Mr. Pigeon is set to be arrested on Thursday and indicted later that day, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Pigeon’s attorney, Paul Cambria Jr., didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“Today’s proceedings expose a corrupt, multiyear scheme to use political favors to buy off a sitting state judge,” Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday.

Here are some previous Perdido Street School blog posts on Pigeon and Cuomo (here, here, here and here.)

And of course, there's the wonderful Buffalo News story in 2013 in which Pigeon brags he's Governor Cuomo's go-to guy in Buffalo:

If Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo seems obsessed with all things Buffalo in the months leading to his re-election campaign, those familiar with the governor point to his rejection by the voters of nine western counties in 2010.

Perhaps that’s why Cuomo is turning to G. Steven Pigeon, one of his oldest – and most controversial – Western New York allies, for fundraising, politics and even policy, according to several sources.

The former Erie County Democratic chairman is taking on more assignments from Cuomo and is telling political leaders here of a larger role, according to at least half a dozen highly placed sources with knowledge of the situation.

And while Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi would not discuss Pigeon specifically when questioned by The Buffalo News, he did not deny the suggestion that Pigeon plays a role for the governor.

“The governor has many friends in Buffalo, from the mayor to the county executive to Sam Hoyt to Steve Pigeon,” Azzoparadi said.

Pigeon’s larger profile may also stem from other roles such as major campaign donor and the $50,000 check he presented to Cuomo’s birthday fundraiser at Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel last December.

Other Democrats say a senior official for the governor has told members of the Cuomo administration, including Hoyt, to have regular contact with Pigeon. They say that Pigeon has joined conference calls and meetings and that his involvement transcends politics to include economic-development matters.

One major Democrat said local officials “employed by the State of New York” are aware of Pigeon’s enhanced position for the governor.

“He’s going to be his top political person,” the Democrat said of Pigeon’s role for the governor in Western New York. “Steve is telling people that."

Now that Pigeon, the governor's top political person in Buffalo, is set to be arrested on bribery charges tomorrow, the governor may be wondering just what that top operative has to trade with the authorities for a lighter sentence.

Pigeon was in on Cuomo's economic development matters in Buffalo?

Gee, there might be something there, especially since those matters are already under investigation by US Attorney Preet Bharara.

This Pigeon arrest is just one strand of the investigations into the governor's world that Cuomo's got to worry about.

There are also the various strands in the Buffalo Billion and state contract mess, with offshoots to former aides Todd Howe and Joe Percoco and Cuomo's man at SUNY Poly, Alain Kaloyeros.

Bharara has warned that he's scrutinizing malfeasance in executive branches around New York.

Going to be an interesting, interesting summer.

Buffalo School District Offers Worst Contract Deal Ever

From the Buffalo News:

An update on contract negotiations with the Buffalo Teachers Federation took center stage at Wednesday’s meeting of the School Board.

Major points in the school district’s most recent proposal include a 10 percent increase in teacher salaries effective upon ratification of the contract. Teachers who work at least 160 days during the 2015-16 school year would be eligible for one-time payments ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 depending on their pay-step level.

In addition, active employees would pay 10 percent of the cost of premiums for their health insurance, and if the agreement is ratified, new hires would contribute 20 percent of premium costs.

Future retirees would contribute the same as active employees, effective July 1. Physician copays would increase to $15, from $5. And the district proposes eliminating the expensive policy rider that covers cosmetic surgery.

In addition, the school day would be lengthened from 6 hours and 50 minutes to 7 hours and 30 minutes and the school year would run for September 1 to June 30.

Also, new teachers (7-12) would have to teach six periods a day and all new teachers would have to fulfill 4 days of extra professional development.

Teachers would be required to use tracking technologies like "Parent Portal," seniority preference for transfers would be eliminated, there would be no early retirement incentives and personal days would be reduced.

OK, so let me get this straight.

Teachers have been without a raise for eleven years.

Buffalo is offering them 10% for those eleven years, and in return teachers have to pay 10% into their health care, new teachers have to pay 20% into their health care, the work day is increased by 40 minutes and the year is increased to 188 work days.

In addition, new teachers have to do more PD, some have to teach a sixth class, sick days would be reduced and seniority preferences for transfers would be eliminated.

Uh, no thanks:

In a statement, BTF President Philip Rumore said Buffalo teachers are already $20,000 behind their counterparts in other districts, which is a loss of $600,000 in lifetime earnings and $10,000 a year less in retirement because their retirement is based upon their final salary.

“The Board’s salary offer of a 10 percent raise, effective upon ratification of a new contract, over the 11 years teachers went without a salary increase, amounts to a less than one percent increase,” Rumore wrote.

As the unions are weakened even more post-Friedrichs, you can see this kind of contract becoming the standard thing around the state - especially if the Triborough Agreement goes away (as some think it may.)

Take a shit sandwich and if you don't like it, well, too bad - there's nothing you can do.

With a lack of vision, foresight and planning, the UFT, NYSUT, the AFT and the NEA have brought us to a place where we are about to be effectively neutered and your union dues will be useless for anything except shitty car insurance offers and discounts to Great Adventure.

Given the weakness of the unions these days, given the impending Friedrichs decision and the consequences thereafter, and given that Cuomo and Elia have handed Buffalo school officials a lot of power to impose what they will, it's hard to see how there's a good outcome here for Buffalo teachers.

With the kind of contract being offered there, why would ANYONE want to start teaching in Buffalo schools?

Here's what one commenter at the Buffalo News wrote:

So, the district proposes increasing starting teacher pay to 35K a year, but expects them to pay 4K a year toward their family's healthcare. When you add up the numbers it sounds an awful lot like the same deal employees of fast-food chain restaurants throughout the state will get when the min. wage is raised to $15 an hour over the next few years. And fast food workers don't have to invest 100K of their own money in their training. The district obviously has no interest in a new contract or the quality of its future workforce...

Indeed.

These Are Clearly Reasons Why Buffalo Schools Should Be Charterized

From the Buffalo News:

A new survey of students in Buffalo Public Schools reinforces the extent of the problems the district is facing – not in the classroom, but in the home.

Fourteen percent of high school students who took the survey said they have been beaten or physically harmed by a parent or adult while in their house.

Sixteen percent have lived with someone diagnosed as mentally ill or suicidal.

Nearly one out of four has lived with someone who was an alcoholic, drug abuser or problem gambler.

More than a third said they have seen someone in their neighborhood shot, stabbed or beaten.

And more than 37 percent said they had a parent or adult in their home swear at or insult them.

All of these are of course the fault of their teachers, who fail them on a daily basis, and keep them from having the kind of achievement they're all capable of if only their schools and teachers didn't suck.

Wanna bet when they charterize whole swaths of Buffalo that the students who are beaten or physically harmed at home, have an alcoholic or drug addict in the home, live in neighborhoods where people are shot or stabbed or have adults in the home with mental illness or who verbally abuse them will have to strictly tow the "No Excuses!" charter line or be dumped out of the charter district and back to whatever is left of the public school district?

Which is to say, charterizing a whole swath of Buffalo won't solve this mess.

But then again, charterizing public schools isn't about solving this kind of crisis or serving students.

It's about making money for the charter entrepreneurs and their politician pals who love the yummy yummy political donations they receive from the charter sector.

Cuomo Looking To Create A Special Charter School District

Buried at the bottom of this Buffalo News piece about how Governor Cuomo has "turned" on education policy is this doozy:

Cuomo has also expressed interest in Buffalo, at one point calling for a “death penalty” for schools and districts that fail to meet state standards. Last year, he was involved in conversations about mayoral control of the district, and was the force behind the new receivership law that provides a mechanism for turning individual schools over to outside entities. Some in reform circles say the law fell short by not creating a mechanism for the state to take over entire districts.

There is current speculation that the governor, who has enjoyed significant financial and political support in reform circles, may be looking to push for a charter district during the next legislative session. That would involve turning a portion of district schools over to an outside entity, although it is not clear whether it would be a charter school.

“One of the things the corporate reformers would like to see is the takeover of an entire district,” said Easton of AQE. “They want whole districts.”

With Cuomo's job approval numbers in the toilet (and they're still there - a new Siena poll out today has his approval down again) and his numbers on education even lower, he cannot try to push this kind of thing statewide without taking a political hit.

But to do it in a "struggling" district like Buffalo?

That's safe territory:

“The national and statewide politics have taken a U-turn because of pure voter sentiment,” said David C. Bloomfield, a professor of education leadership at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center. “The astounding 20 percent opt-out rate was a wake-up call that he had misread the electorate. It’s quite obvious that parents who vote in great numbers are aligned with the teachers’ position.”

...

Cuomo’s evolving education message, however, carries ramifications for other state leaders who embraced his earlier mantra, chief among them the new state education commissioner, MaryEllen Elia, who built her reputation on school reform.

It also could shift more focus to struggling urban school districts such as Buffalo, where Cuomo still could push for heavy-handed reforms, but alienate fewer voters than he would by forcing statewide changes.

“I don’t think he has any idea about education policy or proclivity about education policy,” Bloomfield said. “It’s all about politics.”

Indeed it is about the politics and Cuomo has a bunch of hedge fund managers/education reformers to make happy in return for all those yummy yummy political donations they give.

He cannot abandon reform completely, though he has signaled "retreat" on some things like teacher evaluations and testing (though it remains to be seen how real that "retreat" actually - so far, Cuomo has not released his education policy proposals for the next year.)

Thus going full speed ahead on reform in a place like Buffalo, where he won't take a hit politically from the suburban moms and dads pissed off about Common Core and the Endless Testing regime, looks to be the plan for the next year or so.

Barring criminal charges against him, of course.

If you're a teacher in Buffalo, look out.

Does The Buffalo School District Really Think Teachers Will Go For This?

From the Buffalo News:

After years of failed attempts to negotiate a new contract with the Buffalo Teachers Federation, the School Board is now taking its latest offer directly to teachers.

The move underscores a lack of faith that negotiations are headed toward any kind of resolution, and suggests the district could be close to pulling the plug on talks with an outside mediator. That would put the district in uncharted waters, and some have already suggested the issue will likely wind up in court.

In a letter emailed to teachers Thursday, the board attempts to make the case for contractual changes it is seeking. The most significant include:

• Increasing the school day from six hours and 50 minutes to seven hours and 30 minutes.

• Increasing the number of work days from 186 to 189 each year.

• Requiring teachers to pay 12 percent of their health insurance premium, as opposed to paying nothing now.

• Allowing principals to transfer and assign teachers based on educational needs, not seniority.

• A 10 percent salary increase for teachers, plus an additional 1 percent each of the next three years.

“Without the changes the District has proposed, a system of failure will simply be perpetuated, and the consequences of continuous failure could be devastating,” the board’s letter states.

The decision to take its offer directly to teachers is the latest turn in a lengthy and contentious negotiation process to revamp a contract that expired more than a decade ago. Attorney Terry O’Neil, who is negotiating for the district, said board members do not believe union leaders are accurately relaying their offers to teachers and wanted to present the information themselves.

“We went to the teachers and said ‘Here are the options, just so you know,’ ” he said.

These are the "options"?

Longer school day, longer school year, loss of seniority rights and paying 12% of health care?

Dunno about all the teachers teachers in Buffalo, but my response to a "Fuck You!" proposal like this would be "Fuck you too!"

The 1% "increase (10% + 1% for each additional year over the next three) is more than eaten away by the health care costs and the extra time/work.

This is what the district went around the union to offer to teachers?

Uh, thanks, but no thanks.

Seems many teachers in Buffalo feel the same:

Buffalo Teachers Federation President Philip Rumore said his office had been fielding calls all day from teachers angry about the board’s letter.

“The letter outraged the teachers,” Rumore said. “It was like rubbing salt into an open wound.”

Buffalo teachers are working under the longest expired contract in history.

The district, backed by the powers that be, are offering a "Fuck you!" contract in order to continue the logjam in negotiations, giving them the excuse to take the mess to court and try and circumvent the Triborough Agreement:

Some have already suggested the case could end up in court and test the Taylor Law, the state statute that sets rules for municipalities when bargaining with civil service and teacher unions. Many argue that the law and its accompanying Triborough Amendment – which allows for expired contract terms to remain in effect until a new deal is reached – have long given these unions a clear edge in negotiations.

“This is a perfect illustration of how the combination of the Taylor Law and the Triborough Amendment can create problems,” O’Neil said. “We’ll have to assess where we’re headed and whether we’re headed for litigation.”

So this battle in Buffalo is something to watch statewide, not only for how the contract negotiations play out but also to see if there is a weakening of the Triborough Agreement that maintains expired contracts in effect until a new contract deal is agreed upon.

I wouldn't be too surprised if that isn't the ultimate goal of the powers that be here - to weaken Triborough while maintaining the punitive Taylor Law that punishes municipal unions for striking.

Lawsuit Over Elia/Cuomo Union Busting To Have National Implications

In the spring Andrew Cuomo pushed through a school receivership law that allows the state to take control of "struggling" and "persistently struggling" schools and supersede the union contracts for teachers at those schools.

This week NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia gave the Buffalo schools superintendent the power to "circumvent" union contracts at five Buffalo schools.

The Buffalo News reports the Buffalo Teachers Federation is planning to sue over the move and the lawsuit will have national implications:

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia’s ruling this week that Superintendent Kriner Cash can circumvent the union contract to make changes at receivership schools will likely end in a court battle with one of the most powerful teachers unions in the country. It’s a fight that will be watched across the nation.

...

Five schools have been deemed persistently struggling: Burgard and South Park high schools, West Hertel Elementary School, Marva J. Daniels Futures Preparatory School and Buffalo Elementary School of Technology. Those schools were given just one year to show demonstrable improvement under Cash before they can be turned over to an outside entity. The district has tried to negotiate changes at an additional 14 schools that were given two years to show improvement. Several other schools were included on earlier receivership lists, but some made last-minute improvements, while others are being phased out.

Elia issued her ruling in a dispute between Cash and the Buffalo Teachers Federation over changes that go against the teachers contract. The law requires the receiver to try and negotiate changes with bargaining units; but in situations where the two parties cannot come to an agreement, the commissioner can intervene.

The BTF, with the backing of New York State United Teachers, will likely challenge the law in court. The union will likely ask for an injunction to prevent the changes from happening. Meanwhile, Cash continues to move forward on plans for those schools and has previously indicated changes could be rolled out in January.

Anybody out there have any confidence the BTF, backed by NYSUT, can win a court battle over the law?

NYSED Commissioner Elia Looks To Bust Buffalo Teachers Union

Herein lies the endgame for "receivership":

In one of her most significant actions as state education commissioner, MaryEllen Elia has granted Buffalo Superintendent Kriner Cash unprecedented power to make changes at the district’s most struggling schools, bypassing the teachers union contract.

Those changes could include a longer school day and year, required teacher training and more control over staffing – all things Cash says are essential to improve student performance.

 In a 107-page ruling released Monday, Elia largely imposes Cash’s proposals with some modifications that call for giving teachers more notice of contractual changes and preference for other jobs, should they be displaced from their position. She also recommends that a committee created to assist with staffing at the receivership schools be limited to three or five people, and consist of an odd number to prevent deadlock between union and district representatives.

Ultimately deformers want the power to bypass union contracts in every school, but they're happy for now to start with the "struggling" ones and work their way onward later.

The Buffalo Federation of Teachers plans to sue.

Helluva day - Boston mayor throws a bomb by making a secret deal to close a bunch of Boston schools and Elia gives her handpicked Buffalo superintendent the power to bypass the union contract in the "persistently struggling" schools in Buffalo.

Buffalo Schools Construction Project Part Of Federal Probe Into Cuomo's Buffalo Billion Project

Now we have a K-12 public education connection to the Buffalo Billion corruption story:

Federal prosecutor Preet Bharara’s investigation into the Buffalo Billion is part of a larger probe into other development projects, including the Buffalo Schools Construction Project, sources close to the investigation said Friday.

The first hint of an investigation by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney came in the form of subpoenas demanding information on several large-scale state initiatives, many of them with close ties to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany.

Sources said the subpoenas went out across the state and seek documents and records regarding the bidding process on those projects, as well as any communication between state officials and private contractors.

...


Sources familiar with the investigation told The Buffalo News that the subpoenas also demand records and documents connected to the Buffalo Schools Construction Project, an 11-year, $1.3 billion program to renovate 48 city schools.

Even though the renovations are complete, Buffalo school board members Carl Paladino and Larry Quinn have criticized the fixed-price contract used on the project and suggested tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money remain unaccounted for.

LP Ciminelli, the chief contractor on the schools project, called the criticism part of a personal vendetta directed at Louis P. Ciminelli, the company’s chairman and CEO.

Ciminelli, a major contributor to Cuomo’s political campaigns, is also the general contractor on SolarCity, a $900 million solar panel factory being built at South Buffalo’s RiverBend complex. The plant is the centerpiece of Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion.

Daniel C. Oliverio, a well-known white-collar defense attorney, confirmed he’s representing Ciminelli but declined to comment on Bharara’s investigation.

The leaks are coming fast and furious today.

First the NY Post story that Bharara had launched an investigation into Cuomo's Buffalo Billion project, looking at the bidding process and the awarding of contracts.

Then came the Daily News story that SUNY had been a recipient of subpoenas related to the probe.

Now we have the Buffalo News reporting that the same contractor/Cuomo donor who seemed to be the recipient of a rigged contract in the Buffalo Billion project is also the contractor for the Buffalo Schools Construction project, a $1.3 billion dollar renovation program that has tens of millions of funds missing.

Cuomo said today that there's no "there" there in this story.

On the contrary - the longer the day went on, the more leaks we got showing just how much "there" there really is.

Preet Bharara Expands Corruption Probe To Cuomo's Buffalo Billion Boondoggle

It's been a few months since we got a leak out of the US attorney's office regarding corruption - this one's a doozy:

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara has expanded his anti-corruption crusade to the far western edge of the state — investigating Gov. Cuomo’s controversial Buffalo Billion revitalization project, The Post has learned.

The probe of Cuomo’s pet project is the first to touch his office beyond Bharara’s investigation of the governor’s shutdown of the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption last year.

The new investigation is focused on the multimillion-dollar contracts awarded to build facilities for high-tech, drug-development and clean-energy businesses, a source familiar with the probe told The Post.

Bharara’s office has slapped several firms with subpoenas in recent months, the source said.

“It’s a comprehensive look at the bidding process,” the source said.

“They’re looking at communications between contractors and state officials.”

Bharara’s probe extends some 250 miles beyond the boundaries of his district, the Southern District of New York, which is headquartered in Manhattan and includes The Bronx and six suburbs north of the city.

First we had leaks about Shelly Silver - Silver got indicted.

Then we had leaks about Dean Skelos - Skelos (and son) got indicted.

Now we have leaks that the feds are investigating state officials over the Buffalo Billions project.

If the pattern continues, well, you know how this ends...

Here are some details:

Cuomo announced the 10-year Buffalo Billion program in his 2012 State of the State speech, saying it would be modeled on the $1 billion-plus program to spur nanotech research and draw semiconductor manufacturers to the Albany region.

One of the plan’s key projects is construction of a $750 million solar-panel factory along the Buffalo River. It will be run by SolarCity, a power provider chaired by Elon Musk, a co-founder of PayPal and CEO of the Tesla Motors electric-car company.

Other elements of Cuomo’s plan include construction of the Buffalo Medical Innovation and Commercialization Hub facility at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, and redevelopment of a downtown Buffalo office tower into a headquarters for IBM and other high-tech firms.

A report this year by the nonprofit Investigative Post blasted Buffalo Billion as a “costly experiment in economic development that is beset by secrecy and politics.” The report said that requests for records under the state Freedom of Information Law were ignored until a lawsuit was filed and that the documents released were stripped of “key information,” including payments to developers.

The report also revealed the developer of two Buffalo Billion buildings is Louis Ciminelli, who contributed $96,500 to Cuomo’s two campaigns for governor.

At one point, the request for proposals to build SolarCity required applicants to have “over 50 years of proven experience” in construction in around Buffalo, which, the report said, excluded any company except Ciminelli’s.

The requirement was changed to 15 years, but his company, LPCiminelli, got the job anyway.

The report also said McGuire Development donated $25,000 to Cuomo’s campaign three months after scoring the technology-hub construction job.

There's been more Buffalo/Cuomo funkiness in the past few months.

Former Erie County Democratic Chair Steve Pigeon, a Cuomo "advisor," was raided in the spring over alleged corruption:

State and federal investigators Thursday searched the homes of three Western New York political operatives – confidants to the New York governor, Buffalo mayor and a member of Congress – sending shock waves across state Democratic and Republican party circles.

The investigation of G. Steven Pigeon, Steven M. Casey and Christopher M. Grant appears focused around an independent political committee called the WNY Progressive Caucus, which has ties to Pigeon. Investigators appear interested in the financial activities of the caucus and its ties to several political campaigns in recent years. The probe also includes questions about “elevated” payments for advertising, mailings and other political activities, a law enforcement official said.

The raids targeted three men who have been integral players in local and statewide politics, and that fact was not lost on party insiders in Buffalo and Albany.

Pigeon has vast political connections, from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to billionaire businessman B. Thomas Golisano.

Casey – dubbed the “shadow mayor” – was until last year the first deputy mayor under Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown.

Grant is chief of staff for Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence.

Here's a good introduction to the Pigeon raids and a comprehensive look into the whole Pigeon mess in Buffalo.

There's also a Pigeon/Moreland connection:
 

In the Erie County Sheriff’s race, the WNYPC candidate Dick Dobson embarrassed Bert Dunn on primary night. Dunn decided to waste his money and run on a tailor-made third party line, unsuccessfully. WNYPC abandoned Dobson, however, during the general election. There was an unaccounted-for $20,000 that was paid to “Buying Time, LLC” for Dick Dobson ads, which was later claimed to have been a payment reportedly made by AJ Wholesalers directly to Buying Time on the WNYPC’s behalf.  

Buying Time is associated with Governor Andrew Cuomo. So associated, in fact, that the New York Times reported that it was sniffing around Buying Time that prompted Cuomo’s office to begin interfering with the work of the shortly-thereafter-disbanded Moreland Commission on Public Corruption.

Kathy Hochul's husband, Bill Hochul, reportedly recused himself from the Pigeon investigation because of his wife's connections to some of those involved in the case:

U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. has recused himself from an investigation into the political activities of G. Steven Pigeon, sources close to the probe told The Buffalo News on Friday.

Because of the potential political ramifications of the probe – including the fact that Pigeon has served as a top political adviser to his wife’s boss, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo – Hochul removed himself from the case weeks ago and named his top assistant – James P. Kennedy – to oversee the investigation and coordinate with the state Attorney General’s Office, the sources said.

The U.S. Justice Department requires a prosecutor to recuse himself or herself from a case when “a conflict of interest exists or there is an appearance of a conflict of interest or loss of impartiality.”

The investigation – which became public knowledge Thursday with the execution of three search warrants – is focused on the political activities of Pigeon, former Democratic Party chairman for Erie County; Steven M. Casey, a Democrat and former deputy mayor of Buffalo; and Christopher M. Grant, a Republican who serves as chief of staff for Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence.

Before we get too excited about the Post story that state officials are being investigated over the Buffalo Billion project, we should note that the report is coming in, you know, the NY Post.

That said, the NY Post independently verified an account from WNBC in January that Bharara was going after Dean Skelos.

A Skelos spokesperson had decried the WNBC report as thinly sourced.

The Post verified it and the WNBC report turned out to be accurate - Skelos and son got nailed a couple of months later.

So, we'll see how this goes and if the pattern holds.

Up until now, it's been leaks, indictment, leaks, indictment...

Now we have a new leak, this one involving state officials and Cuomo's Buffalo Billion boondoggle.

An interesting development, to say the least.

No Accountability Measures Or Expectations In Place For New Buffalo Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash

Once again we get an example of how accountability is only for the little people:

 The four-year employment contract for incoming Buffalo School Superintendent Kriner Cash makes him the highest paid leader of any major urban school district in the state, but does not lay out any specific performance expectations. Those will be set later. Moreover, Cash’s contract includes unusually specific communication procedures designed to prevent individual board members from telling him what to do without official board authorization.

Oh, the specific performance expectations will be set later.

How much later?

Undetermined performance evaluation: While some superintendent contracts provide explicit parameters for how a superintendent’s work will be judged, Cash’s contract includes only one sentence stating that the adoption of specific performance expectations and measures will be developed through a collaborative process by Sept. 30.

Hired first, performance expectations and measures later - this isn't sitting well with Crazy Carl Paladino:

Board member Carl Paladino, who served on the negotiating committee along with Sampson and board member Barbara Seals Nevergold, criticized the fact that Cash was given such a lengthy employment contract term without identifying specific performance goals. He was out of the country when the board approved Cash’s contract and said he attended only one meeting with the board’s negotiating team.

“There’s no standards set for this guy,” Paladino stated. “We’re telling him you’re employed for four years, and we’re not telling him what his job is.”

Silly Crazy Carl - expectations and accountability are for little people in the school district, not for the people who run it.

School Officials Look To Gut Labor Contracts At Buffalo Schools Under Receivership

Here is the future of many public schools in New York State:

Some of Buffalo’s most struggling schools could get unprecedented power to hire staff, extend the school day and implement reform strategies without negotiating them with labor unions under a receivership plan being developed by the state.

The preliminary plan also removes powers such as developing the budget and approving curriculum from the Board of Education, and puts them in the hands of the receiver.

School officials who have been in talks with state education leaders presented early ideas of what the receivership model could look like during a School Board meeting on Wednesday.

The guidelines are still being developed, but the talks give some idea of how the model could affect the schools.

“What this looks like is our legislators created the Taylor Law and the Triborough Amendment and after years and years of our schools sliding into failure, they know they need to make changes,” said board member Carl Paladino, referencing state laws that guarantee union protections. “They’re doing a carve out.”

Make no mistake, the powers that be would love to "carve out" whole swaths of the system from work protections, labor contracts and the like.

And make no mistake, that's exactly what is going on here in Buffalo:

Board members and district administrators, however, recognized that the language being used to discuss the potential guidelines is somewhat vague, and it is still unclear just how much power the receiver will have to circumvent contracts.

They unilaterally agreed that they should attempt to influence the development of the guidelines by advocating for powers they believe the schools need to succeed.

“If you don’t push this thing as far as you can, you won’t get the benefits intended,” said Interim Superintendent Donald A. Ogilvie.

The receivership model is Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s latest proposal for assisting schools that consistently fail to meet academic standards.

They can't get more blatant than this - you'd better "push things as far as you can" or "you won't get the benefits intended."

So they're going to advocate "for powers they believe the schools need to succeed" - you know, like the power to hire and fire at will, dole out the money without any direction from the Board of Education, and basically create an autonomous "public school" that is running autocratically without any say from anybody other than the "receiver."

We've seen this in Michigan, we've seen a lighter variation of it at the "turnaround schools" in NYC, but Buffalo's going to get the full version if Cuomo and his buddies have their way.

And make no mistake, once a few school are put into receivership in Buffalo, the powers that be will champion the system and look to put the whole city system into receivership:

The targeted schools are Buffalo Elementary School of Technology, Futures Preparatory School, West Hertel Academy, and Burgard and South Park high schools. More schools would likely be in the same position after two years.

Then they'll go at Rochester, at Syracuse, at Yonkers, and NYC, chopping away at the "failing" public school system until they have gutted all but the wealthy suburbs with charter schools and receivership schools.

Shock Doctrine 101 - we must do what works!

And what works?

Why, autocracy and oligarchy, of course.

StudentsFirstNY And The New Teacher Project Have A Teachers Contract Framework For You

From the Buffalo News:

StudentsFirstNY, a statewide education reform group, and TNTP, a national education reform group, has released a new report outlining their recommendations for changes to the Buffalo Teachers Federation contract. The report is endorsed by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, but many of the proposals are unlikely to be readily agreed to by the teachers union.

Their seven-page report recommends higher starting salaries for teachers -- an increase from $32,897 to at least $45,000 -- but it also recommends that many changes that would require givebacks from the BTF, including teacher contributions to health insurance, a devaluation of teacher seniority, merit-based pay, longer school days, a more rigorous tenure process, and fewer sick days.

The report overview states, "In many ways, the current agreement actually makes it harder for teachers to get the pay and respect they deserve, and harder for Buffalo’s schools to ensure that students are afforded effective teachers who can provide a high-quality education."

Do they even read the garbage they write?

They write: "In many ways, the current agreement actually makes it harder for teachers to get the pay and respect they deserve."

Their remedy?

"An increase from $32,897 to at least $45,000 -- but it also recommends that many changes that would require givebacks from the BTF, including teacher contributions to health insurance, a devaluation of teacher seniority, merit-based pay, longer school days, a more rigorous tenure process, and fewer sick days."

Yeah, that'll get quality people to sign on to teach in Buffalo (or anywhere else they push this garbage.)

This is the second "report" out this week from an ed reform hack group calling for higher teacher pay to be offset with other "reforms."

NCTE also touted one.

You can see the framework for teachers contract going forward here - massive givebacks in every area for a little chunk of change in the beginning.

This one goes for the moon - seniority devaluation, merit pay, longer school days, tenure "reform," fewer sick days and cuts to health benefits for a little over $12,000.

No thanks.

Good luck selling that to prospective and current teachers as a sign of "respect."

Surrender Is Victory In The AFT/NYSUT/UFT World

Two points to make in the world of AFT/NYSUT/UFT politics:

First a tweet from one of the UFT cronies who launched the challenge against NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi

Make some noise to save our services! Save our schools! pic.twitter.com/CLF6wjTPi1
— Andy Pallotta (@AndyPallotta) January 29, 2014

This was at the Public Employees Federation, Civil Service Employees Association and NYSCOPBA union rally protesting Cuomo's anti-union policies, particularly the policy to downsize human services in the state by getting rid of union workers and replacing them with non-union workers.

In a reply tweet, I pointed this out to Pallotta:

@AndyPallotta @tfarley1969 So wait, you're raising reelection funds for Cuomo, but protesting him too?
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) January 29, 2014

And of course he was just raising funds for Cuomo a couple of weeks ago:

MEMORANDUM

 TO:        NYSUT Board of Directors

FROM:  Andy Pallotta, Executive Vice President

DATE:   January 15, 2014

RE:        NYSUT’s Legislative Reception

On Monday evening, January 27, 2014, NYSUT will host a Legislative Reception and briefing in the Observation Deck of the Erastus Corning Tower at the Empire State Plaza.  The reception will be held between6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.

 The Governor and his executive staff, members and the executive staff of the Senate and Assembly will be our invited guests.

 Light refreshments will be served and a cash bar will be available.

 A copy of the invitation is attached.  If you are interested and your schedule allows, please RSVP to Karen Rhatigan at (518) 213-6000 x6626 or by e-mail, krhatigan@nysutmail.org.

In other AFT/NYSUT/UFT news, Jessica Bakeman reports the following at Capital NY:

ALBANY—Teachers in Buffalo will likely join their peers in New York City in supporting a slate of challengers to the current leadership of New York State United Teachers, a powerful statewide union.

NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi is losing ground in his contested April election, with two major urban teachers' unions throwing support to challenger Karen McGee, a local union leader in Westchester. Andy Palotta, the current executive vice president and a force in Albany, is running for re-election and backing McGee.

Philip Rumore, president of the Buffalo Federation of Teachers, said his members are frustrated that the current leadership wasn't as aggressive as they'd hoped in responding to the state's rollout of the controversial Common Core standards.

“Many of the Buffalo teachers have not been satisfied with the positions that NYSUT has taken,” Rumore told Capital on Wednesday. “Let's put it this way: If anything, we are leaning toward a change in direction, but we haven't made a formal decision yet.”

Iannuzzi has gotten aggressive these past few weeks, calling for a "no confidence vote" on NYSED Commissioner King, withdrawing support from the CCSS until a list of demands are met by the state, and criticizing the governor's budget.

Pallotta, the UFT functionary helping to push the "challenger" slate against Iannuzzi, has been raising money for Andrew Cuomo.

I left this comment on the Bakeman piece at Capital NY:

Iannuzzi has gotten more aggressive in the recent weeks while the Pallotta/Mulgrew slate is still hanging out with Andy Cuomo and giving him bags of cash for re-election. The Orwellian nature of AFT/NYSUT/UFT politics never ceases to amaze. Literally up is down and black is white. The less aggressive "challengers" are getting supported because the Iannuzzi regime hasn't been aggressive enough.

You can't make this stuff up - Rumore is going to back the challengers who have been raising cash for Andrew Cuomo because Iannizzi and his slate hasn't been aggressive enough against Cuomo, even though they have ratcheted up the aggression in the past weeks.

Orwellian beyond belief - but par for the course at the AFT/NYSUT/UFT.

Performance Assessment Thursday

We are giving the ELA Measures of Student Learning Performance Assessments to students today and tomorrow so that every teacher in the school can be evaluated to see how much growth students make from September to June.

Because it makes total sense that social studies, science, art, physical education and other teachers outside of English Language Arts be evaluated using the ELA Measures of Student Learning Performance Assessments.

Oh, wait - no, it really doesn't make sense at all.

In fact, James Eterno reports at ICEUFT that even our intrepid UFT leadership seems to understand that:

He then spoke about evaluations and said we would not go back to the old system even though the current process is not that great.  The biggest concern is the Measures of Student Learning portion of the system. He said we had an agreement with the Department of Education in March that fell apart that was much better than the system State Education Department Commissioner John King imposed in his arbitration.

 

He added that there are contradictions in the arbitration and that it isn't going to work but that the point of it is to support and develop the work that teachers do.  He told us he can't understand how a teacher who does not teach English can be held accountable for English test results.  He then stated that this is not the evaluation system we would want a year from now and said it would be fixed in contract negotiations.

That's interesting that Mulgrew is now stating the system as currently imposed isn't so great because he keeps sending us emails telling us how much better it is than the old evaluation system (see here and here for that.)

But I have some news for our intrepid UFT leadership over their hope of "fixing" the problems with the system in contract negotiations with the new mayor.

NYSED Commissioner King, the man who imposed this system on NYC teachers through the 2016-2017 year, has final say on any revisions or changes to evaluation systems through contractual negotiation.

So whatever changes they hope to bring to this system, whatever "fixes" they want to propose, they have to not only get the new mayor on board with them, they have to get NYSED Commissioner King on board.

King has already attacked Buffalo over a side agreement the district made with the union, pledging not to fire any teachers using the APPR system the first year because the system kinks still have not been worked out.

King was outraged that Buffalo wanted to make sure the system worked before using it to fire anybody and he and his boss, Governor Cuomo, threatened to pull back all kinds of funding for the district if they did not agree to use the untested, unpiloted, unfinished evaluation system for high stakes decisions like firing teachers.

This is not the action of somebody who will readily sign off on "fixes" to the current teacher evaluation system he imposed on us.

Now maybe Mulgrew and the next mayor can convince King and his NYSED reformers that the changes they want to the system make sense and are fair and just to everybody involved.

But I have yet to see any glimpse of common sense, fairness or justice from our NYSED commissioner in Albany, so they have an uphill battle at getting major "fixes" to the system through.

As always, hope to be wrong about this stuff.

I hope Mulgrew and de Blasio make an agreement on the system that gets rid of much (or all) of the insanity and makes the system as workable as possible within the confines of the law.

But it pays to be cynical these days around anything in education, so I have my doubts that King will sign off on anything that doesn't look pretty much like what we already have in place.

Unless pressure is put on Cuomo and the other pols in Albany over this stuff, that is.

That would be the only way I see King caving on his "reforms."

Happy Performance Assessment Thursday everybody!

Andrew Cuomo Declares War Against Public School Teachers

Why did Andrew Cuomo say he believes "failing" public schools deserve "the death penalty"?

At first, when I read on the Internet that Cuomo had this, I thought the writer meant he said something close to it in a hyperbolic way.

But no, Governor Cuomo actually said it:

“There is going to be have to be a death penalty for failing schools . . . where we say the children come first, before the bureaucracy,” Cuomo told reporters during a stop in suburban Buffalo late Thursday. “If the school fails, the school has to end.”

Cuomo said options for failing schools include a takeover by the state or a takeover by a charter school.

“I don’t want Albany to sit there and tell communities how to run their schools but I do feel comfortable sitting in Albany and saying failing schools is not an option,” Cuomo said.

Such an interesting phrase to use - "death penalty" - when talking about schools.

Why not ""failing schools deserve to be closed"?

Or "failing schools cannot be allowed to continue to fail"?

I would take issue with the simplicity of those statements, since there are many reasons why schools "fail" that often have nothing to do with the schools or the teachers teaching there.

But at least the language would be less inflammatory.

To say that "failing" schools deserve "the death penalty" amounts to a declaration of war by this governor against public schools and public school teachers.

Folks, he wants to exterminate some of us.

Seriously - just look at the language he used.

Language always gives you away and the language Little Andy chose here gives him away as a  pro-charter, pro-education deform, anti-teacher, anti-union corporatist who wants to destroy the public school system and the teachers in it.

That he's purposely using language that once defined something his father was famously opposed to - the real "death penalty" for convicted criminals - is even more concerning.

It's his way of saying "I am not father, I am not Hamlet on the Hudson, I am no liberal commie pinko - I am a tough guy with tough policies who plans to get tough on 'failing' schools and put them to death."

In the short term, this language and this statement is aimed at Buffalo.

As I conjectured a month and a half ago, it seems obvious that Governor Cuomo and NYSED Commissioner King plan a state takeover of the Buffalo school district.

Cuomo and King have been pissed at Buffalo ever since that side deal the district made with the union over APPR and now they plan to get even by taking over the district, killing off the public schools and opening up charter schools either run by or patronized by their hedge fund cronies.

In the long term, though, it is a declaration of war by Governor Cuomo against teachers.

APPR was of course a strike against teachers and schools in NY State.

Forcing an APPR system on NYC teachers was a strike against NYC teachers.

But Cuomo has ratcheted up the level of animosity and hostility here by using such inflammatory language.

It is high time we return the favor.

If Governor Cuomo thinks it is time some schools be given the "death penalty" for struggles that are often beyond their means to fix, then it is time for teachers of all political ideologies to get together and help pull the plug on the 2014 Cuomo re-election plan and the Cuomo 2016 presidential plan.

Andrew Cuomo is a thug and a bully and a crook, that we've known for a while.

Now, after the "death penalty for schools" statement, he is also a war criminal against public schools.

It is time to put an end to his Reign of Terror.

How in heaven's sake he ever thought that "death penalty" was a proper phrase to use when talking about schools, students and teachers is beyond me.

But it does give you insight into the violent man he is in his heart.

NYSED Commissioner John King Looks To Take Total Control

It's John King's way or the highway - there's no other way to read this story:

BUFFALO, NY - New York's Education Commissioner wants the state legislature to pass a bill, giving the Board of Regents the authority to take over school boards in districts failing academically and/or financially.

Under the proposal, there would be benchmarks for state intervention, involving a three-step approach, with a takeover the last step if a district continues to fail to implement mandated changes.

"The Board of Regents has put forward a legislative proposal that would allow the board to remove a school board in a district that is chronically under-performing, and require the appointment of an education oversight board that would be similar to a fiscal control board," Commissioner John King told WGRZ-TV.

"That control board would then have responsibility for managing the district," King said.
Giving the Board of Regents that type of authority isn't a new idea. A bill to do so was first proposed in 2011; however, it never made it out of committee that year, or the next ..., and was not even submitted in the last legislative session of 2013.

"It has not yet been acted upon, but that's certainly one of the options we believe should be on the table for the Board of Regents when you have a district that is chronically under-performing and, from a governance perspective unable to move forward," said King. 

And just which district would John King be wanting to get his hands on?

Why Buffalo, of course!

To hear King describe the Buffalo Public Schools, its top administrators, and its Board of Education, Buffalo might be ripe as a takeover target.

King notes Buffalo has, in recent times, missed deadlines to enact acceptable plans to turn around troubled schools, implement school choice plans, and agreements for teacher evaluations

"The district leadership has a set of obligations. Those obligations haven't been fulfilled," King said.

Where does the governor stand on King's proposed changes?

"I don't think it's a good idea for the state to become a foster parent here,"" said Lt. Governor Robert Duffy, during a visit to the Buffalo are in June. "I think the Governor would prefer results to come locally, to come from the ground up...I would hope there would be a number of things that would be done before it ever gets to that."

King is still angry at the Buffalo school district for showing him up over the teacher evaluation law and making a side agreement with the union that nobody would be fired the first year under the new APPR system.

King and Cuomo got that side agreement quashed by threatening to hold back funding from the district.

This came after Cuomo accused the district of legal and ethical fraud by making the side agreement.

Now the teachers union in Buffalo is suing to get that agreement reinstated.

There are districts in NY State that perform similarly to Buffalo on so-called accountability measures like state test scores and graduation rates - Rochester comes to mind.

And yet, King only has his sights on Buffalo, both with his bludgeon (he is trying to force the district to allow students to transfer out to BOCES in the area) and now with his state takeover proposal.

He clearly has a vendetta against the district.

I wondered a while ago if King was aiming to have the state take over the Buffalo school district.

With King strongly urging the legislature to pass this proposal into law, you can bet he is.

The message coming out of the NYSED is, do what we want or we will take you over.

Quite literally John King thinks he is "the king."

Is NYSED Commissioner John King Setting Up For State Takeover Of Buffalo?

Yesterday we learned that NYSED Commissioner John King is threatening to revoke the registrations of two turnaround schools in Buffalo, Lafayette and East high schools, unless the district accedes to his demands and sends students at those two BPS schools to a BOCES outside of Buffalo for vocational classes on the BPS dime.

Both of those high schools had been partnering with Johns Hopkins University "to prepare the schools for a full implementation of the university’s turnaround model" and Charles Hiteshew, head of Johns Hopkins’ educational “talent development” program for middle and high schools, told the Buffalo News that “Those schools have been tremendous partners to work with."

Hiteshew went on to say that he saw no problems at either the school or district levels that "would  suggest that the university could not successfully serve as the lead administrators of Lafayette and East next school year."

But NYSED Commissioner is threatening to pull the plug on the turnaround funding for both of these schools and forcing them to send students outside of the district for vocational classes because King says "the district is simply incapable of providing a quality program there.”

Charles Hiteshew, head of Johns Hopkins’ educational “talent development” program for middle and high schools, differs with NYSED Commissioner King on that statement and told Buffalo News that “For us to pull the plug on this at this time would be devastating."

But that's just what NYSED Commissioner King plans to do, regardless of what the school leaders and staffs at Lafayette and East say, regardless of what district leaders in Buffalo say, regardless of what the turnaround specialists at Johns Hopkins say.

King's move to strip the schools of turnaround funding and send students outside of the district for vocational classes has some in Buffalo wondering if there isn't an ulterior motive behind the NYSED attack on Buffalo.

Pineapple Hare noted the following in my post on the Buffalo/King matter yesterday:

Our local charter mavens have had their eye on East High School for a while. They tried to do a 'conversion charter' last year but the alumni and local people would not let that happen. East High School is a beautifully renovated building with a highly regarded science lab. King would like nothing more that a 'conversion charter' to add to his resume and the local charter folks would like nothing more than to get their hands on this valuable building.

So King is creating a bit of chaos and hoping that while the dust is settling, his lawyer and corporate charter friends can complete the work that they began last year, even though they are NOT wanted.

Sean Crowley expanded on that point in his comment:

Last year they set up a meeting to discuss stealing East and another building with very valuable lakefront real estate next door to some apartments that are about to become gentrified.

While it seems quite plausible that King is fronting for his charter school buddies to eventually take over both the Lafayette and East buildings with his help, some in Buffalo wonder if he isn't setting his sights even higher - an entire district takeover.

In today's Buffalo News, we learn this:

A mandate from the state education commissioner that students in two low-performing Buffalo public schools take classes outside the district was met with cheers from some stakeholders, while others questioned the proposed remedy and requested that the district be given more time to turn around the schools.

Reaction from Board of Education members, city officials and state legislators ranged from impatience with the district’s poor performance to confusion about what the mandate means and a desire for the district’s efforts during the last year to be recognized.

And some wondered if this means the state is preparing to completely take over the district.

Given that progress has been made at both of those schools, at least according to turnaround specialist Charles Hiteshew, given that King's "solution" for the problems at Lafayette and East is causing more confusion and chaos than anything else (even a supporter of King's attack on BPS, Ellicott Council Member Darius G. Pridgen, said“I’m not sure his solution is adequate for the problem.”), and given that King and his NYSED people have launched unprecedented attacks against BPS officials, calling them "insane" and "preposterous", you have to wonder if that isn't the rationale behind all of this.

Take a look at the language King uses in his attacks on BPS:

“Far too many students have been educationally abandoned, their futures cast into distress by the poor academic services they have received,” King said. “I am compelled to take action. The steps I am taking today are unprecedented in New York State, but the situation at these schools, which continues to hurt hundreds of students, cannot continue.”

That's the line of attack King is using for the state to step in and direct what is going to happen at these two Buffalo schools, but it also can be used as a line of attack on the district as a whole.

As I wrote yesterday, King and his boss, Andrew Cuomo, are pissed at Buffalo for making a side agreement with the Buffalo Teachers Federation over the new APPR evaluation system that would restrict its use in high stakes employment decisions for one year.

While that agreement has been declared null and void by BPS after King threatened to withhold funding from the district and after Cuomo called the agreement something akin to "legal and ethical fraud," the BTF has now taken the district to court to have the agreement reinstated.

BPS officials wondered yesterday why King is so aggressive in taking on "failing" schools in Buffalo but acts with restraint with "failing" schools in other cities.

There can be little doubt that the pushback King and NYSED have gotten from the Buffalo Teachers Federation on the state's reformy nonsense like the APPR teacher evaluation system is playing a role in these NYSED attacks on the district.

I don't doubt that the charter community has had their eye on East and Lafayette and Waterfront for a while now and King is doing his best to help them get their greedy hands on the real estate.

But the vitriolic language King is using to talk about these issues in Buffalo suggests that there is more to this than a simple land grab.

Could it be that King is eying a state takeover of the entire district in order to destroy the Buffalo Teachers Federation and end the one counterattack he has gotten from a state union on his reformy nonsense?

While that may seem like a far-fetched idea, looking at how King is treating East and Lafayette, forcing "solutions" onto these schools that even King supporters say will cause chaos and confusion and undercutting the turnaround efforts that Johns Hopkins officials say are going well, all the while attacking district leaders as "insane", you have wonder.

Clearly whatever is behind King's aggressive attacks on BPS, it's not about the kids.

NYSED Commissioner John King Carries Out A Vendetta Against Buffalo Schools

NYSED Commissioner/rookie teacher John King has told the Buffalo school district that they must allow students from two turnaround high schools to attend classes outside of the district because  "the district is simply incapable of providing a quality program there.”

The schools in question are Lafayette and East high schools.

Both schools are undergoing turnaround reforms and serve high needs populations.  Buffalo News reports that Lafayette "provides instruction to a student population that is 70 percent immigrant and refugee."

King is threatening to pull the plug on turnaround funding and revoke "the registrations of these schools and effectively shut them down" unless the district agrees to allow for students to take vocational classes outside of the Buffalo school district fully paid for by BPS.

Johns Hopkins University has been working with staffs at both schools "to prepare the schools for a full implementation of the university’s turnaround model."

King claims that BPS has “'has failed to create the conditions necessary' to allow Johns Hopkins to effectively implement its turnaround model at the two schools as required by education law."

But according to Buffalo News, Johns Hopkins University officials praised the staffs and leadership at both schools for their dedication and said progress was being made on the turnaround efforts:

Charles Hiteshew, who heads up Johns Hopkins’ educational “talent development” program for middle and high schools, offered nothing but praise for the staffs and leadership at Lafayette and East.

“Those schools have been tremendous partners to work with,” he said.

Regarding the central administration, he said, “It’s bureaucracy, but it’s bureaucracy anywhere. There haven’t been structural issues we haven’t been able to work through.”

Nothing in his experience would suggest that the university could not successfully serve as the lead administrators of Lafayette and East next school year, he said.

He added that Johns Hopkins already has established a six-member school leadership team in Buffalo, including three people who have relocated from Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and the Seattle area. The university was prepared to establish small learning communities at each school with teaching teams, an accelerated curriculum and early-warning system to keep students from falling behind.

Unless the state agrees to award the grant money to Lafayette and East, he said, “it will be pretty much impossible to deliver those resources.”

“For us to pull the plug on this at this time would be devastating,” he said.

Ah, but that's exactly what NYSED Commissioner/rookie teacher John King plans to do.

Who cares if Johns Hopkins is praising the staffs and leadership at these schools and saying that he believes the turnaround implementation will be successful?

John King certainly doesn't, and that's because he has a vendetta against the Buffalo school district and the Buffalo teachers union for trying to delay the high stakes consequences of his APPR teacher evaluation system.

King was angered when he found out that the Buffalo school district and the union had made a side agreement to not use the new system for high stakes employment decisions for one year until the kinks could be worked out of the system.

King and his boss, Andrew Cuomo, launched attacks against Buffalo, with Cuomo calling the side agreement something that bordered on legal and ethical fraud, and forced the district to abandon the agreement with the union.

The Buffalo Teachers Union has filed suit to force the district to abide by that agreement:

“We will leave no stone unturned to make sure these evaluations, which everybody now realizes were flawed, aren’t being held against our teachers,” said BTF President Philip Rumore.

State officials said the side agreement reached between the district and the union is invalid because it was not submitted to the state as part of the district’s official teacher-evaluation process.

Legal action by the teachers union could threaten the status of more than $30 million in state aid this year, in addition to more than $10 million in various other government funding this year and tens of millions in future years.

Rumore said the BTF will work with the New York State United Teachers union to legally challenge any effort by the state to withhold funds from the Buffalo Public Schools.

“We’re going to fight to make sure that they don’t use our kids as pawns in order for us to get this money,” he said.

Finally, the BTF may still consider rescinding, by vote of all Buffalo teachers, its approval of the teacher evaluations for the last two school years.

Some on the Buffalo school board are complaining that King has it in for Buffalo, that there are other districts with schools more troubled than Buffalo that King ignores while he focuses his reformy efforts on Buffalo.

Gee, the bad blood King and Cuomo have over the evaluation side agreement and the resulting court case couldn't be having an effect on how King treats Lafayette and East high schools, could it?

I mean, NYSED Commissioner/rookie teacher John King, he with the vaunted one year teaching experience in a public school and the architecture experience creating a Boston charter school with one of the highest attrition and suspension rates in the state of Massachusetts, wouldn't let his hostile feelings toward the Buffalo school board and teachers union cloud his judgment when dealing with these two schools, would he?

Yeah, actually he would and is.

It is clear when the Johns Hopkins University turnaround people are praising the staffs and leadership at both Buffalo schools, declaring progress is being made in both schools, and asking for the time needed to complete that progress but the NYSED Commissioner is undercutting all of that by claiming the Buffalo school district is incapable of educating students at those schools, slashing the turnaround funding for the schools and demanding the district allow students to take outside classes that he is purposely trying to destroy both of these schools and scapegoat the teachers and the schools and district leadership as failures.

Cuomo, NYSED: You MUST Use APPR To Fire Teachers

NYSED Commissioner John King, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo, is threatening two different districts with side agreements to their teacher evaluations agreements.

As was reported yesterday, Governor Cuomo threatened the Buffalo school district and teachers union for being close to "ethical and legal fraud" for making a side agreement that no teacher will be fired the first year under APPR because the system has yet to be fully implemented and the kinks in it have yet to be worked out.

Here is what the head of the Buffalo district wrote in the agreement:

“The District understands that it would not be fair to our teachers to use this process against them during this early stage of implementation,” Superintendent Pamela Brown wrote in a memorandum of understanding with the Buffalo Teachers Federation that was struck on the same day as the city and union agreed on an evaluation plan but was not shared with the state.

Governor Cuomo disagreed with that assessment of the process:

In a radio interview today, Cuomo called the side deal, struck at the same time as Buffalo and its union agreed on a new teacher evaluation system in January, “very close to legal and ethical fraud.”

NYSED Commissioner King has stated that Buffalo MUST use the new APPR evaluation system to fire teachers the first year because

 “The law says the evaluations ‘shall be a significant factor in employment decisions.'"

But an NYSUT official pushed back against King's assertion, saying

“That interpretation is wrong. The agreement is permitted under the law,” said Carl Korn, a New York State United Teachers spokesman. “The law says the district ‘may’ bring charges [after two years of ineffective ratings].”

The NYSED says that because the letter of agreement between Buffalo and the union was not sent to the state as part of their teacher evaluation plan, which has to be signed off upon by King, it is not part of the agreement and is superseded by the "official" plan that was approved by NYSED.

Therefore they MUST use the APPR system to fire teachers the first year running, no matter how many problems arise in the system, or they will lose state funds.  They sent a letter to the district stating just that in January:

The state reserves the right to revoke its approval of the district’s plan, she wrote – and if that happens, the district stands to lose not only its $33 million increase in state aid, but nearly $14 million in various other funding, she wrote, and could jeopardize tens of millions in additional funding.

NYSED decided that statement wasn't threatening enough and sent another one in March:

“The department considers void any other previously signed agreements between and among those parties,” she wrote. “The Buffalo Public Schools must implement the terms of its approved [annual professional performance review] plan.”

Just in case you think the NYSED is fooling around, the Democrat and Chronicle reports they have threatened the Rome school district over the issue as well:

In Rome, a local newspaper reported in March that the district and local union agreed to “hold harmless” teachers and principals from negative evaluations in the first years of implementation.“Please take immediate steps to rectify any confusion that may have resulted from the Rome Sentinel news story (including contacting the Rome Sentinel to correct the story),” the education department wrote to Rome schools on March 27, referring to the newspaper article.

“Further, failure to have an approved (evaluation) plan, in full compliance with (education law), can result in various consequences, including but not limited to suspension and/or redirection of federal funds.”

The NYSED and Regents say that the expected lower test scores on the vaunted new Common Core tests won't be held against teachers, yet they're threatening any district that doesn't use these scores as part of the new APPR system to label teachers "ineffective" and fire them.

And they're doing this even though the system has yet to be fully implemented, even though the value-added formulas the state is using for APPR have not been tested, even though the Common Core tests themselves have not been validated for use in teacher evaluations.

As one commenter put it at the Buffalo newspaper:

The fact that King continues to plow ahead asserting the need to eliminate teachers in an untested system reveals the true agenda for other people's children.

That's exactly right.

You can imagine the system NYSED Commissioner John King is going to impose on NYC teachers come June 1 if the UFT and the NYCDOE do not come to an agreement beforehand.

King and his NYSED cohorts have shown little-to-no concern over teachers' fears that an untested system will unfairly smear many teachers as "ineffective," ruin their careers and wreck their professional reputations.

Pity that the UFT leadership seems just fine with King and Cuomo imposing their own system in June.