An Independent Report On The Operation
Of Lockport, NY Schools
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THE PICTURE OF LOCKPORT
Superintendent suggests cut-backs in some school spending programs but overall spending boost. It was an unusual scene at this week's meeting of the Lockport Board of Education. Superintendent of Schools Bruce Fraser, in an attempt to deal with a huge overburden of spending inherited from the previous leadership, suggested several moves to cut district operating costs. Included were the transfer of the alternative school program for troubled children (called "Lockport Opportunities") to Charlotte Cross School from the presently rented St. John's School on Chestnut. The pre-school baby-sitting program begun just last year at Charlotte Cross would be released to private sector providers. Several non-teaching positions would be eliminated. Travel budgets would be reduced. The adult education program, another money-loser, would be curtailed. However, the total budget Fraser proposed of $61.8-million would require yet another unspecified tax increase for Lockport property taxpayers. The Board is in the process of formulating its 2002-2003 school budget. (1/23/02)
Lockport Schools moves into travel agent business.
A mailing from the Lockport Schools this week indicates the public school system has now gone into the business of competing against area travel agencies. The schools' new venture is promoting travel around the United States and around the world as an "educational lifelong learning" experience. Among the trips being hustled by the school district are tours to New York City ($62), Paris ($1,895), and San Francisco ($895). Are the trips or the promotion being subsidized by school property tax payers? Is this program appropriate for an "austerity budget?" Is the school district now trying to compete with tax-paying local tour agencies? We don't know and the advertising booklet sent out by the Lockport City School District doesn't say. However, an examination of the State Education Law indicates these courses are not "state-mandated." (12/21/01)Lockport lacking "board certified Master Teachers."
They are regarded as the cream of the nation's teaching crop but don't look for any in the Lockport School System---or for that matter---anywhere else in Niagara County. Of 6,500 National Board Certified teachers in the United States none are from Niagara County. Despite the high pay local experienced teachers are receiving compared with the national average, none are able to carry the designation of "Master Teacher." That designation is accorded only those who meet the rigorous examination, audit, subject knowledge, student-achievement and teaching performance evaluations of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. One of the reasons: schools are prohibited by union contract and State convention from paying any kind of "merit pay" to "Master Teachers" so few tenured teachers wish to go to the time to apply and qualify. (11/30/01)Leaders of Charter School say they are still pressing for State approval. Despite a new Lockport school superintendent and two new school board members, leaders of the proposed Greater Niagara Charter School say they are still pressing the State of New York for approval of their Lockport venture. A member of the Charter School movement, attempting to get on the Lockport School Board, was soundly defeated by the community in May's Board of Education election. If given a State charter, the group is expected to siphon off as much as $1.4-million in State aid money going to the Lockport City School District. The impact would be another financial blow to city school district property taxpayers. The group's latest application to the State for a Lockport school to compete with the public (and private) schools reportedly was returned by the State in early October with a request for more information. Lockport School Superintendent Bruce Fraser says he was told the group's latest application will be denied. But a proponent of the charter school, Esther Owens, told the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal that "Bruce does not know the law...He's got some misinformation." (10/21/01)
Lockport school district enrollment 6021.
Initial figures have been released by the Lockport School District showing the high school with 1777 students as of September 7, 2001. Other school populations reported are: Middle schools Emmet Belknap 705, and North Park 684; Elementary schools Dewitt Clinton 247, Washington Hunt 307, Roy B. Kelley 361, Anna Merrit 335, John Pound 276, George Southard 615, and Charles Upson 493. The so-called "Lockport Opportunities Project"---the alternative school at St. John's on Chestnut Street is stocked with 68 students and the taxpayer-paid children's daycare (now called Pre-K) has 117 at Charlotte Cross School and 36 more at facilities at the YWCA and the Happy Times Day Care Center. The total enrollment tally of 6021 thus includes children in Charlotte Cross Pre-K, a program that was not as widely available last year. (9/15/01)Fraser given 3-year contract as Lockport Superintendent of School.
The Lockport Board of Education Monday, 9/10, hired Bruce Fraser as its school superintendent for $110,000 a year with boosts of 2.5% in both the second and third years of the contract. The money is $5,000 less than would have been paid to Christine Neal who walked out on her contract to take a job at a college in Florida. (9/11/01)Schools open Wednesday, new telephone numbers announced. Lockport Public Schools open for another season on Wednesday, September 5th. Elementary schools will operate that day for only a few hours. The district has installed a new, expensive telephone system which generates so many more direct dial numbers that a new telephone exchange had to be adopted for most district telephone service. The phone exchange of 439 has been changed to 478 for most school telephones Some of the new numbers are:
Board of Education: 478-4800
Lockport High School: 478-4450
Emmet Belknap: 478-4550
North Park: 478-4700
DeWitt Clinton: 478-4600
Charlotte Cross: 478-4625 (Now converted to pre-school services)
Washington Hunt: 478-4650
Roy B. Kelley: 478-4670
Anna Merritt: 478-4725
John Pound: 478-4750
George Southard: 478-4770
Charles Upson: 478-4400
Exceptions to the new telephone exchanges are: the alternative school (St. John's on Chestnut Street), The PAT and GED programs, and the district maintenance garage on State Road. All of these retain their old numbers and exchanges. (9/2/01)
Fraser chosen as new Lockport Superintendent of Schools. Out-going Lockport High School principal, Dr. Bruce Fraser, was selected unanimously this week by the Lockport School District Board of Education as the new Superintendent of School. Fraser has sought the job for several months after resigning as High School principal. The School Board had first ignored his interest in the position and had hired Peter Kachris, former Niagara-Orleans BOCES superintendent now living in the St. Louis, MO area, to find a replacement for Christine Neal who walked away from her contract to take a new job in Florida. The hiring of Kachris now turns out to be a total waste of money but the Board reportedly was able to settle with him for payment of $7500 rather than the $10,000 contracted for. However, Kachris gets "expense money" also and the amount due him in that category for the aborted superintendent search plus other advertising expenses is reported at about $6300. Kachris reportedly did not bring to Lockport even one outside candidate for an interview. Fraser and the Board have still to negotiate the terms of a contract. (8/11/01)
Fraser finally gets interview with Board of Education. Lockport High
School Principal, Dr. Bruce Fraser will finally get the job interview for Superintendent
of Schools he (and hundreds of others on his behalf) have sought. The Lockport Board
of Education has set a special meeting, in executive session, for Tuesday, July 24th, at
6PM to meet with Fraser. The school district has already spent or committed to, over
$16,000 in attempts to recruit a superintendent outside the district using Dr. Peter
Kachris who now works out of the Midwest. Although the composition of the board
changed with two new members as a result of the May election, the majority of the Board is
still controlled by a group which apparently favored looking outside the district to
replace Christine A. Neal. Neal quit her position, with over two years left on her
contract, to take a new job in Florida. (7/20/01)
McNall elected new Board of Education President. At its
reorganizational meeting on Monday, 7/2, the Lockport Board of Education elected Keith
McNall by unanimous vote as the new Board President replacing veteran Charles Sobieraski
who declined to stand for election. Other elected, also by unanimous vote, are:
Mark Shaw as Vice-President and Marietta Schrader as Secretary. McNall
thanked his wife for her support during his 12 years as a trusteee, and told his fellow
board members that his priorities will be to unify the board, hire a superintendent to
move the district forward and get a budget passed next May. Also Monday, newly elected
trustees John Linderman and Beverly McDonough were given the oaths of office for their
five-year terms. The matter of allowing LCTV to tape the public comment session of the
board meetings was supported by some board members. Further discussion on the subject will
take place at a future meeting. (7/3/01)
"Retired" School Superintendent confirms her new position at Florida
college. Christine Neal announced in April she was quitting as Lockport
School Superintendent to retire. What's more, she was leaving Lockport and moving to
Florida. That she had a contract to work at least two more years in Lockport Schools
somehow didn't seem to be a factor. Insiders said then that she had found a job in
Florida. A report in the July 1st issue of the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
confirms what had been rumored: The 52-year old educator will be taking up the job
of "Program Administrator" with the College of Education at the University of
South Florida at Sarasota. Her last official day at Lockport Schools is Friday, 7/6.
Her premature departure leaves the Lockport Schools search for a replacement only
in its early stages (the majority of the Board appears to be turning a deaf ear to
proposals to promote popular High School principal, Dr. Bruce Fraser---who announced many
months ago he was leaving his position but had not secured another). (7/1/01)
344 graduate from Lockport High (in Lewiston). The Lockport
School District which claims to be on an austerity budget with not enough money for select
basic services paid rental, transportation, and other costs associated with graduation
Sunday, 6/24, at Artpark in Lewiston. The school has shunned the home town for the
past two years claiming that ceremonies at the Kenan Center or the High School auditorium
were not "solemn enough." High school principal Bruce Fraser and long-time
Latin teacher, Charles Begley, both leaving this year, addressed the graduates.
Fraser has no replacement job lined up but he is actively being promoted for School
Superintendent. (6/25/01)
Movalli promoted to Lockport High School principal. Frank Movalli
had been serving as Associate Principal at Lockport High. He will replace departing
Dr. Bruce Fraser who is reported seeking the position of Lockport Superintendent of
Schools. If Fraser doesn't get the Superintendent's position he is reported prepared
to leave the area. (6/22/01)
School consultant reported working without a written contract.
The Lockport Union-Sun & Journal is reporting that Peter T. Kachris, the former Niagara County BOCES superintendent, is working on only a verbal agreement with Lockport School President Charles Sobieraski. The paper says Sobieraski hired Kachris, who now works for a St. Louis school district in the Midwest, for $10,000 plus unspecified expenses to find a new Superintendent of Schools for Lockport. The deal with Kachris may have been made, the paper indicates, even before Superintendent Christine Neal declared she was quitting to move to Florida (in July). The search is expected to last several months and will be nationwide, Kachris says, despite strong local support to appoint veteran Lockport educator (and departing High School principal) Dr. Bruce Fraser. (5/29/01)The Lockport Board of Education Wednesday, 5/16, adopted a $60.2
million contingency budget and approved the appointment of an interim superintendent. The
contingency budget was adopted in the wake of Tuesday's overwhelming defeat of the $60.3
million budget, which would have increased spending by 2.92%. Trustees Knight and Blackley
voted no; Trustees Johnson, McNall, Schrader, Pohl and President Sobieraski voted yes.
Trustees Shaw and VanBenschoten were out of town.
The contingency budget will “punish” the district by not allowing for the second
year the purchase of new equipment or athletic uniforms, and requires the public to pay
for the use of buildings outside of the regular school day. In addition, the district
cannot buy supplies for students such as paper, pencils and crayons. Also banned are
raises for non-represented employees---but teachers, most administrators, and union
employees to continue to receive their promised raises and incremental advances. The contingency budget provides for a
fraction of a percent less spending while protecting the administrative overhead many had
cited as desired targets for substantial cost cutting.
The Board of Education also voted by the same 5-2 margin to hire District Business
Administrator, Ray Morningstar to
serve as Interim Superintendent. He will oversee the day-to-day operation of the district
when Christine Neal retires July 7, until the board hires a permanent superintendent. Morningstar will receive an additional $500 a week
for functioning as Interim Superintendent. Trustee
Robert Pohl declared that Morningstar is not a candidate for permanent appointment as
Superintendent. (5/17/01)
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Lockport Says “NO!” To “Business As
Usual” At Lockport Schools:
Budget Rejected, Reformers Elected.
Lockport
School District voters Tuesday, 5/15 handed the Superintendent of Schools, the School
Board President, and the Board Majority the strongest statement ever that they oppose the
way Lockport schools are being run. They
voted down the administration’s budget and turned out of office an incumbent Board
member by overwhelming margins.
The
proposed $60.3-million budget, which called for tax and spending increases, was strongly
rejected 2079 to 1312 despite a paid advertising campaign supporting it.
The only
incumbent to run for re-elected was soundly defeated.
John VanBenschoten came in a distant and losing 3rd in a
field of five. Winning 3-year Board seats are
John Linderman (2360 votes), and Beverly McDonough (2275 votes). VanBenschoten received 791 votes. The two candidates backed by the Lockport
Union-Sun & Journal came in last: Annette
Wadkowski-Licata with 665 votes and Robert Vasko with 598 votes.
The
proposition to reduce Board member terms from five to three years was approved 2670 to
712.
The Board of Education will meet at 7:15 PM Wednesday, May 16, to discuss options: adopting a contingency budget, submit a new budget to the voters or resubmit the same budget. The newly elected members will not yet take office and the current Board may still choose to reject voter instruction and ram spending programs through. There is also speculation they will attempt to appoint a new Superintendent of Schools before the two reformer candidates are seated. (5/16/01)
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False info in school "official notice" causing election day confusion.
The Lockport School District has once again published false information
for residents desiring to vote in the school board and budget election on May 15th.
This time they have told 4th ward voters to travel to Roy B. Kelley School to vote.
When a 4th-warder arrives at the school they are then told they must go over a mile away
to the Upson School to vote. The false publication of ward voting information will
impact the elderly homeowners the most---a demographic who can be expected to be most
likely to support the school district's increased budget and increased taxes proposal.
Many elderly without cars try to walk to the polling places or pay to have a taxi
take them there. The "official notice" was a small part of an expensive bulk
pre-election promotional mailing to all district households. "Corrections" to
the false information in the public notice were later propagated to parents of school
children and the organized school support groups such as employees. Additionally,
the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal was informed. But the Lockport
Home Page did not receive any correction advisory. We were about to publish the
information from the official notice, which we did receive, when a staffer said, "I
spell a rat." An in-person check at the Kelley and Upson school shortly after
daybreak on election day confirmed that the school district had listed the Kelley School
as the polling place for both the 4th and 5th ward city voters. But only 5th ward
voters will be accepted at Kelley School. Receiving the corrected information were
the "favored media" such as the Greater Niagara Newspapers.
(5/15/01)
Calls for School Board President to resign. An out-going member of
the Lockport School District Board of Education has called on Board President Charles
Sobieraski to resign. Board Member David Blackley called Sobieraski's public attack
on fellow Board member Renee Knight, "a cowardly attack" that "damages the
school board presidency and he should resign immediately. Sobieraski fired back
saying he wouldn't resign and implying that Black (chairman of the local Democratic Party)
was getting ready for a run for political office which could be motivation for his defense
of Renee Knight. Blackley, who is a lawyer by profession, termed Sobieraski's
(retired policeman) attack in the Thursday Union-Sun & Journal against
Mrs. Knight (retired teacher) as "ignorant, damaging...cheap, vicious...off-base and
borderline libelous." His remarks were made in the newspaper's Saturday's
edition and, after allowing Mr. Sobieraski to return fire against Blackley, the newspaper
editor cut off publication of all further comments on Lockport Schools or the Board of
Education until after Tuesday's election. The newspaper itself has endorsed Robert
A. Vasko (promoter of Lockport Charter Schools) and Annette Wadowski-Licata, (PTA member
also affiliated with Happy Times Day Care Center) for the two open positions on the Board.
(5/12/01)
Lockport school selected for clousure gets best student performance test results.
The Lockport School District confirmed Friday, 5/11 to the Lockport
Home Page that Charlotte Cross Elementary School students scored 90% on the New York
State 4th Grade Reading and Writing Standardized Tests given in January 2001.
The public school system as a whole in Lockport only scored 70%. That would appear
to indicate that many schools may have failed in the achievement testing. And which
school has out-going School Superintendent Christine Neal selected for
closure? Charlotte Cross! Go figure! We await the public release
of the official, school-by-school results. (5/12/01)
School Board President attacks Renee Knight. Charles Sobieraski has
had published in the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal a stinging attack on his
fellow Lockport School Board trustee, Renee Knight. Knight has been critical of
Sobieraski's control over information flowing to Board members. Sobieraski's
near-half page "Guest View" published in Thursday's 5/10, newspaper declares,
"Trustee Knight does not possess the ability to be a team player of any sort.
She is not now, wasn't as a teacher and probably never will be." The
Sobieraski salvo is strongest attack on a fellow Board member that has been made public in
recent years and appears to be the latest move in an increasingly polarized propaganda
program being propagated as the school budget vote and school board election nears.
Earlier in the week, district residents received a district-paid mailing produced by the
district's public relations department claiming the present board (which would mean
trustee John E. VanBenschoten who seeks re-election) has put forth one of "the
lowest" budget increases of any school in Western New York and provides several pages
attempting to justify the district's record of increased spending, increased staffing,
increased taxes, for steadily declining school enrollment. (5/10/01)
School district finally releases details of secret budget. The Lockport
Board of Education passed the budget with an announced near 3% tax increase without even
knowing the details. Later they were given copies. Now the public will learn
where the school administration wants to spend the extra money raised by hiking property
taxes again. According to first reports the school district will boost spending on
athletics 16.8%, spend nearly a third more to operate Anna Merritt School than this past
year, pump $55,000 into "public relations," increase the budget for the Board of
Education itself by 12%, boost spending again---this time by 20% at the Upson School
(which has just received millions in new construction monies) and sink $217,998 into the
office of Superintendent Chris Neal---up 7.4%. The budget figures were prepared
before Neal disclosed she was quitting to move to Florida so that increases for her office
may be now open for trimming. (5/5/01)
School rankings: Lockport schools high with state aid, high with local taxes, low in student performance.
The Buffalo News began publishing a three-part series on Sunday, 4/29 that attempts to show what Niagara Frontier school districts are doing with the money they are collecting. Lockport was ranked by the paper 5th highest in the entire region as far as local tax burden among districts with a large percentage of "poor" students, 4th highest in the entire region among schools getting more state aid that provided for by the usual aid formulas, yet one of the lowest performing districts in terms of student achievement. The report appears to serve as a stinging indictment on business management practices of many of Niagara Frontier schools that have claimed they need still more money to operate. (4/29/01)Two seats on Lockport Board of Education up for election May 15th.
The election will be for five year terms to fill two seats presently occupied by David Blackley and John VanBenschoten. Those who wish to run must submit signed petitions by April 6th. The petitions are now available at the Board of Education offices. (2/28/01)School Board Ignores Public Pleas, Boosts Spending & Taxes, Begins Closing Neighborhood Schools
The Lockport Superintendent of Schools sent a clear message to the Lockport Community Monday night, 2/5, that she has not only control of the Lockport Schools on a day-to-day basis but will now dictate changes in way education in Lockport will proceed for at least the next decade. Christine Neal showed she could count on a solid seven members of the Board of Education to rubber- stamp her radical ideas for reconfiguration of Lockport Schools---a mission she had to back away from two years ago when more than 2,000 residents strongly protested. Monday night the Board approved of Neal's plan to close neighborhood school Charlotte Cross on the city's west side and convert it to a taxpayer-paid baby-sitting center. Neal has termed the name "Early Childhood Center" for the building.
The Board also acted to boost spending by not only starting the baby-sitting service but to begin all-day Kindergarten in September. The ambitious expansion of school services comes despite suspension of plans to begin a Charter School in Lockport this September. Neal had previously said that her plan was necessary to combat a projected enrollment drain by the Greater Niagara Charter School. When that school failed to get State approval, Neal went ahead with her program regardless.
Board of Education members Renee Knight and David Blackley had been supportive of Neal's expansion of services program but had wanted to partly off-set the increased cost by cutting back on the bloated administrative overhead of the school district and reduce the ballooning number of school psychologists. But Neal and the Board would have little of that. The plan approved, which only Knight and Blackley voted to oppose, would leave the school district's expensive administrative services payroll practically untouched.
Neal had told Board members the additional cost to taxpayers would "only" be a 2.9% hike in property taxes. But what was de-emphasized was that last year her administration had promised "only" a 3% hike in taxes but the result for Lockport City residents was actually over 9% more to be paid. Also not emphasized was that Neal was using about $250,000 of the fund balance in district accounts to off-set first-year operating charges of her program---thus making the cost appear to be a quarter of a million dollars less than actual. Additionally, Blackley warned that costs for conversion of the Charlotte Cross school to a baby-sitting center have not been detailed or budgeted. Those could boost district costs and taxes even further.
Neal had also wanted to shut down DeWitt Clinton as a neighborhood school. That is expected to be her next target and be proposed for closure in 2002. With Clinton and Cross out of the neighborhood school category, the move to cross-city busing to mix up demographic and neighborhood groups all over the city would be the next logical step, perhaps as early as 2003. (2/6/01)
Neal reported to have ordered "transition team" to begin
"phase out" at Charlotte Cross. According to reports on WLVL
radio Friday, 2/2, Lockport Superintendent of Schools Christine Neal has ordered the
process of closing the West Avenue neighborhood school to begin. The order
reportedly comes before the school board even votes on the matter. Neal reportedly
has lined up support among Board of Education members to approve her school consolidation
regardless of mounting public opposition. (2/2/01)
Lockport schools, unable to deal with high school discipline problems, sending
kids to Medina. Hard core discipline problems at the Lockport High School
are now being shipped off to a "special" school at a Orleans-Niagara BOCES
operation in Orleans County. The cost to the Lockport School district, to bus the
naughty boys and girls to and from Orleans County each day is another cost being absorbed
by Lockport taxpayers. The action is reportedly taken after in-school detention and
other efforts by the Lockport teaching staff are found ineffective. (2/2/01)
Neal Modifies Her Consolidation Plans But Still Would Raise Spending 2.92%
Lockport School Superintendent Christine Neal recommended a modification of her Plan A to
the Board of Education last night that converts Charlotte Cross into an Early Childhood
Center and implements full-day kindergarten in the remaining seven K-5 elementary
buildings. It also eliminates one central office administrative position and two
school psychologists.
Neal told the board if they approve Plan A, the 2001-2002 proposed school budget could
come in with a 2.92% increase over the current spending plan. The board is scheduled
to decide on Neal's plan at the Feb. 5 meeting.
Neal called her recommended plan "good for the kids . good for the community and
reasonable for taxpayers."
Board members Renee Knight and David Blackley had recommended an alternative that included
eliminating four central office administrators, moving the Lockport Opportunities students
into one of the secondary schools and cutting $750,000 from the technology budget.
Neal pointed out those alternatives were not new, with the exception of the Lockport
Opportunities move, and that she had carefully studied all of those alternatives weeks ago
when she drew up her recommendations.
Regarding the Knight-Blackley alternative, Susan Grigg, director of Student Support and
Special Education, said eliminating six school psychologists would not serve the children
of the district well. She said the psychologists' duties have been greatly increased by
the state over the last few years as student needs have grown. In addition, the district
has assigned many new duties to the psychologists to help students with family problems
that keep them from concentrate on academics. (1/30/01)
Lockport and Niagara Falls proposed Charter
Schools reported turned down by state. School taxpayers in Lockport and
Niagara Falls can enjoy a sigh of relief after word Tuesday, 1/23, that New York State
authorities had turned down, at least for 2001, applications for two charter schools at
Lockport and Niagara Falls. The Greater Niagara Charter School to be based at
Lockport was estimated to siphon off about $1.4-million in state aid to the Lockport
Public School system where officials indicated they would not cut back staffing levels to
make up the difference. The result would have been a likely 4% increase in the
Lockport School tax for property owners. Lockport Board of Education officials had
been pointing to the threat of a Charter School as a reason to "consolidate"
Lockport Schools, closing neighborhood schools Charlotte Cross and DeWitt Clinton,
increasing school busing, and starting up an expensive pre-K program. Because of a
major error by school officials in projecting enrollment, Lockport Schools had gone ahead
with an expensive expansion of Charles Upson School at a time district enrollment, and
area population, was declining. This created a surplus of space in the Lockport
School system that would have been even more costly if a Charter School drained off
several hundred students in the elementary grades. A spokesperson for Greater
Niagara Charter Schools, Steven Jackson, said Tuesday his group would most likely
re-submit an application for a school to start in 2002. (1/24/01)
Longtime city activist ejected from school board meeting. Jacob
Kern, a well-known Lockport activist who asks tough questions of governmental authorities,
especially when they consider hiking spending and taxes, was ejected from the Tuesday,
1/16, meeting of the Lockport Board of Education. The Lockport Page was
told that the Board president had four Lockport Police dispatched to the Board Offices on
Beattie Avenue, claiming Kern was loud and disruptive. Observers questioned the need
for large police involvement noting Kern is an elderly man on crutches. The
highlight of the Board meeting was when trustees Knight and Blackley proposed the school
"consolidation" plan of Superintendent Neal be modified so as to keep all
neighborhood schools open. They suggested spreading the participants of the
Alternative School (called the "Opportunities Project") around to existing
secondary schools and ending the lease arrangement whereby those students were contained
in one area, the former St. John's School on Chestnut Street. They also suggested
cuts in technology and administrative spending, while expanding spending in other areas by
instituting all-day kindergarten. The Board now has three plans for consolidation to
consider, all of which provide for increasing the school spending budget over 3%.
The least expensive is reported to the be the Knight-Blackley plan with the
most expensive to so-called Plan A from Christine Neal estimated to result in a 3.9% hike
in spending. (1/17/01)
Neal proposes closing two neighborhood schools, starting all-day kindergarten and pre-school. Lockport School Superintendent Christine Neal proposed Monday, 12/4, a massive new pre-school program for children that would consume one of the city's "surplus" neighborhood schools. Another she wants converted to handle problem children now dealt with at the leased St. John's School on Chestnut. Additionally she wants to start all day-kindergarten. All moves are attempts to deal with the school district's large over-capacity of space brought on by the ill-conceived expansion at Upson School. In a pitch to the Board of Education Monday night, Neal claimed her plan---which would "only" increase the school budget another 3.19% over this years (which had been voted down by a 2 to 1 margin). That 3% increase, however, appears to be a one-year only figure that makes use of financial manipulations such as using district surplus monies, re-scheduling of purchases, and using lease or rental arrangements to fund equipment and supplies usually paid for on a pay-as-you-go basis. The new pre-school and all-day kindergarten are expected to cost taxpayers millions of dollars over the next few years but Neal was telling Board members her plan would actually "save" the district money. The schools Neal wants to close as neighborhood schools are given as Charlotte Cross and Dewitt Clinton. (12/5/00)
Consultants say Lockport School District could lose $1.8-million if Lockport Charter School approved. That's the "worst-case" projection of Lumsden & McCormick, a consulting firm the district hired to report the impact of a school charter being applied for by a group calling itself Greater Niagara Charter School. The school, if it gets its state license in January, would drain off about $7000 per student from Lockport and other nearby school districts. With as many as 248 students the amount of state aid that would be transferred to the charter school would be about $1.8-million. Most of that loss aid would be money that now goes to the Lockport School District. Although the Lockport Schools would have fewer students officials are apparently reluctant to cut $1.8-million in school operating expense, thus the impact would be passed on to local property taxpayers. A financial impact study a charter school in the Lockport area was presented to the public Thursday night, 11/16, at a special meeting of the Lockport Board of Education. (11/17/00)
City school taxes to soar 9%---not the 3% hinted at before budget vote. City of Lockport residents will be hit by a $2.20 per $1,000 tax hike when their school tax bills arrive immediately after Labor Day. School officials had been telling residents that only a hike of about 3% would result if the budget were voted up or down in June voting. It's the biggest tax hike city residents have had to suffer from in years from any governmental unit. The school district budget was voted down by almost a 2 to 1 margin but using a so-called state approved "austerity budget" school officials declared they were increasing spending and taxes anyway. (8/22/00)
Voters give overwhelming NO! to School Board. Voters in the Lockport School District, forced to go to the polls to decide on a record high school budget and tax rate rejected just over a month ago, defeated the budget by a 2,486 (No) to 1,360 (Yes) margin. The huge negative vote, Tuesday, 6/20, is widely seen as a vote of "No Confidence" in the school board which reversed itself in secret session on the budget, deciding to push the same budget back on the voters rather than offer even a token reduction after it was defeated by five votes in May. The huge negative vote came despite a large-scale administration PR effort to win approval of the budget. In addition to a strong push to district employees, the PR effort included two mailings to district residents at an undisclosed, but substantial cost.Residents protest budget re-submittal. Lockport residents complained Monday night, 6/11, at a public hearing over the school district's refusal to reduce budget spending before re-submitting a rejected budget to voters. The same budget is scheduled to be up for a vote again on Tuesday, 6/20, in what is referred to as a classic "wear 'em down strategy." Using this method school constantly re-submit rejected budgets to voters until opponents tire of going back to keep voting on it. At the same meeting the board indicated it was going ahead with plans to begin pre-kindergarten schooling in the district starting in September. (6/12/00)
Board changes mind: will resubmit same budget to voters who rejected it. Bowing
to bureaucratic pressure the Lockport Board of Education voted 7-1 Tuesday night, 5/30, to
not even make the token move of cutting even $50,000 from its rejected budget. It
will be re-submitted to voters exactly as rejected in a classic "wear 'em down"
strategy. Reports to The Lockport Page say an unnamed
administrative position at the Board office building was to be cut to account for most of
the revised budget savings but the bureaucrats there closed ranks to protect "one of
their own" and the Board gave in to the pressure. (5/31/00)
School budget rejected by voters but administration won't take NO for an
answer. It was an upset. Voters turned down a $58.9-million budget,
Tuesday, 5/16 by a 862 to 854 vote tally. A $2.74-million capital project (which the
administration told voters would cost taxpayers nothing) was approved 1,042 to 655.
The only two candidates (Jane Johnson and Renee Knight) for the school board were declared
elected. A recount of the close vote, conducted on Wednesday, showed the margin
narrowed to five votes but still negative. The Lockport Board of Education, meeting
Wednesday evening began considering alternatives. The most likely is the "wear
them down" technique where the same, or nearly the same budget is repeatedly
submitted to voters until proponents are able to muster enough votes to pass it.
(5/17/00)
School Board votes to hike taxes, increase spending, hire more
administrators. They just don't get it. The Lockport School District
Board of Education Monday night, 4/3, voted approval for a record $58.9-million budget
which requires a tax rate boost of 3.7% for property taxpayers in Lockport. The
Board declined to release details of the budget until May 1st, just a week before a public
hearing on the matter. Meanwhile the Board voted to add another layer of
administrative overhead by approving the hiring of a Grand Island woman to work as
"Assistant Superintendent Of Learning and Assessment" at an annual base salary
of $91,350/year. She is Michelle Kavanaugh who, according to public papers, applied
for, but did not receive the appointment to, the open position of Superintendent at
Barker. (4/5/00)
Administrators under fire for spending & tax hikes, while performance rank drops. Top members of the Lockport School District tried to defend the lower rankings the school district received this month in the Buffalo Business First magazine in a WLVL Radio appearance on Tuesday, 3/21. The Lockport School District dropped in performance rankings in the annual publication by Business First to #67 this year out of 98 Western New York School Districts. While dodging complaints from the radio audience, Superintendent of Schools Christine Neal frequently moved to boast about the school's athletic performance (the Lady Lions basketball team made the regional finals this year) --- performances that Business First did not take into account in its rankings of school systems. At the same time the school officials indicated they were pushing for spending several million additional dollars for athletic facilities. Ray Morningstar, the school business manager, projected that the district would be raising taxes for property owners in the next year by about 4%. The next year's budget details have still not yet been released to the public but a budget vote is set for May 16th and a Public Hearing for May 8th. Spending over previous years is expected to increase substantially to satisfy expensive new labor agreements with teachers and expansion of athletic facilities. (3/21/00)
New threat of dismantling neighborhood school concept surfaces.
Lockport school administrators are reported claiming they are having
difficulties coming up with a budget for next year without raising local property taxes.
They are blaming a decrease in State aid. The "difficulties"
surfaced publicly just a bit more than a month after the Board of Education gave the
teachers a 16% raise. Now, school leaders claim, they may have to consider
"consolidation" of Lockport elementary schools as a cost-cutting alternative to
raising taxes---or do both. At the same time administators revealed figures that
showed Lockport High School to be over-staffed with teachers. The school has a
capacity of 2,280 students but only has about 1,650 enrolled. If consolidation in the
elementary grades goes through it will likely be in a form that eliminates the
"neighborhood school concept"---a tradition that Superintendent Christine Neal
wanted to do away with two years ago until public opposition was such that she withdrew
the plan. (2/26/00)
Board of Education gives teachers 16% raise. The Lockport Board of Education gave another series of pay raises to teachers Wednesday evening, 1/26. The raises are well above the inflation rate and will have to be paid for our of increased taxes from Lockport area property owners. The raises will come in 4% year increments extending through 2003 and includes a retroactive pay boost of 3.9% that goes back into 1999. The total increase totals 15.9%. (1/27/00)
Lockport School Enrollment Steady, Hiring (And Firing) Practices Under Attack
Lockport Superintendent of Schools, Christine Neal, said on the radio
Wednesday, 9/8, that enrollment in Lockport schools for the Fall 1999 start is 6,152
children. That's about the same as last year, Ms. Neal reported. She said 47
teachers have retired since June with 33 accepting an attractive financial incentive to do
so. They have been replaced with mostly beginner teachers making less money to
start. However, school hiring practices of teachers came under fire during the WLVL Let's
Talk call-in show. Representatives of the school district did not directly
address a question of why a teacher with 16 years of experience at DeSales and a Masters
Degree, invited by the schools to apply for a position never even received an interview
after making application for open positions. Meanwhile, a caller said, the wife of
the City Attorney and the daughter of the Mayor, both reported to be without substantive
experience, were hired.
On the topic of the dismissal action the district attempted to take against tenured
teacher, Gary Luff, the Finance Superintendent admitted that total costs suffered by the
district (so far) were in excess of $240,000 including pay Luff received for not working
while under paid suspension for more than a year. Legal expense was estimated at
$140,000 of the total costs. The district lost the action in an education hearing
and several district administrators were chastised by the hearing officer for bias against
Mr. Luff in the case and possible hiding of evidence (tape recordings of interviews with
accusing children had "disappeared"). Luff, who was found in the Spring
not guilty of all charges in a stunning reverse for district administrators, was scheduled
to return to the classroom this week. The costs were disclosed on the very day
Lockportians were receiving their school tax bills in the mail.
Work is not expected to be completed for several weeks yet on the installation of a new
"rubberized" running track at the Emmet Belknap athletic field. A first
layer has been installed, according to Finance Superintendent, Ray Morningstar Jr. but a
second, colored layer is awaiting proper weather conditions. The school district is
paying to post a 6PM to 6AM guard at the property to make sure nobody damages the track
coatings while "setting" is going on. The expensive new track replaces the
usual black cinder track which had been in place for generations. (9/7/99)
Lockport City taxpayers get 4.76% hike in school taxes. Despite
promises that the STAR program would not result in more school tax rate increases, city of
Lockport property taxpayers (who do not qualify for STAR) were told Monday, 8/23, that
they will have to pay 4.7% more per $1000 of accessed valuation this year to the Lockport
school district. Meanwhile, the Town of Lockport will get a decrease in its rate of
2.3%. School officials claim the difference is because of different equalization
rates. However, there is no explanation for all the tax-free status the school
district benefits from its in-city property, city police, fire, and municipal services,
and the school safety crossing guards city taxpayers have to pay for. The latest tax
scheme is just another example of how city taxpayers get the long end of taxes and the
short end of services whenever "regional" authorities are involved.
(8/24/99)
School district to get almost $1-million for "Coke" exclusive sales deal. Only Coca-Cola products will be sold in Lockport schools starting late this summer. The Lockport School District Board of Education granted a ten-year exclusive to Coca-Cola in exchange for almost a million dollars in benefits. The schools get $698,000 in cash plus promotions valued at $192,000. Cash payments will increase if sales increase above anticipated levels, sources say. The district also gets a $100,000 up-front "signing bonus." The schools get about 35 Coke vending machines the company values at about $62K. None of the money, however, will go to help avoid the steady stream of tax increases. All funds reportedly will be for increased spending on "student programs" of a non-educational nature such as student government and entertainment. The Coca-Cola deal replaces one with Pepsi-Cola that expired July 1st. (7/17/99)
Lockport High prom and graduation being held out of Lockport
(again). While Lockport facilities await, the Lockport schools choose
instead to send taxpayer, student, and parent money out of the district. The Senior
Prom will be held this year, 6/25, Friday at the Marriott in Amherst. The Senior
Graduation will be held this year in expensive Art Park on Sunday, 6/27. It could
all be called a lesson for High School seniors in hometown loyalty with a final exam
question asking, "How much do these institutions contribute to the Lockport school
tax and job base?" (6/23/99)
Low turnout for Board of Education election, budget vote. Only one
candidate was on the ballot for two open positions on the Lockport School Board of
Education and Keith McNall received 1,118 votes to gain re-election. Marietta
Schrader, whose husband is a Lockport Common Council member, organized a write-in campaign
for herself and received 421 votes to gain the other seat. Voters gave rubber stamp
approval to the school record spending plan in two budget resolutions. (5/19/99)
School tax rate to go up again---spending soars to $57-million. The
Lockport School District Board of Education approved another tax rate increase for
district property taxpayers Monday, 4/12. The increase of 2.9% is caused by soaring
spending, up to an all-time high of $57,083,599 in the current budget that will be
submitted for de facto voter approval on May 18th. Because of the way the
district prepares the voter propositions and arranges budget items, voters disapproval
means little. Most spending is lumped into categories that are declared exempt from
voter veto. At the same time the district will ask voters to approve $1.46-million
in "capital spending" which includes money for a new telephone system. (4/13/99)
11% of Lockport school population are "special." The 11%
figure is pretty close to the state average of 11.7% which reflects an alarming and
increasing trend for more children to be sent into "special education" groups
for at least some of the school day. "Special education" has historically
been inclusive of mentally and physically handicapped. In recent years however,
"special education" numbers are finding "disruptive" children included
in their numbers along with those who are reportedly have "learning
disabilities." (2/9/99)
Ranked #63 out of 98 WNY School Districts
By "Buffalo Business First" Magazine
Lockport School District Board of Education:
Charles Sobieraski, President - 434-2423
Keith McNall, VP - 434-8070
John Linderman
Beverly McDonough
Renee Knight, 434 - 3827
Marietta Schrader
Jane Johnson, 434-6428
Robert Pohl, 434-5864
Mark R. Shaw, 433-2951