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Superintendent candidate underscores experience with struggling schools

Mark Leitner/WBFO

The third and final candidate for the Buffalo Schools Superintendents' job met the press at City Hall Monday afternoon.  Dr. Pamela Brown, like the other finalists, brings to the table a wealth of experience, especially, in urban education. 

Brown has been a top administrator in Philadelphia, Richmond, Va, and the Charlotte-Mecklinburg district in North Carolina.  She is Stanford and Harvard-educated and she received her Ph.D from Harvard. 

Brown told reporters that in a cursory overview of the city's schools, she finds the city's high dropout rate and low high school graduation rate greatly troubling.

"I would want to look, in much more detail, at what kinds of strategies have been tried here in the district to greatly increase that graduation rate and reduce the dropout rate. I would come here with a sense of urgency in terms of really improving both of those. It just does not bode well at all for the children of [the] Buffalo Public Schools or for the city," Brown said.

Brown said she encountered a similar situation in Philadelphia and Richmond, Virginia. She made it clear she wants the top schools' post in Buffalo.

"I bring with me a a great deal of passion for the work of administration and, hopefully, for the superintendency, as well," said Brown.

Also in the running for the top job are current interim Superintendent Amber Dixon and Edward Newsome, Jr, of Baltimore County, Maryland.   The school board will meet Tuesday to discuss the candidates and try to reach a consensus on whom to name to the permanent job.

 

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