Regarding “Syracuse schools hire a consultant for $715k, over objections: ‘This needs to be better thought out’ ” (March 13, 2026):
As a veteran educator and city resident for over half a century, I am opposed to my school taxpayer dollars going to pay for yet another consultant who claims to have the answer to fixing Syracuse city schools.
I agree with SCSD Teachers Association President Nicole Capsello and Commissioner Michael Root, who did not back this hire. The cost, $715,000, buys a significant amount of talented teacher energy. That’s what’s needed. The district has experimented with untold numbers of programs designed to raise test scores and graduation rates. Millions have been spent over years when any taxpayer can tell you that our students need to focus on wide reading in all subjects/grades (not packets where students fill in bits of information), writing across all subject/grades (writing and revising and then yet again), and mathematical/critical reasoning skills…