YONKERS, NY — January 17, 2014 – Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano (left) announced today that Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio (right) will retire from his position as the head of the Yonkers Public Schools, effective in 30 days.
“I want to thank the Superintendent for his years of service to the city as well as his dedication and commitment to Yonkers’ 26,000 students,” said Mayor Spano. “We wish him well in all his future endeavors.”
Mayor Spano said he and City Council President Liam McLaughlin will use this change in leadership to call upon New York State to pass legislation to enact mayoral control of the Board of Education in Yonkers.
Mayor Spano added, “It has recently come to my attention that the Board of Education is operating with a budget deficit that could be up to $55 million, the direct result of improperly accounted-for State Aid over the past two years. The City has repeatedly, without success, asked the Board of Education to open their books and work collaboratively with us, but they have not done so. We believe this deficit is a direct result of the City not having direct oversight of their budget.”
“Under current state law, the Board of Education operates completely independent of City Hall, with no real transparency or accountability to parents and taxpayers. The current system does not work and it’s time for a change,” said Mayor Spano.
“The Board of Education has been operating as a separate entity for too long and it just doesn't work,” Council President McLaughlin said. “This incident highlights the lack of mayoral control and council input into education in our city. I stand with the Mayor in calling for passage of this legislation.”
Mayor Spano said that at this time he anticipates that the shortfall will not affect the classroom, and the City can utilize its own surplus funds in the short term to ensure adequate cash flow.
Pierorazio was appointed Superintendent of the Yonkers Public Schools by the Board of Education in 2005.
SOURCE: Christina Gilmartin, Communications Director, Office of the Mayor
Comments 46
mike Edelman you are so wrong, the board of ed can count. Count on the city being blackmailed into coming up with another 55 million plus some no matter what happens. Hence the nickname “the black hole”. Things go in but nothing comes out. Professor Hawking has some new theories on it but it is about the same just a shifting event horizon.
Remember they were gonna push through the G-3 plan, was that to hide the budgetary mistake when the loan money came in?
Not soon enough for the super. to get out of this one?
Is there no budget for physical plant repairs/replacement, or should most of the administrators follow him out the door.
Like the mayors office will do better……………
Funny and disgusting the real residence of Yonkers can’t read or write. And speak English the schools are 89% Mexicans. Non Latino. Just look
Why are there NO African American supervisor in Dpw Tommy
F- news 12, F- Sue Gerry, F – every faggot ass in this city of fake people. Let the Truth set us free…..just takes time to see who tells the truth sometimes!
I hope Spano has his new I.G open an investigation about the 55 million shortfall.
Spano has created his perfect re election platform.
1. New PBA contract saving city money
2. Consolidating BOE saving City money
3. Eliminated the only legitimate Republican contender by handing him the CP job
4. I’m sure Democratic 3 headed monster Cousins, Symra and Jenkins will get something so they won’t have someone primary Spano.
5. My gues. Symra keeps city chair job and kens gets a sweetheart deal
I’m sure it’s in the pipeline already
Wendy Nadal likes it the way it is, so she can keep her do nothing fabricated job that really does nothing for nobody except make the rip off artist in yonkers feel good about themselves.
Nice video.
Please buy my house in Yonkers. I’m done and the feds need to take over this city. What a disgusting place it has become. CT here I come!
Mikey is Tommy next is he still telling you how to run SPANOTOWN ……..He as well as some others will be your downfall throw him under the Pizza barn buss fast or will he be running soon against you what are friends for right .
Uncle Felon thinks he’s still somebody….you fell hard and fast and left us with a terrible Empire City agreement(Rooney’s Love It!) and Oprah Winfrey as our NY Senator….NICE JOB ASS!
Italians vote for Spano….really that’s why he changed to Democrat? The reality is YO is filled with Mexicans and old people stuck here…That’s it. You people that live in Crestwood have NO numbers…times they’re a changing.
She will be the new Mayor of Yonkers Veronica Moser.com check out her site already up and running she has what it takes to run Yonkers the right way like old times.
Sounds like this guy should be held accountable too!!!
Mr. Trevor H. Bennett
Trustee
Trevor H. Bennet was first appointed to the Board of Education in 2004, he began his second five-year term as a Trustee in 2009. He most recently served as vice-president of the Board.
He chairs the Audit, Budget & Finance Committee, and is a member of the Policy Committee, the Diversity Action Committee, and the Long Range Strategic Planning Committee. Mr. Bennett is also an alternate liaison to the Yonkers Chamber of Commerce.
The school systems in this state have been ripping off the taxpayers for years. Look at all the money that is funneled into them, taxes, lottery,state aid. They never have enough. They command 60 percent or more of a municipal budget, yet towns and cities can fund all police, fire sanitation, public works, officeservices etc on the remaining 40 percent. Something is wrong with that picture. There is just no accountability with these schools. In the case with Yonkers, how does one rack up a 55 million dollar defecit? Something should have been done to control spending long before it got to be that high. The supt gets paid something like $269,000 a year, for what? Maybe he should pay it back with his pension, which I am sure will be near $200,000. The schools keep inventing new ways to teach kids (common core) which is only another way to piss money away. If you keep changing things you need more administrators, teachers, aides, etc. Why do teachers need aides? let them teach like they are being paid to do. Another huge waste of money is the state education dept, another money pit sucking taxpayer money.
Debate…
Spano not a one termer…Italians in Yonkers will vote for him…just as they did with Nicky…Italian voters put aside competence and gave you Spallone, Calvi, Adamo, Cipriani, Martinelli….Yonkers voters, esp. Italian Yonkers voters, don’t give a squat about competence….
http://youtu.be/OBkqoRkSTro
Start from 0:56 of this clip.
The Spanos always have and always will talk out of both sides of their mouths. Joke.
One termer.
Bliss…
And Mayor appoints BOE head why? So, we think that Yonkers would be better off with its own Dept. of Ed? Great… and load that with more hacks. Yonkers and corruption and Yonkers and myopia go hand in hand….people, you vote for these clowns…travel around the country and look around….Yonkers is a dysfunctional dump run by hacks who would never be hired by a Fortune 100…and that goes for the Mayor who couldn’t graduate from college… sure, he understands education…Yonkers….her best days are long gone….drive up Yonkers Avenue from Bronx River to City Hall….a dump….thanks, pols. The City is ugly and broke.
It’s funny to me that people actually don’t understand that the City has nothing to do with how the BOE spends their money. It’s a state law that prevents the City from controlling it and the policy of Pierorazio has been to keep it away from the City. You can’t blame this one on Spano …this one is clearly the blame of Pierorazio and charges should be considered against him if this is all true.
The City has been chasing a $50 million short-fall since Spencer was Mayor. What made the administration think they took care of it? Doesn’t Mayor Mike have a brother that’s in education…see what’s coming? If the Mayor gets control then we need an elected BOE, no cronies.
Control Board…..and a City Manager.Hopefully coming soon.
Give it a rest Edelman. Mike Spano is the Mayor and as such controls over $200 MILLION DOLLARS of City money that funds the BOE. If he really wanted to know anything about the BOE budget or if the BOE was not forthright in providing financial information then all he would have to do is withhold payment of the City money to the BOE. Simple as that. There’s no power more powerful than the power of the purse strings. Now stop sucking the Spano’s private parts and park your car on the Tappan Zee bridge.
If the mayor appoints the BOE members, how is there no knowledge of the BOE fund allocation?
Don’t worry,Yonkers, Mikey (no college degree) and Liam (whom we can hardly call a forward thinker and who proves himself addicted to power and who has been in the middle of so many bad City Council decisions) will save the schools.Mikey is happiest with inane press releases announcing some DWI Awareness Week or something like that….that was his career pretty much in Albany….now he is in way over his head.
while your at it Mike better start thinking of ways to retire the PBA pres. You know there is a federal lawsuit in the works against him, just a matter of time before news 12 asks you for a comment when the story hits…………..
it has never made sense from a managerial and administrative point of view to have separate
budgets for the board of education and the city…
whether or not you are a mike spano fan is irrelevant
the board of education budget cannot be allowed to
run a 55 million dollar deficit whatever the reason
and certainly not when the board keeps its books
in a non transparent manor…the state legislature should do exaclty what the mayor is requesting and then lets see what happens..but just as you would not permit your kid to have a credit card when he can’t
control his spending habits you have to reign in
a board of education that clearly can’t count
So let’s get this straight.
For the last 2 years, WHILE MIKE SPANO HAS BEEN MAYOR, the Board of Education has been improperly accounting for state aid (spin ups) to the tune of AT LEAST 55 MILLION DOLLARS and Mike Spano is just finding out about it now ?
Maybe if he had focused his energies on the BOE these past 2 years instead of fighting with the firefighters (and losing every one of those fights) he could have discovered the improper accounting at the BOE and corrected it before it became a crisis.
No more drama? All we get with Mike Spano is drama. Maybe the sequel should be Mike Spano’s impeachment?
Please Please Help the city of Yonkers it is going downhill and it has no breaks its time to make a difference not to show how taught you are but what you have done for the city and the children again Please help our city and help our children I want to see the politicians kids go to these schools and that is when our school will change to them its all about numbers and not about the city or Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano you are a great man and great family but please sit back and remember how you wanted to change the way that our schools in this city should be run now about the bussing that is a whole new story we spend so much money in bussing that we could be building new schools for our kids Mayor Mike Spano please dig deep in your hart and do what is good for the City and the kids god bless you Mayor
The head of BOE does Mayor’s bidding. Mikey and head of BOE deserve blame too. While Nader S. (a Spano lifer) was appointed last year, the point is this: a Mayor with the right stuff CAN have oversight over BOE. But let’s be real: sharpest knives in draw NOT in City Hall. This is what you get when you vote for hacks year in and year out….Yonkers voters: you vote for this.The Spanos…with their tentacles everywhere, including BOE, always seem to display manufactured rage.
So there are really morons out there who believe that this is about some real budget concerns? You really believe that after all this time and budgetary problems that Bernie had to deal with that NOW because Albany didn’t come through with the 55 mil, he has to be replaced? Anybody remember the weasels who occupied the office prior to a home grown leader?
By the way, why would ole Mikey want control of the BOE…. couldn’t be the exponential expansion of the friends; goomies; family network???? No?
Watch how fast the state miraculously comes through with help as soon as Bernard’s body is cold.
Watch how fast BOE becomes a dumping ground for Spano Todies.
Just watch how the already greased palms in Albany work to help out in this “emergency”.
Pottersville here we come.
and you still believe everything these Spano’s tell you?….. Please Yonkers…. just sign this check; I have to put it in the mail.
Funny how the mayor scrutinized the municipal budgets so well, yet he left the BOE budget alone. Hmmmm, let’s count pennies at the front door, while a truck load of money leaves out the back door.
Now, we’ll hear the BS excuses that the BOE numbers were not in the mayor’s control. If you had any issues, your boy club up in Albany were a phone call away, More BS!
Mr spano do you have a comment on the PBA lawsuit???lol I told ya so…..
Mike can you push out keith olson aka the rat ??? the media soon will be asking you for a comment…lol
How did Comptroller DiNapoli approve the Yonkers City Budget if the BOE made incorrect assumptions? And what about the City’s high priced Albany lobbyist ad Mayor Mike’s former boss Patricia Lynch? Why did she not deliver on the state funds that the school district really needed?
whens mike retiring?? next election day hopefully! must have been tough getting rid of one of your own you know a cannoli.
Congrats to the mayor for showing leadership in times of crisis.
Yonkers teachers rejoice….The Prince of Darkness is going to retire….or rather resign? I think it is about time that our children get the education that should be theirs under the law. Yonkers has wonderful teachers, good teachers that have their arms tied behind their backs because some have no books, money that is designated for the children is spent before the schools see it, and raises that have been promised to the teachers disappear. You wonder why the parents of Yonkers send their children to religious schools?.. believe me, it is expensive, but when you see what is happening in the public schools in Yonkers, you run away like rats in a sinking ship….Better days will be coming…it can’t get any worse!!!!
Didn’t the city council just approve another five year contract for this guy? Will they have to pay him for that? Mayor Mike and the Evil Redhead in charge of our schools. Bend over, Yonkers. This is going to hurt.
Amazing how the city has a SURPLUS to fund the BOE all of a sudden. It was less than a year ago Mayor stated, there was no money? Either, ignorant or misinformed proves that nothing the he says is truthful.
Oh, let me guess Carrot-top and Canoli mayor have a plan.
Residents get ready for the story of a need for change for the sake of the children. You know better, it’s an AGENDA to bring about change. wink, wink, Obama…O’brother!
No amount of money will give a child, parents that care and give guidance. Example, Pearls school has the LUXURY of taking only the gifted children that have home life of guidance and structure! Public schools are for ALL children, gifted or not. Test scores reflect this reality.
Again, even chartered schools have strict guidelines that hold parents more accountable.
Having the best interests of the kids is admirable. Not knowing where the money is means that he should not be in charge of it. A Superintendent needs to have many qualities and being in charge of the operation is one of the essential ones.
Mr. Pierorazio definitely had the best intentions…but he lacked the skills and those skills are critical to the success of the District. Now, we’ll be back to cutting programs.
Wishing for the best is not the way to run the operation.
Say what you will about Pierorazio he had the best interests of the students at heart. With Nader Sayegh as the President of the Board of Education doing the Mayor’s bidding, one has to wonder whether this is about patronage and cotrol or about Education.
I hope this will help the school system which is in such a bad position !!! I was at an open house last night and am so concerned about my children’s future !! There are 40 schools to pick from and there are only two or three that are at a “good” grades and very long wait lists! One of the three is Pearls which is for the gifted and talented! Absolutely so sickening ! I was discussing with my husband how we need to think about selling our home and move to another city, that cares about there schools system and make it priority.I look at other city schools and there grades and how well the students are doing academically. Yonkers schools are sickening and now with Core Curriculum the kids are struggling as is and now with the new standards. I spoke to my oldest child which is 10 years old and explained to him our concern and how we think we should find a new home and new school. He was so upset and will not accept leaving because of his friends and how he loves his home and neighborhood.
Is there hope for Yonkers Public Schools????????
By a very concerned parent!
The City Council did not have to approve ANY budgets through the years, wherein the BoE did not show HOW they spent the money they were allocated. The BoE consistently made the argument that they could not be told how to earmark the taxpayer dollars they were given, but that is a far cry from asking them how to document how they SPENT the money they were given. The YCC, with few exceptions, always cowed to the process.
Mike can you retire olson the rat he has done a lot of bad things…
God help us . Mikey and Liam in control of the education of our children !!