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To: Buffalo Board of EducationFrom: Carl PaladinoDate: June 26, 2013Cc: EverybodyRe: An Open Memo Demanding The Resignation Of SuperintendentPamela Brown.

My first motion as a member of the Board of Education (BOE), at the first regularmeeting of the newly elected BOE when it is seated after July 1, 2013, will be toimmediately seek the resignation of Superintendent Pamela Brown, failing whichthe BOE will begin proceedings to terminate her employment contract for cause,for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.

The people of Buffalo unequivocally proclaimed that they've had enough of theincompetency of the Board of Education (BOE) and its Superintendent, whose lackof any discernible leadership skill and pathetic and amateur performance in hershort tenure has created a systemic chaos evidenced by the current morale crisisand the breakdown of the basic structure of the system.

Pamela Brown has failed because she was never competent to lead a School Districtof 30,000 students. The BOE touted her Ph.D. from Harvard, but a degree does notmake a leader. A degree is what you complete. A District is what you lead. Shehad no history of supervisory skill.The BOE wanted a weak African-American Superintendent from out of State who theycould control to protect their influence over the bloated budget and jobs. TheBOE has a history of filling (some important and some unnecessary) positions withthe unskilled, like a social services agency. The District suffers systemicallyfrom the appointment of idiots to critical jobs. The BOE and Pamela Brown are

fully aware and have been all too willing to sacrifice competency and provenability to preserve the status-quo. If they were true to the children, theywould have hired the best proven and capable person, regardless of color.

Brown had no experience supervising or managing school systems. Sheisn't certified in New York. She doesn't know New York Education law.She's had 11 jobs all over the country, primarily as a linguistics teacher.Being from out of State, she was clueless about the system's problems and thecompetency of the staff. She had no experience in how to get to know the lay ofthe land, connect with the business community, etc. She was discharged from afailed position in upper school administration in the central office of thePhiladelphia school system.There is no known Performance Agreement or evaluation between the BOE and Pamela

Brown.

We pay for her chauffeur and car. She earned $217,000 plus an undefined amountthe district would have paid into the State retirement system had she belongedplus a $5,000/year annuity, a $7,500/ year grant for belonging to organizations

whether she belongs or not, an expense account for travel and the cost of anannual medical exam, etc.. She received 40 sick days on hiring and gets 14 moreper year thereafter in addition to 4 personal days per year.

Brown avoids communication with her bloated staff. She screams at people overthe phone and walks out of meetings that don't please her.

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She continues to employ the likes of Mark Frazier, who installed less-than-qualified, first year trainees as principals in critically failing PLA schoolsinstead of promoting qualified assistant principals on merit. He also convertedto his personal benefit thousands of dollars in Leadership Academy funds. He isnow mucking up the Special Education program.

The aloof Brown doesn't have staff meetings. She has met with her CFOinfrequently this year, (despite the challenges of a $50 million budgetdeficit) and will only meet her and other key staff by appointment. Sheliterally hides from the press and denies interviews. She advanced a budget thatshe did not understand with any depth and which incredibly sought to cut andcentralize the school counselor Student Support Team(SST) program which would have destroyed a vital tool of the principals andteachers. She would have disassembled a system that supports students most atrisk. She did destroy a good part of the music program but she didn't touch thewaste, fraud and abuse of the over-layered administrative bureaucracy ofincompetent former teachers and members of the friends and family club of thesisters.

The students, principals, teachers and the community have suffered enough. Fordecades the working middle-class with children have fled to the suburbs for lackof a functional public urban school system. For those who couldn't flee, theirlives were destroyed. Why should our children suffer even one more day with thetrial and error of a less than capable leader?

Being a Superintendent is about supervising, managing people and implementingpolicies and programs. It's about the skill of engaging and motivating others toreach for a clearly defined vision.

John King, the State Commissioner of Education appointed Judy Elliott as theDistinguished Educator to give an objective analysis and support and advise the

Superintendent on correcting the problems. Staff was admonished not to give Dr.Elliott any information that would make the Superintendent or District "lookbad". Only complete transparency and an atmosphere free of intimidation andrecrimination will reform the system.

Brown's lifeline has been with the insular and incredibly oblivious BOEPresident, Ruth Kapsiak. Brown's weaknesses are so glaring that herirresponsible handlers have propped her up with expensive outside consultantslike Mary Guinn instead of putting in place strong, top down leadership. "SayYes" is trying to influence the system which should be a positive, except, to get

influence, they had to yield to failed and corrupted BOE leadership and playpolitics which ultimately will lead to their failure.

Regardless of the merits of the APPR, at present it is the law and there was nojustification for Brown's complicity with Crystal Barton, Phil Rumore and Ruth

Kapsiak to fraudulently misrepresent to the State, to obtain over $100,000,000 inaid. On January 17, 2013 the APPR, with an executed certification of itscompleteness, (a copy executed by conspirators Pamela Brown, Ruth Kapsiak, PhilRumore and Crystal Barton is attached,) was submitted to the State EducationDepartment (SED), without disclosing to the SED the January 15, 2013 illegal sideletter MOU which basically made the APPR ineffective. Only after discovery and

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inquiry by the SED was the illegal MOU disclosed and forwarded on January 25,2013.

This was not cognitive dissonance. It was an outright criminal fraud and breachof fiduciary duty sanctioned by the President and other members of the BOE.Brown hid the debacle from the public and when confronted, she incredibly said

she didn't know it was illegal. Then why have a side letter at all? If shedidn't know, she's incompetent. If she did, she's unethical and criminal. Sheis now scheming to tell investigators that she did it on advice of counsel. Theywill now look for a scapegoat.

Brown has now failed to timely and professionally implement the APPR.Other Districts across the State are 8 months ahead of us.

Why does the present BOE need a national search for a Deputy Superintendent?Simply put, it allows them to control the person and the money. It's about abuseof power.

Despite spending $26,900 per student per year, less than 20% of black malesgraduate. The graduation rate in 2012 was 46%. Twenty-six percent(26%) of all students passed the statewide English and thirty-one percent (31%)passed the statewide Math proficiency tests. Forty-four(44) of fifty-seven (57) schools are failing. All that and there is no sense ofurgency, no pulse. Time goes by and the same people on whose watch the systemhas so miserably failed are still there fumbling, mismanaging and making bad,ill-informed and unprofessional decisions.They are incapable of making an impact and, in fact, are spreading thedysfunction. Most Administrators did not earn their jobs by merit but were

promoted beyond their level of competence which results when the only requiredcredential is membership in the friends and family sorority and fraternity.

It's time for strong and experienced leadership from our WNY community where wehave extremely competent people who have demonstrated their abilities andcommitment to Buffalo. The miserable failure of experimenting with nationalcandidates like Harris, Williams and now Brown brought the dysfunction,corruption and racketeering that today pervades the current BOE and the unions.

Our children deserve much better. We can again have the leadership that gave usa school system that at one time was the envy and model for therest of the country.

Change must start at the top. Pamela Brown must resign or be discharged now.

Please feel free to forward this memo to all of your friends and relatives. Youare encouraged to contact BOE members to express your opinions on the subjectmatter.