The Buffalo Board of Education has been talking for weeks about what to do if Schools Superintendent Pamela Brown takes a buyout to leave the district. Brown is expected to leave Monday and the board will be meeting in special session to discuss their next steps.
School board lawyer Karl Kristoff has told the boardmembers the superintendent's position can't be vacant because state law requires a superintendent. The board has talked about a short-term person until a longer-term interim can be selected.
Board members are highly likely to make Associate Superintendent Will Keresztes the acting superintendent. Keresztes has been handed some of the toughest problems in the school system, like discipline and suspensions and student achievement.
Board President Barbara Seals Nevergold says she wants an active interim superintendent for two years, not a placeholder.
"We are just concluding a superintendent that had two years," Seals Nevergold said.
"So I think that's a significant amount of time and that the expectations are that the superintendent, interim or not, is to make certain strides, to meet certain benchmarks within two years. Then, that person, interim or not, should be held to that expectation and that accountability."
The board has a series of issues to deal with which can't be delayed until a permanent superintendent is in place, like what to do about Bennett High School.
