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Buffalo School Board re-elects its current leaders, without opposition

Mike Desmond
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WBFO News

Buffalo School Board members apparently believe the district is making progress, giving each of its three leaders another one-year term without opposition.

Last week, the board members approved Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash's report card. His grade was a "B." Monday, they looked among themselves and at how the year had gone academically and decided to re-appoint Barbara Seals Nevergold for her third consecutive term as president, Sharon Belton-Cottman another year as vice president for executive affairs and Theresa Harris-Tigg another year as vice president of student achievement.

Seals Nevergold said it is clear the district and its students are making progress. She sees it in her two granddaughters who are city school students.
 

Credit Mike Desmond / WBFO News
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WBFO News
East District School Board Member Theresa Harris-Tiggs (left) is sworn in as Vice President of Student Achievement.

"My two girls enjoy school. They love school. They love their teachers and they have a great time with their after-school programs. They're very involved with that," Seals Nevergold said. "Their friends seem to have the same kind of feelings and their parents have the same kind of excitement, I guess, and confidence that the schools are moving in the right direction, now."

Seals Nevergold said she is working with a cohesive board, without the unspecified problems of the past. She never mentioned Carl Paladino's name, but was clearly referring to his time on the board.

Credit Mike Desmond / WBFO News
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WBFO News
Ferry District School Board Member Sharon Belton-Cottman (left) is sworn in as Executive Affairs Vice President.

"Strides and the advances that we have made, we just have to maintain that and I think that is always a work in progress," she said, "and I think the board, together, has to work on sometimes our own cohesiveness. For the most part, I think we are a cohesive board, much more than we were a few years ago."

The president said the board has to work together to deal with fiscal problems and the difficulty of finding teachers to work in city schools, especially fields where there are shortages, like special education. She also noted the growing network of community schools that is attracting families, like the new North Park Community School in her neighborhood.

"They were very, very enthusiastic and very positive about enrolling their children this coming year in the Pre-K and the kindergarten programs because it's in the neighborhood and they are very happy about that, to have a school in the neighhborhood that was going to be addressing the needs of their children and going to be accessible."

Mike Desmond is one of Western New York’s most experienced reporters, having spent nearly a half-century covering the region for newspapers, television stations and public radio. He has been with WBFO and its predecessor, WNED-AM, since 1988. As a reporter for WBFO, he has covered literally thousands of stories involving education, science, business, the environment and many other issues. Mike has been a long-time theater reviewer for a variety of publications and was formerly a part-time reporter for The New York Times.
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