The Rochester City School Board is still battling on and off-camera. On Wednesday, September 1, Commissioner Beatriz LeBron appeared on Facebook Live to disclose the shortage of bus drivers for RCSD students. Unfortunately, the announcement came just days before students planned to start the school year.
During the Facebook Live, LeBron hinted that Superintendent Dr. Lesli Myers-Small was on vacation. Later that same day, LeBron sent an inbox to an undisclosed recipient stating, "They clowns ... I've been arguing all damn day with Van and Amy especially." LeBron goes on to say, "... Van has an office in cornhill and Amy works at Brighton highschool 😒 🥴 she a whole clown too". Allegedly a heated conference call took place as Myers-Small vacationed in Las Vegas.
In the past, LeBron has openly spoken out against board President Van White. In 2019 LeBron disclosed her dissatisfaction with White and demanded his resignation after discovering the multimillion-dollar deficit. At that time, LeBron released the following statement, "We need the district’s internal and external auditors to complete their work. We need to understand what has happened. Second, all responsible parties for this shortfall must resign. Van White should also resign as President and Commissioner Powell as chair of finance, as they have proven they cannot provide proper oversight. Our job as school board members is to make sure superintendents are doing their jobs – and that includes staying in the black."
Our office reached out to board President Van White for a statement on Lebron calling board members "clowns" and accusations of infighting. White responded with the following email, " Mr. Eagle asked me whether there was tension between the Superintendent and Commissioner LeBron. I responded that he needed to speak to the both of them to determine whether this was accurate or not.
Look at the interview. However, I don’t believe he asked me whether there was disagreement among board members. I would not have denied that as anyone can watch board meetings and see that we have disagreements.
In fact, I am not (nor would anyone else) be surprised that Commissioner Lebron refers to other public officials as “clowns”. Indeed, most people have seen her name calling, cursing, and screaming during public meetings.
The tragedy of this is that it is all so unnecessary. She is intelligent and often times has thoroughly thought through many important issues. But tragically, many times she resorts to this kind of behavior and fails to acknowledge (and often times belittles) the honest contributions of others.
So, I don’t know about you, but when I read this stuff or see her act in this manner, I think what a tremendous waste of energy and her intelligence. None of us (neither Commissioner LeBron or myself) are perfect servants, but the citizens (particularly our children) deserve better than name calling and finger pointing.
During this transportation crisis, instead of running the bus over adults who are doing their best to serve our students and families, everyone’s efforts should be totally and exclusively focused on getting our children on the bus.
BTW
As is often the case, Commissioner LeBron has her facts wrong. My law office (which I have encouraged you to visit) is not in Cornhill. It is on downtown Rochester. And as I have told you, is completely dedicated to the cause of addressing human and civil rights violations."
Sadly, RCSD students continue to lose out on a suitable educational system. Incompetent board members, understaffed schools, and a high-priced superintendent that resides outside of city limits only add to the turmoil.
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