The Mayor is Right

To us it appears so self-evident we can scarcely believe there's a debate.   Can anyone, other than entrenched schools establishment interests like the current City School Board and the Teachers' Union, seriously doubt the wisdom of Mayor Duffy's proposal for direct City control of the schools?

When interim City School Superintendent William Cala departed two years ago he bequeathed to the district a 48-page report detailing what needed to be fixed.  Malik Evans, then as now the City School Board's President, responded:  “It wasn’t anything that I wasn’t aware of and nothing that hasn’t already been discussed with the new Superintendent.”

We said this:

Well, where have you been, Mr. Evans?   President of the School Board and aware of 48 pages worth of problems – and now you’re getting around to discussing them with the new Superintendent? Maybe the problem starts with the School Board itself!  

A 39% graduation rate and, of course, the highest per-capita school spending in Monroe County (and one of the highest statewide).   I once read a restaurant review that said, “The food’s bad, but expensive.”   Maybe the chef was Malik Evans.

And now, two years later, the City schools are as bad as ever, except we're supposed to celebrate that the graduation rate is all the way up to 50% -- a definition of failure almost anywhere else.

It's time to end this farce and give Mayor Duffy and his administration control of the City Schools.