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Buffalo teachers approve evaluation plan

WBFO News by photo Mike Desmond

After a lengthy process, Buffalo teachers voted Wednesday night to approve the city district's new teacher evaluation plan.

Buffalo Teachers Federation  President Phil Rumore says his membership understood that their approval was needed for the district to secure $34 million in state aid.

Some teachers hope this agreement will clear the way for a new union contract replacing one which expired eight years ago.

"Hopefully, the district can take this into consideration when negotiating a new contract," said DaVinci High School teacher Robert Baish.

"The teachers are putting their best foot forward and looking forward to a quick negotiations on a new contract."

A bargaining session is scheduled for next month.

Though Rumore signed the agreement in January, the plan still needed to move through a lengthy process, including a series of question and answer meetings, talks in individual school buildings and votes in the buildings.

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.