By Elizabeth Ling, DFER NY State Director
The standoff around teacher evaluations in Buffalo continues. This past week, state education commissioner John King released a public letter addressed to Buffalo teachers’ union head Phil Rumore in which he sought to “clear up a few misconceptions.”
The commissioner’s letter makes it clear that the hold-up in SIG (School Improvement Grant) negotiations is no longer around the controversial student attendance provision, as the union would lead the public to believe. The SED (State Education Department) essentially signed off on the district’s proposed version weeks ago. King had this to say:
“As educators, we cannot abdicate all responsibility for students who are chronically absent. Instead, we must work with them and their families to help them get back on track.”
The issue is the intractability of the union, the lone stakeholder refusing to sign the agreement. As a result of Rumore holding Buffalo’s schools hostage, the city recently lost a potential university partner that would have brought its expertise to help turnaround two struggling schools. As King said: “Buffalo students need SIG resources and the initiatives those resources will support. More importantly, they need an evaluation system that allows their principals and teachers to continue to grow professionally.”
Union and district negotiations are expected to re-start in coming weeks. Hannya Boulos of Buffalo ReformED and Tim Daly of The New Teacher Project have recently weighed in on the debate.
Elizabeth Ling oversees strategy and operations for DFER’s New York State advocacy programs. She focuses on building coalitions of various education reform groups, and works with legislators and government officials to help shape public education policies.