The Buffalo Board of Education gets some new leadership Monday afternoon as it holds its reorganization.
The school board gets three newly-elected members Monday and its new code of conduct begins to take hold.
The most visible of the three new members is Buffalo developer Carl Paladino, who says his first action will be to persuade Schools Superintendent Pamela Brown to leave, claiming she broke the law in negotiations with the Buffalo Teachers Federation.
Other new members are Theresa Harris-Tigg and Jim Sampson.
The board will have the new behavior rules and sergeant-at-arms status given to General Counsel Chris Putrino. Board Member Jay McCarthy says that is unnecessary.
"I didn't really agree with it and that's why I voted against it. It's completely unnecessary. I think most people...most of our board members in the past have conducted themselves in professional ways and I would hope our future members would do so," said McCarty.
Longtime Board Member Florence Johnson was around for some years when there was screaming and shouting at the board table and allegations of criminal violations by members. Johnson says it's time to have some enforceable rules and that's why she pushed these controls through.
Schools superintendent Brown will be announcing Phase II of the Public Schools Central Office Reorganization Monday at City Hall.
In addition to Cabinet Member updates from Phase I, Dr. Brown will outline the second phase of the reorganization, beginning with the redesign and task-appropriate naming of major departments.
The superintendent says with "effectiveness and efficiency in mind, departments and positions within them have been created in order to focus efforts on school level support."
The new structure is also intended to adapt established management practices of other urban school districts and successful businesses and to foster coherence, and create efficiency.
According to Superintendent Brown, “This restructuring will lead to a leaner, more effective organization that will help schools to improve student learning.”
Dr. Brown will also highlight several accomplishments of the past school year.
