Scholastic control board needed

Each year in September our assessment office is besieged by taxpayers.

They blame our town administration for the school taxes. In 2008, with a recession looming and local salaries not keeping par with living costs, I imagine the number of disgruntled citizens will swell.

For Erie County and Buffalo it took mandated control boards to bring us to our senses. Perhaps a county scholastic control board is needed to bring 40 schools districts to reality. The job will never be done by the school administrators. Basically, they are not real leaders, but people galvanized in the perpetuation of the bloated bureaucracies they govern.

Do we really need 40 curriculum directors when the state mandates most of the curriculum and the student bodies are strikingly similar? How about 40 business managers when multinational companies have one? Hundreds of school principals are similar extravagances as mid-level site managers and master teachers can easily rotate through the buildings, advising clerical staff and enhancing learning skills.

Give teachers more autonomy and a percentage of the savings and you will get a better and less costly system. The change will require leadership from outside the education system. Any takers?
Joe Weiss
Clarence Councilman