New superintendent unveils her vision

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The new superintendent of Buffalo Public Schools is sharing her vision for the struggling district.

Along with the new superintendent, Buffalo schools also have a new Board of Education director. At a reorganizational meeting Monday afternoon around 4 p.m., the board voted six-to-three to make Mary Ruth Kapsiak School Board President and unanimously make Ralph Hernandez School Board Vice President.

Dr. Pamela Brown's contract as the new superintendent is still about a week away from being finalized. But Monday, she told reporters what she'll be doing as she takes over the school system.

"One of the things I definitely plan to do here is to share data with the staff and the community and with students," she said.

New Board President Kapsiak said, "She's a great listener. I've been around her on a couple of occasions and she listens to everyone. She just doesn't have a particular group that she's interested in listening to. She's listening to everyone."

We also learned Monday of the termination of an assistant superintendent. Debbie Buckley, who was in charge of federal and state programs, was abruptly terminated last Wednesday night. She made $90,000 a year. Human Resources could not comment further on her firing, but it is unrelated to the new superintendent coming in.