January 29, 2007

To:      Dr. James Williams, Superintendent
           Members, Board of Education

From: Philip Rumore, President, BTF

Re:     School Calendar

Enclosed, for your edification, are copies of the correspondence that went from the BTF to all teachers relating to the 2007-2008 school calendar change which has teachers reporting August 28, 2007, two (2) weeks early not Labor Day (1 week early).

Be assured that I did not and would never agree to support a two-week early start forty-four (44) week calendar.

As you can see, there was no recommendation one way or the other.  To imply that Buffalo teachers are unable to think for themselves and follow blindly is insulting.

If anyone is to blame for the negative vote, it is the Superintendent and members of the Board who voted to violate the contract you agreed to and who continue to attack me and the intelligence of Buffalo teachers.  Unfortunately, you don’t comprehend the anger that your actions have caused.

As for the Superintendent’s recent actions in calling me “a damn liar” and “worse than Idi Amin” and your condoning of the continued verbal assaults, e.g. calling me a liar, a snake, implying that I am racist, threatening to “kick my ass”, what is the message that you are sending to our students?

For the record, I stand behind and support the decision made by Buffalo teachers one-hundred percent.

As to where Buffalo teachers and I rank our students, perhaps you have forgotten:

• Buffalo teachers, in spite of their wages being frozen, spend hundreds of dollars out of their own pockets for supplies for their students.
• It is Buffalo teachers who, even though their wages have been frozen for three years, approved my recommendation to place $200,000 into a scholarship fund for Buffalo students and who have set a goal of millions of dollars in the fund for Buffalo students.
• It was the BTF that, when only one (1) school out of nine (9) agreed to participate in the Reading First grant, worked with the District to secure the participation of seven (7) more schools.
• It was the BTF that worked with the District to ensure that the Harcourt Reading Program was implemented.
• It was the Buffalo teachers who struck to ensure that Art, Music, and Physical Education were included in our contract.
• It is the BTF that is grieving the amount of Art, Music, and Physical Education in the primary grades.
• It is the BTF that is and has been fighting to undo the $50,000,000 loss of funding to charter schools that would otherwise benefit our students.
• It is the BTF that has been involved from the beginning with the CFE suit which will bring millions of dollars to Buffalo for our schools.
• It is the BTF’s lobbying that is instrumental in securing the large increases in state aid that Buffalo has received.

I could go on but it is perhaps senseless. 

If anyone is hurting our students by ripping this district apart with insults and actions to the detriment of our students, it is not the BTF and Buffalo teachers.  We have not engaged in vicious insults and personal attacks that should be below the dignity of the Superintendent and Board, nor will we.

We put our students number one and teach them that name calling and personal insults are wrong, unlike the example set by the Superintendent and some Board members.

One can only imagine the outrage and public statements that would have come from the Board had I accused Superintendent Williams of being “worse than Idi Amin”.

Enclosure

PR/rs