Buffalo schools drop attempts to discipline anyone in the McKinley High controversy
Board votes not to take action against officials
Buffalo Schools Superintendent James A. Williams Tuesday declared the pursuit of disciplinary action surrounding the suspension of a McKinley High School senior over after a deeply divided School Board voted not to go forward.
The board’s vote made clear it had little appetite for taking action against school officials, including McKinley Principal Crystal Barton, who were named in a highly critical report by a special investigator into the seven-week suspension — later shortened to five weeks — of Jayvonna Kincannon.
“As far as I am concerned, this is over from a public perspective,” Williams said. “I will talk to the employees, and we will move on to run this school district.”
The superintendent blamed state Education Law 3020a, which he said made pursuing disciplinary action difficult and costly.
North District board member Catherine Nugent Panepinto, who introduced the resolution, disagreed.
“I think that the cost we are going to pay in lost credibility is greater than any cost that would have been spent to hold people responsible,” she said.
Panepinto’s resolution called for attorneys experienced in the preparation of charges under Education Law to review materials gathered by special investigator David L. Edmunds Jr. and present recommendations to the board where evidence of misconduct was found.
Panepinto said she introduced the resolution because board members needed to be held accountable on an issue that has rocked the Buffalo school system the past five months.
Robert Bennett, chancellor of the state Board of Regents, told The Buffalo News the 3020a provision should not by itself discourage disciplinary action.
“The fact something would take a long time and cost a lot of money is hardly a valid excuse to not take action if, in fact, it was warranted. 3020a has been around for 40 years, and people have had to deal with it,” Bennett said.
The chancellor said he is going to ask an attorney for the state Education Department to review recommendations by Edmunds and education attorney Karl Kristoff in order to determine if the state has grounds for disciplinary action.
Andrew J. Freedman, an education attorney who represents numerous suburban school districts in Western New York, said it can cost New York school districts $100,000 to $200,000 to pursue disciplinary action against a teacher or principal.
“It is a big determinant,” Freedman said.
On the other hand, Freedman said failing to do so can leave those who have overstepped their bounds believing they don’t have to be accountable to anyone.
“Imagine a system where you didn’t discipline students. It would be out of control. If you don’t discipline teachers or administrators, the same basic thing could occur,” Freedman said.
The board meeting began chaotically within seconds of being called to order when School Board President Mary Ruth Kapsiak and at-large member Catherine Collins moved to go into executive session before Panepinto could read her resolution.
The board emerged nearly a half-hour later, with proponents falling one vote shy of the five votes needed for passage.
Panepinto, Park District board member Louis Petrucci, West District board member Ralph Hernandez and at-large member Christopher Jacobs voted for the resolution. Kapsiak and at-large member Florence Johnson voted no, while Collins and Ferry District board member Pamela Perry-Cahill abstained. Cahill said she did so because “[the cost] may cause us to shut down schools or something of this nature.”
East District board member Vivian Evans was absent for the vote, arriving just after the vote concluded.
Panepinto was particularly critical of Collins and Cahill for failing to take a stand.
“I’m particularly bothered by the people who abstained. This was an issue — whether people should be held accountable — that you had to have an opinion about one way or another,” Panepinto said.
Collins said it should be left up to Williams to decide.
“The accountability lies with the superintendent, and I believe he will follow through on whatever action he deems necessary,” she said.
Hernandez was unhappy with the board’s unwillingness to take action.
“There are some board members who want to reach the truth and are concerned there is closure to this whole process. . . . I think the public pretty much needs to render its own decision and see [what’s happened] for what it is,” Hernandez said.
Kapsiak, the board president, said after the meeting that the four-paragraph resolution had been introduced before she had a chance to read it. She didn’t explain why she voted no rather than abstaining.
Kapsiak said there eventually will be “repercussions” for some involved in the suspension but couldn’t specify.
“The public has to trust us that there will be disciplinary action,” Kapsiak said.
In the board’s annual reorganization meeting that followed, Kapsiak was re-elected president over Petrucci; Collins replaced Hernandez for vice president of executive affairs; and Jacobs replaced Panepinto for vice president of student achievement. The consecutive 6-to-3 votes laid bare the deep divisions on the board.
Petrucci said he ran for president to “reach across the aisle and build more of a consensus. . . . As it looks right now, it looks like [the majority] have the votes to pass whatever they want.”
Williams said he hoped to change the tenor of the board by using his “great skills at bringing people together,” beginning with an upcoming retreat for board members.
