Warning, the 2007-2008 school year is likely to be the turning point for YPS Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio as he enters the third and final year of his contract. Why will this be the perfect storm for the Yonkers Public Schools (YPS)? A number of factors come to mind and first among them is that this coming academic year is indeed Pierorazio’s. He cannot fall back on his predecessor Angelo Petrone any more. No more excuses. As a matter of fact, Pierorazio has cleaned out most everyone associated with Petrone. Regardless of expertise, talent, and service which Petrone was known for supporting as part of his staffing style. Pierorazio is now pretty much bereft of any experienced people. He not only relies on the few surviving staff, which like him, have been part of the problem, but has decided to bring back more of the same from this group; people like Bill Flower and Lou Constantino. It’s back to the future folks. This strategy, coupled with the Mayor’s driving “friends of Amicone,” people like Robert Flathe comes to mind, on the non-instruction / educational side has, and will prove, to exacerbate existing problems.
Powered by Qumana
The third element is the Dunne factor. President Bernadette Dunne, in her third and final year as President of the Board of Education (BoE) will “place” as many principals and assistant principals, especially from Manhattan College, as she can into the system. Has anyone actually looked at the “track record” of her protégés? - those in the district and those she brought into the Yonkers School System.
Whether its Pierorazio, Amicone, or Dunne, the talent they promote is at best third rate and that is a prescription for disaster. Unfortunately, the system will suffer with incremental deficiency throughout the coming school year along with poor or no decision making. Everyone on the “inside” within the district, or closely associated with it, knows it to be true. The rest are blind.
Let’s reassess the Superintendent and the position he is in: He personally doesn’t want to make waves. That’s called decision making, especially since he wants to renew his contract. His Board of Trustees is of no help to him whatsoever so he has tolerate their slings and arrows while they “play” at being concerned, involved, and important. He knows Mayor Amicone drives the program on the non-instructional side, so he keeps him happy and creates the positions Amicone needs, attended to with Nick Spano’s help of course. It’s been a field day for both of them.
The Superintendent’s Central Office staff is overloaded, thinned-out, and frankly doesn’t have the necessary talent to help him lead the district. There are few exceptions. The biggest mess will be in the buildings: elementary, middle and high schools. With the exception of a few remaining “old timers” of experience, this level of management has bottomed out. The first sign of distress will be bringing in administrators from outside the district to staff his Central Office and school buildings. Why? No talent pool? What has the district done to train in-house professionals? If Pierorazio says he does, then why isn’t he promoting them? And please, Mr. Superintendent, don’t tell us about your “soft” promotions. These people generally don’t have the background or the building experience necessary to hit the ground running. So you place them in Central Office to surround you. Shameful. The Superintendent has 30-plus years in the district and he spent the last 6 or 7 years in Central Office as both the assistant, and now the superintendent of schools, and he still can’t put it together. He can’t even retain talented people, instead resorting to bringing back his old gang, or the more expensive option of recruiting people from the outside.
These replacements do not have the experience and will need a year, at minimum, as a learning curve.
With Pierorazio’s tacit consent, the YFT has for the most part taken effective control of the school buildings. There are only a few tough principals left; mostly at the middle and high schools levels. The main stay of the back-up work force, the CSEA and the Teamster members are generally getting shafted. These are Amicone’s/ Pierorazio’s placements on the operational side who do not appreciate, nor understand the workforce they are given to supervise. Wait for this situation to explode in the upcoming year.
Last, but not least, is the ongoing funding situation. It can’t and won’t be done on the backs of the unions. It’s about maximizing your resources and understanding your role in every aspect of managing the district. It’s about vision and leadership. Sadly, we have hit bottom. Perhaps the exchange program with China can give us a Superintendent.
Read Ernie Garcia's article in the July 11,2007 edition of The Journal News entitled Parents Decry Yonkers School Board's Closed Session.
