Quinn to School Board?

Here’s a secret: as bad and dysfunctional as Carl Paladino and Larry Quinn think the Buffalo School Board is, arrogant mansplaining / whitesplaining only makes the whole thing a bigger circus.

In point of fact, Paladino’s bull in a china shop dealings with his school board opponents underscores just what a disaster he and his ilk are, would be, and have been, whenever the electorate is unfortunate enough to elect them to some public office. Nothing has changed except angrier press releases and longer meetings. There’s no compromise – just conflict. So, the only solution is for Carl to recruit his super-rich buddy to come and help him out. 

Throughout all of it, the very real and evident question is – do these guys truly want to make the schools better, or are they looking to starve and privatize the system into a distributor of vouchers and regulator of charters? (Charters that are on the property rental market). Or is it just thinly veiled prejudice, founded on the notion that black females don’t know what they’re doing? Because it sure as hell looks that way. 

The crisis in Buffalo city schools is not something that can be fixed on a balance sheet or through privatization. But guys like Carl – tea party right wing extremists – don’t ever support the policies and programs that would help lift people out of multigenerational poverty. The “concentration camps of couth” or the Emily Post Correctional Facilities idea was the sum total of Carl’s ideas along those lines. 

If these guys truly want to help the schools, they should stop being assholes and start cutting deals, making friends, and earning allies. Through negotiation and discussion you can accomplish great things. By treating your opponents like idiots, you’ll accomplish nothing. 

15 comments

  • Both appropriate and sad that this School Board Election has turned into the ‘Buffalo Losers Bracket’ election

  • School performance is directly related to the wealth (or lack of) of the district. Take a look a Business First School Rankings, top districts are the wealthiest, bottom are the poorest. There are of course some rare exceptions but the demographic of the student body is by far the best indicator of performance. Teachers in the city have the same credentials, belong to the same unions, and teach the same curriculum as those in the suburbs. The difference is the city hosts the regions poor, until the problem of poverty is addressed any progress will be meager at best. Carl and Larry can rant all they want and point fingers at the “sisterhood” but the fact remains the conservative policies they support have actually increased poverty and widened the gap between the haves and have nots. Their selfish and short sighted agenda is part of the problem, it is ironic they believe they are somehow our saviors.

  • Larry did such a wonderful job with the Sabres and all of those Stanley Cups they earned during his tenure and lets not forget his leadership in the water front development near corporate welfare give away to Bass Pro….so I’m sure he will be able to cure the ills of the BPS….

  • The argument could be made that the black members of the school board are racist. They support, en masse, virtually anything Pamela Brown proposes. Mary E. Guinn?? That was a last minute, and possibly backroom, deal.

    • That type of argument has ZERO credibility.

      End. Of, Discussion.

    • The argument can be made that Carl is a racist, his e-mails appear to confirm this. As for black racism, I just don’t see the same level of hate and vitriol coming from the black community as I do from the whites. I experienced integration in the late 60’s and early 70’s, have always worked in a diverse environment, and live in a diverse neighborhood. In my experience the racist whites are more numerous, angry, and less informed. I rarely see the same behavior in the many black people I have known.

      • They have every reason to be angry seeing what they have to deal with from elected/appointed officials. I am so tired of the phrase “diverse environment” what does that really mean?? If you are noticing, your are forming an opinion. Carl is no more racist than most of the rest of us….he just is against the entire ridiculous idea that only minorities can educate minorities….can we revisit Ebonics….?

        • They should be angry at the conservative/republicans that have and continue to enable the wealthy while paying lip service to the middle class and just ignoring the poor. The schools are a reflection of the “new economy” where wealth is concentrated and labor is devalued and disrespected. Half of America’s citizens now share as a group less than 1% of our nations wealth. It’s not possible to have a healthy economy or civil society when half of our citizens have no investment, buying power, or any real hope of upward mobility. The problem isn’t minorities, the problem is a corrupted system that favors the wealthy, powerful, and connected while ignoring the needs of the greater community.

  • As long as there is a Superintendent in charge who clearly doesn’t have the experience needed to galvanize the _____________ (fill in the blank: parents, teachers, union leaders, students, politicians, federal stakeholders etc. etc) these shenanigans will continue. Most reasonable people in the City aren’t going to see this as a racial issue as long as there is someone in charge (no matter their color) who appears to be in over his/her head. And Pamela Brown is clearly not waving…she is drowning.

  • What if the people you are dealing with are assholes….? You can’t make deals with people who clearly want to maintain the status quo. The BOE needs to be cleaned out and a new cast needs to be hired….clearly the members of the board that continually side with Brown need to lose their majority.

Leave a Reply to BlackRockLifer Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.