Austin Harig

140 Ramona Avenue

Buffalo, NY, 14220

Dear Dr.Barbara Seals-Nevergold and the Buffalo Board of Education,

I am writing to you today about the appointment the vacant seat on the Board for the Park
District. First and foremost, I have to thank all of you for your longstanding diligence and service
to the Board, and would also like to compliment the leadership of Doctor Barbara Seals-
Nevergold, who has done a diligent and steadfast job in guiding the Board through times both
difficult and changing. It is this commitment that I do believe has held things together in times
where the situation seemed dire. In the face of this difficulty, however, we have seen progress
being made. With the most recent indicator of progress being the recent release of ELA and
Math test scores, Ive been very happy to see good news coming out of the district. Its elating to
me there is a light in all of this. That said, I know we as a district can do better and accomplish
great things. By attempting to address the core issues facing an inner-city school system like that
of Buffalo, I hope one day to see a city where we can have ELA and Math proficiencies in the
vast majority of students, rather than just a percentage in the high teens. And though the inward
issues facing an urban district are not problems that we as individuals have caused, rather a
product of societys unfortunate treatment of individuals who perhaps need us the most, I would
like to join your team to take these issues head on and make headway in terms of addressing
them for all families in the district.

There are many focuses which I would like to attempt to take to make the district a better
place. As I mentioned, one of the biggest I would like to look at are what I consider the core
issues. These issues include poverty, resource disparity throughout the school system, integrated
support, community, career and college preparedness, and discrimination, to name a few. It is my
belief that by taking a head on approach to attempting to truly understanding issues such as the
ones I mentioned, and applying appropriate measures, both old and new, to alleviate them, we
can accomplish many of our goals as a district. To simplify this, I measure it in terms of
childrens desire to go to school and learn. Now, this can be something that is hard to see, as its
an important point to make that parts of schooling can be difficult and therefore challenge
children and cause them to not agree with everything they are being told to do, but still value the
education they are receiving and complete what is required of them to succeed. This is to be
expected and is normal. What becomes a problem is when we have children become demoralized
with the school and the system itself and its ability to educate and support them in their
endeavors. When this happens, students can become detached and uncaring, prompting a pattern
of absenteeism, recklessness in their education, and giving up on trying, which, for many, is
impossible to recover from after a certain point. This leaves many on the path to falling
hopelessly behind and eventually dropping out.

______________________________________________________________________________

SECTION I: POVERTY

One of the biggest problems in any urban district is poverty, and its an issue we cannot
outright solve in the short term. The fact is, many of Buffalos most vulnerable children are
going hungry. Ive seen it in my own experiences in the education system, and I know every
single one of us have been touched by this in some way or another. Hungry students of course,
do not make the best students. Studies everywhere have shown this to be an undisputable fact. To
quote the American Psychological Association1 on the matter, Poorer children and teens are
also at greater risk for several negative outcomes such as poor academic achievement, school
dropout, abuse and neglect, behavioral and socioemotional problems, physical health problems,
and developmental delays. The majority of students in Buffalo live in families with incomes
below the poverty line. In addition to this, a significant indicator that we need to keep people in
school, a whopping 45.2% of people who did not graduate from high school in Buffalo live in
poverty. 2 The only way we can address these problems in full is by working to implement long
term solutions. We need to get more people graduating from high school, first and foremost, and
we also need to equip them to take on the tasks of everyday life and have skills to get into the
world of work or proceed into college after high school. In the case of poverty, fully addressing
short term goals, which are primarily to ensure children are being fed and families are stable
enough to support an academic success, goes hand in hand with any long-term plan that is made
to eradicate the issue. By keeping the children in school and focusing on ensuring their welfare,
we can hope to see better students who are happier, stronger, getting better grades, and most
importantly, staying in school. Since staying in school is shown to directly help children succeed,
we can hope to see more stable families with stable households sending well-fed children to
school and ending the cycle in time.

Our first priority in regards to poverty needs to be to provide the proper support and
education to students and families. Helping the most endangered families get access to support
from the community and government, providing counseling and individual assistance to each
student who is at risk of failure because of poverty, and properly identifying and actively
promoting learning and community where impoverished youth can learn the skills necessary to
break the cycle and know they are capable of achieving anything. This is where community

1
American Psychological Association, Effects of Poverty, Hunger, and Homelessness on Children and Youth
(Poverty), http://www.apa.org/pi/families/poverty.aspx

2
Tiffany Lankes, New Census report finds majority of Buffalos children live in poverty,
http://buffalonews.com/2014/09/18/new-census-report-finds-majority-of-buffalos-children-live-in-poverty/
comes in. We must ensure that each and every students ethnicity and identity is embraced and
accepted, and that students of all different races are taught from the earliest of ages that they are
special, their family and community is special, and that they, whoever they are or what walk of
life they came from, can be successful. This should be conveyed on every level, from educator to
parent interactions and student to educator interactions, to Board to Public interactions. We must
convey a unified message that anyone from anywhere can succeed if they put their minds to it
and participate in the education system and try, and a message that no one will be judged
regardless of their race, socio-economic standing, legal status, or gender identity.

Poverty is a big factor in the success of any student, and no matter how impossible the
task, my goal as a Board Member will be to do my best to work with all of my colleagues, fellow
Board Members, and professionals to attempt to address the issue as best we can to chip away at
the poverty level, until one day, Buffalo has the system, the structure, and the stable families in
place to be a city where poverty isnt affecting the majority of our students. Though we can
never hope to solve such as an issue overnight, I refuse to put a band-aid on it and believe that
the issue should be addressed head-on, however long it takes to fully address it. The children in
poverty in the district of Buffalo are the same people who need help the most, and Ive heard and
seen their pleas firsthand and want to do the best I can to be a partner of the community in
combatting one of the biggest issues facing this planet. All efforts for change begin at the local
level, and I firmly believe that by being a partner of the community and embracing our students
and providing them the support and education they need, the Buffalo Schools can by students
and families as their keys to a life without poverty and suffering. The only way to address the
issue of poverty is by pursuing the short term goals that will at the end of the day flow into the
long term goal of eradicating the vicious cycle. By setting our sights on this long term goal and
taking every action we can to work toward it, I believe that one day we can have a successful
Buffalo where we wont have to worry about the issue any longer. Though the idea may seem
idealistic, I believe in it. And I believe, that we, as a team, should do our very best to combat the
issue and address it for the future of everyone. At the end of the day, keeping our students in
school and off the streets is crucial for the future of our city, and I believe in doing everything I
can to ensure they do. Regardless of who the student is, I believe in providing them the utmost
and most personalized support a school can provide to ensure that they are safe, well-fed, and
most importantly, vested in their education and future goals of success. And it is in these goals
and investments that we will see more successful people from all walks of life coming from our
school system, and sending their children to school well-fed and well taken care of without help
because we kept them in school and gave them the tools and support they needed to be
successful.
SECTION II: RESOURCE DISPARITY

A big factor in any family unit is their faith in the school system itself. If a family has
little to no faith in the school system itself, the parent as well as the student will not be very
vested in their education in said system. When we look at Buffalo, I believe one of the bigger
issues that might cause this is the resource disparity in our schools. This being, many schools are
better equipped to teach students than others, and as a result, some families feel from early
education that their children, due to reasons such as race, social standing, money, and their need
for support, are predestined to have their children attend schools that simply dont have as much
resources to give individual attention and teach valuable skills. All children deserve an equal
education, and we decided years ago that segregation was illegal and that schools should be
equal for all. I believe this status quo is unacceptable to many families and the fact that people
feel shot down from an early age based on who they are and where they are from. We live in an
integrated city and it is my firm belief that every student deserves the same amount of attention
and the same quality of education as any other, as well as the same social and cultural clubs so
they can properly learn about their cultures and embrace them as well as their express their
interests and grow their knowledge in subjects like debate, drama, arts, Gay-Straight Alliances,
and other cornerstones of a cultured and healthy school. I dont believe that we should lower the
quality of any school we currently have that is successful, but I do believe we need to use these
schools as models for our more in need schools and seek to raise the standards of all schools to a
standard like those that are currently sought after.

Though this is no easy task, it is what our students and families deserve and what they
need. All schools in the City of Buffalo need to be equipped with counselors proportionate to the
number of children in the schools with the acceptable amount being the amount that allows each
and every counselor to give students the individual attention Ive stressed so much already. In
addition to this, I believe that lower class sizes are paramount to achieving this at the core level.
Teachers as well as counselors need to be able to give every student who needs it the attention
they need and the help they need, and by adopting both of these we can work toward having
schools where teachers and counselors can focus on every student, which is the first step in
improving the general quality of these schools. The second piece of the puzzle is pushing for the
creation of cultural, academic, sports, and niche clubs in each of these schools. A study
conducted by the Nuffield Foundation3 found the following conclusions after studying the
outcomes of disadvantaged youth participating in afterschool programs and activities versus
those who dont. One thing they found, according to their study, was that After school club

3
Dr.Emily Tanner, Professor Liz Todd, Out of School Activities and the Education Gap,
http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/out-school-activities-and-education-gap
attendance was associated with positive academic and social outcomes for disadvantaged
children in particular. They found that students, educators, as well as parents and families
benefited from these programs, stating " School staff, parents and pupils identified a wide range
of perceived benefits from taking part in after school clubs covering academic as well as social
and emotional outcomes. Based on this information as well as my own experiences, it is my
belief that after school clubs and activities are paramount to making schools in Buffalo better
places for all. This issue to me is central and would be a primary focus of mine as a Board
member. To illustrate the issue, I compare City Honors HS and Burgard Vocational HS. Based
on the data for Burgard4, 74.7% of its students are African American. Compare this to City
Honors data5, where the percentage of African American students is at 18.1%. City Honors, a
great high school in its own right, boasts a wonderful African American Dance Troupe6 to call its
own. Burgard, on the other hand, boasts no such wonderful programs, and only a few cultural
events, despite it having a higher number of African American students by proportion by a
longshot. This, in my view, is extremely sad. With this being said, Burgards graduation rate was
44% in 2015 and 52% in 2016, compared to City Honors graduation rate being 98%. Though
these arent the only factors affecting the disproportion between these two schools, the lack of
any major cultural after school activities in Burgard compared to that of City Honors is telling of
the issues facing the district and the issues we need to tackle. The lack of equity demonstrated is
astounding, and in the words of Board President Doctor Barbara Seals-Nevergold7 of the Buffalo
School Board, when talking about the non-changing statistics in terms of diversity in these
schools, after receiving recommendations by Kriner Cash on how we could improve diversity in
the schools, said They will help moving forward, but Im interested in equity at this time.
Theres no change. Its really appalling. Clearly, this is a change we must work toward in terms
of diversity in our schools. We must demonstrate to all of the children in Buffalo that their
cultures are accepted and unique, like City Honors has done. While we can work on
implementing the standards outlined in the OCR Investigation Report,8 we also need to work
toward improving the cultural and academic standings of all of our students. And it is my goal to
promote this by actively supporting the creation of cultural, social, sports, and other clubs within
the most in need schools in the Buffalo School system.

4
Burgard High School at a Glance, NYSED, https://data.nysed.gov/profile.php?instid=800000052907
5
City Honors High School at a Glance, NYSED, https://data.nysed.gov/profile.php?instid=800000052908
6
City Honors School, African Dance and Drumming Troupe,
https://www.facebook.com/cityhonors/videos/10153939781204455/
7
Jay Rey, Buffalo school districts diversity push for City Honors, Olmsted is found to fall short,
http://buffalonews.com/2016/06/15/buffalo-school-districts-diversity-push-for-city-honors-olmsted-is-found-to-
fall-short/
8
U.S. Department of Education, New York Office for Civil Rights, Case No. 02-14-1077 - Buffalo Public Schools
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/investigations/more/02141077-a.pdf
SECTION III: STUDENT AND FAMILY SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Everything previously mentioned ties into the core issue of integrated support systems for
the children. Supporting the students and giving them clear direction and guidance to success is
hands-down one of the most important objectives a school system should seek to achieve. It is in
guidance that students are able to truly express themselves and have professionals guide them in
how to achieve what they want to do in life. In addition to this, support systems assist in helping
those students who are struggling create plans to do better and get back on the track of success.
The optimal support system we could put in place should also have a specific focus and
assistance program for those who are facing exigent life circumstances, such as having a baby,
dealing with the death of family members, and surviving when there are money issues in the
household while continuing education. These three issues contribute to a high amount of those
who drop out of school, as Ive personally witnessed during my own time in the Buffalo Schools.
A guidance system that works for the students, can give individual attention to each of these
students, and assists them in their time of most dire need also helps to boost any students faith in
a school system, which is an important issue of mine. When students can properly rely on their
guidance and support staff to give them personal and ample support in times of need, they can
feel relieved in the fact that there are people in the school who are truly looking out for their best
interest and focus on what matters most, their education. They can focus on succeeding in their
classes, determining what career path they can take, and participating in extracurricular and other
activities which will boost their mindset and happiness in general. This, all in all, ties in to the
philosophy of making school less stressful our students and helping them to enjoy it and focus on
their futures. By assisting them in some of the aspects of school which stress students out the
most and having the plans and staff in place to give them the individual attention to assist, we
would see an immediate effect in terms of the general mood of the students and with time and
trial we would see the direct increase of graduation and attendance rates. It would be one of my
goals as a Board Member to ensure that every student who needed it had counseling available to
them in an environment that would not judge them and only provide the most excellent
assistance. It would also be one of my goals to ensure that there are proper plans and procedures
in place for counselors to help students stay in school in the most exigent circumstances, such as
pregnancy, transportation issues, family issues, monetary issues, and social issues to name a few.
By providing this assistance to the children, they will not only appreciate the school system and
want to stay in it, but also be able to focus more of their academic lives.

This also ties into the subject of career and college preparedness in our students. With
such a large and diverse population in our school systems, the teachers and counselors are the
first line of defense in ensuring our students are career and college ready. It is my position that
keeping the children in school is the single most important way of ensuring their prosperity in
life, and so the counselors having specific training and the ability to assist in our students
exigent life circumstances is sacrosanct in the ultimate goal of ensuring their readiness for life
outside of school after graduation. Students who do not come to school or drop out are not able
to receive our assistance in preparing them for college and careers, and as weve seen, a very
large percentage of those who do not graduate from high school are in fact living in poverty
themselves compared to a much smaller percentage of those who do make it through high school.
By adopting the mentality that we need to keep our children in school, and taking active
measures to ensure that we do, we can hope to see a decreased rate in dropouts. Proper support
services, such as ensuring students who need home education for a period of time are actually
getting that home education, as well as the active support of the other issues that affect students
in Buffalo can drastically decrease this dropout rate. And it is that framework which we will be
able to build upon a better and more active system, which looks out for the best interest of all
students. Educating students in basic financial management from the middle school level is also
important, in my view. Students need to have the tools that it takes to survive in the real world,
and proper financial management skills can drastically help our students do better in everything
they do. Indeed, teaching money literacy helps touch on array of subjects that improve a childs
well-being. In a well-renowned paper based on research by Tak Yan Lee and Ben M.F Law9
based in Hong Kong, basic money literacy taught from middle to early high school can help
create qualities such as self-efficacy, belief in the future, spirituality, cognitive competence,
moral competence, and cultural relevance. It is this framework we should build upon and seek to
invoke in students. College, careers, and the real world become easier on the student when they
can understand basic financial literacy from younger ages. In addition to this, career and
technical education would be a focus of mine as a Board member. I would seek to ensure that
students can be ready to participate in the world of work and pursue higher degrees after high
school. I would seek to equip students with the tools and knowledge necessary to succeed in a
wide variety of fields, such as computer technology, administration, mathematics, and science. It
is by this methodology we can hope to see more students pursuing higher education after high
school, and, if not, being able to navigate and find a career field in the wide world of work that
suits them and their future familys needs. This sort of education would help students and
families in Buffalo to see value in their education, and a clear path to success and careers that
everyone can achieve if they work hard for. Students will be able to focus on finding the career
path that matters most to them and that they want to pursue hopefully while in high school, and
be able to pursue that path to higher excellence by pursuing a degree in that field in college.

9
Tak Yan Lee, Ben M.F Law, Teaching Money Literacy in a Positive Youth Development Program: The Project
P.A.T.H.S. in Hong Kong (Curriculum Units on Promoting Money Literacy),
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3236490/
SECTION IV: DISCRIMINATION

Discrimination can and does affect not only education, but almost all aspects of life. It is
a sad and heinous concept, one that is not part of my line of thought and never will be. As a
Board Member, I will do everything in my power to ensure that there is no discrimination in our
school system based on race, sexual orientation, gender, appearance, economic and social
standing, as well as any other kind of discrimination I havent mentioned. Any form of
discrimination at any level in the education system and by any party in my view should not be
tolerated. I believe that as a representative of the schools in the City of Buffalo, it will be my
duty to ensure that every student, regardless of who they are and where they are from, should be
treated equally and given the same opportunities and quality of education as any other. Each and
every student should receive the same level of individual assistance when needed, the same
opportunities to advance their educational career, as well as the same opportunities to participate
in extracurricular activities regardless of what school in the city they go to. In addition to this, as
a Board Member I will work with my fellow Board Members in the ongoing project of bringing
our schools closer to the guidelines listed in the OCR Memorandum to the Buffalo Public
Schools. Discrimination at any level can affect our students adversely and for a long time, even
after their educational career is over. Judging someone based on their identity is something that
stays with a person for a long time, and affects their perception of the world around them. It is
something that is not fair at all and I will do everything in my power to work with my fellow
Board Members to ensure it does not exist in our school system. I believe in an accepting and
diverse school system, one where people of races, religions, and identities can flourish in
harmony under the common goal of being successful. Rather than allow racism and
discrimination to exist in the City of Buffalo, I seek to promote the harmony and embracement of
all cultures within the melting pot that is this city. I will seek to promote the creation of
extracurricular programs and clubs that directly let students embrace their individual cultures and
learn about them in an environment that is safe. Things like the City Honors African American
Dance troupe, as well as cultural clubs, Gay-Straight Alliances, and other great programs that
exist in some schools are programs that should be extended to every school we can get them into.
Additionally, pioneering new ideas such as cultural food days, where students can share their
history in culture by preparing an ethnic dish should be promoted so our students can share with
each other the wonderful histories and experiences of each others culture. Culture is a wonderful
thing, and while it has been used as a basis of discrimination, I believe in using culture as a good
thing. Allowing students the opportunity to express themselves and their person is a fundamental
part of humanity and should be an integral part of education. When students can share the
various traditions and dishes and experiences of their culture with their peers, not only does that
make the students who are sharing it themselves feel good, but it also helps to educate their
listening peers on the different traditions and will make them more accepting and caring people
in the future. When everyone can embrace and accept each others cultures, our school system
can be a wonderful melting pot of ideas and acceptance. This is what I would seek to accomplish
with the help of my fellow Board members.
SECTION V: CONCLUSION

These are the main concerns I see in the school system that I would like to address should
I be appointed to the Park District seat of the Buffalo School Board. This is a position I will take
seriously and I will be a diligent member of your team. I believe that a team of united Board
Members with a common mission to make this city better and look out for the futures of all the
students, families, and future generations is something that should be revered and it is something
I want to be a part of and work with all of you to obtain that goal. My life has been one where I
have worn many hats, and Ive seen, met, and gotten to know so many fellow students and
people from a very diverse array of backgrounds and worked with these people to succeed in
education. It is this experience I hope to bring to the Buffalo Board of Education. I want to work
for the people who I sat side by side with and shared the burdens of during my time in the
Buffalo Public Schools. I want to bring a perspective to the Buffalo Board of Education unlike
any other, a perspective from the inside. As a team, I strongly believe that this perspective is an
important one that would help all of us accomplish great things for the citys children. We all
come from different backgrounds, specialties, and ways of life. All of these perspectives mesh
into one, united Board of Education that makes the decisions for the children of the City of
Buffalo. As a Board Member, I will be a warrior for the students and families of the city who
need to have a voice. I will bring their lives and experiences onto the Board, having gone
through them myself and lived firsthand the experiences of going through the Buffalo School
System. It is through this that I hope to be a valuable member of the team, one that weighs our
decisions in terms of practicality for the students and families of the city. The kids going to
school in Buffalo are all wonderful people who all have the potential to be successful. I want to
see a day where we have doctors, scientists, business owners, engineers, and geniuses coming
out of our Buffalo Public School system. When we accomplish that, these successful individuals
can bring great things to our city and revitalize it as part of the Buffalo Renaissance. Education is
a large part of that, and I firmly believe that it can be us, the Buffalo Board of Education, who
can be the first line in seeing to it that the students of this city come out successful and use their
skills and intelligence to the benefit of the city. That is what I hope to do as a member of the
Board and that is what I would like to see happen more often. I believe that together, we as a
Board can accomplish amazing things for the students and families of this city. I hope to be
considered for the seat and highly look forward to getting to work with everyone should you
decide to appoint me. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Austin Harig

Applicant for Park

District Board Seat