Voters in the Williamsville School District will be deciding on a proposed $183 million budget plan Tuesday as well as school board candidates. WBFO's Eileen Buckley recently sat down with the leader of the Williamsville Teachers Association, who voiced concerns of ongoing acrimony in the district.
“The fact that last June extended Dr. Martzloff’s contract in the face of all this controversy is extremely troubling,” said Michelle Licht, president of the Williamsville Teachers Association and a 4th grade teacher at Dodge Elementary.
Licht said for far too long there has been "distrust" and fears of retribution in the district. In the past, the union had called for an outside investigation into Superintendent Scott Martzloff, accusing him of abusing his power and favoritism. Licht noted when they brought their concerns to the board of education the assistant superintendent was suspended with pay back in 2014.
“Now, no one wants to bring concerns to the board’s attention for fear they’ll be suspended, as well,” explained Licht.
But this past March the school board approved an independent assessment. In the school district's March 15 meeting, Martzloff proposed the resolution
“Regarding the relationships between, and actions by, the district’s board, superintendent of schools, assistant superintendents, union leaders and employees,” said Martzloff at the time. The resolution was approved 8-0.
“We’re hoping that that’s the investigation into the superintendent’s conduct that we’ve been looking for and at this point, we are cautiously optimistic that they will follow through and ensure that this is done in such a manner that people will feel comfortable sharing their concerns and that those concerns can be addressed,” explained Licht.
Licht said another problem that she tried to bring to the superintendent's attention involved the district's 911 system. Licht had learned various Verizon bills were not being paid by the district, as a new VOIP system was set-up, and no longer needed certain phone lines. However, those unpaid bills caused Verizon to cut off the lines to some schools fire alarms and defibrillator machines. Licht said it was just another problem that probably wasn't revealed.
“One of the original emails that went out addressed four specific schools where the fire alarms weren’t working. Another email went to all the custodians saying that the fire alarms were only working sporadically, so it’s unclear how many people were in jeopardy during that time period,” recalled Licht.
Licht tells WBFO News this year, the union is backing three school board candidates in hopes of taking gaining control of the board.
“We hope to get people on the board who will be honest, who will have integrity and who will be transparent and that’s all we’ve asked for,” Licht said.
WBFO received no response from emailed requests for an interview or a statement from the superintendent.