The union representing Buffalo's public school teachers is considering legal action to block the state's planned intervention at B.U.I.L.D. Academy, which is on the the Education Department's list of underperforming schools.
Buffalo Teachers Federation president Philip Rumore says the state delayed funding to help the school improve its performance by a year, and so B.U.I.L.D.'s teachers should be given another year to improve results.
The Buffalo School District has three options, as Rumore explained. One is for the state, as part of its takeover, to select a receivership. Another option is for Buffalo's superintendent to pick a receiver. Dr. Kriner Cash has until January to do so.
"What's problematic is that if the state were to put a receiver in place, that receiver is answerable only to the (State Education) Commissioner," Rumore said. "At least if the Superintendent does it as a receiver, the School Board could fire the Superintendent.
"Now the School Board loses complete control and that's unacceptable."
The third option is for the school to close and then reopen under a new model.
Rumore insists the staff at B.U.I.L.D. Academy have been reversing past trends but the school's standing is based on an unfair system.
"Being placed this list is based on a test on students that has been found to be flawed," Rumore said. "Just to say that these are poor schools based on this flawed and inaccurate test is a problem."
