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| Mayor's Erratic Behavior Continues; School Control Debate Rages |
By: Aaron E. Wicks
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Posted: Thursday, January 28, 2010 9:03 pm
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Rochester, NY (January 29, 2010) -- Although New York State politics has a notorious capacity to ignore debate and citizen concern and plow ahead with the "wisdom" of a small coterie of men in Albany, those wise individuals may be well served by looking closely at the slow unraveling of Mayor Robert Duffy's carefully-crafted plan to impose mayoral control of Rochester's schools. Consider the following events from the late January:
The "secret" plan
After significant pressure for more details, Duffy released a "draft" plan to Rochester's City Council. Council had scheduled a rare Sunday working session to review the document, then scrapped it when they realized the public outcry that was mounting. Duffy provided no clear reason why Council was entitled to review the document a full 5 days before members of the public were allowed to view it. The approach bewildered many observers, seeming to contradict one of the mayor's own arguments against the current school system: the inaccessibility of the public to important decision-making. If parents feel the school board is not parent-friendly, it is difficult to comprehend how they would appreciate being left in the dark for several days while only a select few are permitted to review information. True, those select few are elected representatives, but there is something undemocratic about such tight control over information.
The plan that was no plan
When the plan as finally revealed to the public on Thursday, January 28, it turned out to be -- campaign literature. The 11-page document reads like a rambling Duffy speech. It waxes poetic and is anecdotal. Just as his administration has lurched from one "hot" issue to another, the plan document strings together aphorisms that alternatively trash the district and then wistfully yearn for a return to Mayberry. In the 11 pages, there is only one page that identifies anything close to concrete proposals. There are seven such bullet points. The essentially mimic what an amateur candidate for school board would put in their keycards: neighborhood schools, schools as community centers, zero tolerance on violence, etc. Nothing that anyone could really object to, but interestingly, nothing that specifically requires school to be controlled by the mayor. If anything, the plan leads one to say: this is it? This is what we're being asked to accept in exchange for losing our right to select our school board members directly? It hardly seems worth the trouble.
Fuzzy math
The mayor made one specific commitment this past week: to raise the graduation rate from 46% to 65%. One problem with his promise: it overstates the degree of change he will actually be bringing. While he notes that the graduation rate has fluctuated between 39% and 52% over the past several years, the New York State Department of Education has provided the following rates from 2004 - 2007 (the last year data are available through their website):
2002: 51%
2003: 51%
2004: 52%
2005: 51%
2006: 58%
2007: 49%
Had Duffy shown the near-term trend of a measurement that is relatively variable (graduation rates do not move solely up or down, they vary), readers would conclude that, on average, the district is graduating around 50-52% in any given year. Yet Duffy's commitment portrays the district's rate at 46% (which may indeed be the most recent rate) as if this is a solid, long-established benchmark -- it is not. This is equivalent to a consistent C student committing to his parents to improve his grades from his most recent D to a B-. Well, that seems like more improvement than it really is - no parent would be fooled by such a tactic, yet this week, Duffy thought he could slip one by the parents in Rochester.
So much for the "Cala for Superintendent" campaign
One need not think back too far in history to recall one of the Mayor's more embarrassing gaffes regarding the school district. After the Rochester City School Board named William Cala (former Superintendent of the Fairport School District) as interim superintendent in Rochester, Duffy believed he had found a political soul mate on Broad Street. Despite the Board's clear intent to conduct a competitive search process for a permanent superintendent -- and the opportunity Cala had to apply for the job had he wanted it (he declined) -- Duffy continued to tout Cala as the best choice for Rochester. Yet this past week, Cala stated, in more than one interview that he not only opposes mayoral control, he believes that the only motivation by the mayor on the issue is money and political power. When such claims came from some community members, they were dismissed as sour grapes rhetoric. Coming from a former ally as Cala, they cannot be interpreted as anything short of damning.
Assemblyman Gantt under siege on Friday
In another twist to the story, Assemblyman David Gantt, long a fighter for the down-trodden in Rochester, will find the tables turned on him on Friday, January 29. Opponents of mayoral control will picket his office on University Avenue, protesting his collusion with Mayor Duffy on the schools issue. For Gantt, the situation is a strange one: as someone who has long been identified as not only the dean of Rochester's Albany delegation, but also one of Rochester's most outspoken and unyielding leaders of the African American community, Gantt now finds himself on the outside looking in. In 2008, he opposed Barack Obama's candidacy during New York's primary, running as a delegate for Hillary Clinton. This year he has signed on to the mayor's plan for the schools before seeing just how much grassroots opposition exists. Gantt has always been known to go his own way, but these last two decisions regarding Obama and mayoral control strike many of his former admirers as something more indicative of backroom political deal-making and less the independent "un-bought, un-owned" leadership that had previously been his hallmark. Some observers have even speculated that one or more candidates might even mount a primary challenge to Gantt.
Don't provoke those Baptists
Despite efforts by the mainstream media to frame the mayoral control issue as a sincere policy move by Duffy opposed by entrenched union interests, it became clear this past week, that the opposition to the mayor's plan is far broader and deeper than initial reports suggested. One group -- the Baptist Ministers' Alliance -- has been particularly active on the issue, holding multiple public forums. One local minister, in particular has been moved to act: Minister Lawrance Lee Evans, Sr. Evans, who happens to be the father of School Board President Malik Evans, is clearly no stranger to public scrapes and has not been afraid to take on established power, having run campaigns (his own and others) for decades. Evans has announced a strategy session, the theme of which appears to be quite clear:
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“PREVARICATION OF MAYORAL CONTROL” Minister Lawrance Lee Evans Sr. has taught many of the leaders who oppose “mayoral control” of the Rochester City School District. On Sunday, Minister Evans will address some of those leaders, as well as his future leaders, at 4 pm at 219 Hamilton Street. Minister Lawrance Lee Evans Sr. is the founder of First Community Interfaith Institute (a spiritual and cultural organization plus a teaching church) and is the developer of the discipline “Doology” and the major financial supporter of the Charles Riley Tutorial Program. He will give information that is pertinent to the crafty procedure of “mayoral control” to deceive citizens. The ascendancy of Jim Crow and the disenfranchisement of citizens are the real issues. “Mayoral control” does not only disorganize the elected school board, but it is the disinterment of the “Birth of a Nation” by individuals who are skilled in disingenuous behavior and promoting hysteria for the purpose of incestuous greed and lust. Minister Evans will speak to the rambling nature of “Mayoral Control.” He will dissect the infantile philosophy of “Mayoral Control” into its feudalistic elements. Minister Evans will speak on PREVARICATION OF MAYORAL CONTROL this Sunday, 4 pm, 219 Hamilton Street. Minister Lawrance Lee Evans Sr. is a teacher of citizenship, cooperative capitalism, religious tolerance, empowerment and education. He trains leaders by his philosophy called Doology.
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Ouch. Incidentally, "prevaricate" is an interesting word choice. Its origin is in a word meaning "bowlegged" and referred to someone "straddling" an issue. Not knowing the condition of the Mayor's legs, it is safe to say that after several years of public and private assurances to a number of people that he opposed mayoral control -- or perhaps needed to read more about it, the mayor has finally swung his long legs over to one side of the fence. Perhaps now a clear debate can begin.
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Member Opinions:
By: NewlPost on 1/30/10
Straight to the point - good article. No prevaricating around the bush. Duffy looks like a Corporate Dem here, without a doubt. I see part of this move as an "in" to those motivated by profit. Part of the charter school movement is about privatising education. Not all charter schooling about privatizing and profit, but definitely part. This opens the potential for for-profit corporations to pick and choose the best performing and best bahaved students for corporate benefit. It leaves the lower performing and behavior troubled students to be educated in public schools. The result is one more form of segregation. If Duffy grabs control, he will be opening that door. Lets look into who Duffy and Brizzard are associating themselves with: organizations, associations, other public figures, authors they have quoted, presentations they have given and to whom. There may be connections there like Haliburton/KBR's connection to Cheney and the Bush administration. Lincoln Cromwell Rochester, New York
By: johnny2855131 on 1/30/10
It would seem that Assemblyman Gantt has been trying to reduce the RCSD BOE governance for some time. He recently had a bill die in the Senate that would "streamline the decision-making process at the Rochester City School District and make the Chief Executive Officer accountable for the management and operation of the schools." http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A02552 John O'Neil Rochester, New York
By: BonnieFeldstein on 2/6/10
No doubt a nobel notion to want to ride in and take the City School District over and force it to be acceptable to the standards it is supposed to have. However, a second look may tell us that there may be something more that City Hall wants. Mayor Duffy appears to have a problem delivering his entire plan that might satisfy the voting public. But, in no way, should he dismiss the voters out of pocket. Freedom to vote for even the worst city school board is still a freedom held dear to the hearts of the taxpaying public that he serves. Perhaps the politicians should remember that and start putting a plan together that combines many of the suggestions that have been brought forth. This is a major step and one that should not be taken lightly. The rights of "We the People" are not to be forgotten. Bonnie Feldsetin Pittsford, NY
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