The Speech that Got Michael Bowen "Booted for Life" from Buffalo Board of Education Meetings

The speech that got Mr. Michael Bowen "booted for life" from the Buffalo Public Schools Board of Education meeting:

The City of Buffalo is not unique when compared to other cities around the nation in regards to public education. The very same thing is occurring in Detroit, Chicago, Philly, Newark, and now Buffalo. The term is called privatization of education. It's when a group of investors: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Pearson Education team up with the Federal and State governments and take advantage of a fabricated problem to replace public education with their private product. You won't read this in the Buffalo News. They ignored the NYSAG investigation for two years. Why? Warren Buffett is partnered with Bill Gates and Pearson to bring you the Common Core. He and Berkshire Hathaway are profiting from privatization, the Common Core, standardized tests, and charter schools. This is going on in 45 states.

Mr. Paladino knows nothing about education outside the "failure script" provided by NY Gov. Andi Cuomo, the Buffalo News, and Regent Bob Bennett. He is nothing more than the gatekeeper of privatization of education in Buffalo. His conservative face and democratic donations prove him fraudulent. I had an educational dealing with Mr. Paladino outside of BPS I would like to share. In 2006, he promised to relocate a baseball diamond he displaced when he purchased property from the rear of our school in West Seneca to construct his hotels. He also agreed to build a playground. Over 6 years, parents raised approximately $30,000.00 for the project.

Last June, construction began on the playground then surprisingly stopped with the promise it would resume over summer and be completed for opening day in September. I drove by school before the first day and I observed a mammoth dirt pit and no playground. I inquired around the district and had learned Mr. Paladino was possibly buying the entire school, not just a portion of land. He owns 3 hotels, 3 banks, a gas station, and most of the residential property in the Slade Ave. neighborhood. Now that he was buying the entire school lot, he doesn't want to build the playground. I spoke up and asked, "Aren't the kids deserving of the promised playground their parents paid for, especially if it is the last year at their school?" My questions were met with scorn. What could I do? I periodically visited the work site and took pictures. I contacted Mr. Paladino on Facebook and Twitter. I published the pictures of the unfinished playground and screen shots of his replies. The whole month of September, authorities claimed it was built. I have video of a backhoe working on the site Oct. 3rd that proves otherwise. I truly believe it was because of the pictures and video our group shot and the references to Ellicott Development and the incomplete work I tweeted that the playground was finally built. I stand corrected, the commemorative bricks, again purchased by parents, were never installed. If Mr. Paladino cannot fulfill a promise made on something as small, simple, and yet significant as a playground, how can he be entrusted to run an entire district?