Dr. Walter Cooper Academy Rally Flyer

The SW Common Council Education Committee, the 19th Ward Community Association and the Virginia Ave. Block Club

are endorsing a rally at the

Dr. Walter Cooper Academy at 353 Congress Ave.

to call attention to the need our community has for retaining this school.

The Rally is Tuesday April 23rd at 5:30 pm.

Please participate in the Rally and distribute the rally flyer to friends and neighbors:

DWCA rally flyer.doc

If we lose the Dr. Walter Cooper Academy :

- Fewer of our kids will be close enough to walk to school, requiring more and longer bus rides resulting in negative health effects, and less time for other activities for our kids.
- We will lose the only Expeditionary Learning program on the west side of Rochester. The east side already has 4 EL programs.
- SW Rochester will be significantly disadvantaged – SW Rochester neighborhoods, where 80% of the City School District's South Zone primary students reside, will get less than 30% of the South Zone's primary school renovation dollars, compared to the schools in the SE neighborhoods.
- Our homes will likely suffer lower property values as families will be less attracted to a neighborhood without a school close enough for activities and involvement, and their kids' friends less likely to live nearby.
- We will lose an historic neighborhood anchor and identity.
- Despite the RCSD claims that student enrollment is dropping, only high school enrollment is dropping, not elementary. But elementary schools are being closed while they plan to bus more of our young students to former secondary school buildings with excess space that isn't the right space for our early learners. Cramming multiple separate school programs into big buildings, increases the likelihood of conflicts and is a distraction to learning.

The advantages of a neighborhood school are well established:

+ Schools are responsible for a sense of community and collective identity. Local schools educate generations of friends, family, and neighbors, providing a shared experience and continuity from one generation to the next.
+ Neighborhood schools provide significant health, fitness and environmental benefits. Neighborhood schools keep travel distances short, which means less time for children and their families in cars and buses.
+ Quality neighborhood schools increase property values.
+ Small schools contribute positively to student academic achievement, social behavior, extracurricular participation, and attendance. The positive effect of small schools is found across the entire student population, but is especially pronounced for minority and economically disadvantaged students.

Background

The Rochester City School District is proposing to move the Dr. Walter Cooper Academy to SE Rochester and close the school building at 353 Congress Ave. in our Southwest Rochester neighborhood. Opened in 1917, it's location in our quiet residential neighborhood and close to the U of R, Genesee River, Erie Canal, Genesee Valley Park and many historic sites makes it a valuable educational setting.

For its first 88 years it served as our neighborhood school, our streets busy with children going to and from school. When the RCSD closed #37 as a neighborhood school in 2005, our children disappeared from our sidewalks and many, many buses began going by. Busing now costs our district about 50 million dollars a year. Our children now ride more, walk less and have less time for beneficial activities. In 2004, about 60% of our elementary students attended their “home schools.” That average is now 17% .

While not returned to a neighborhood school, we are currently fortunate to have the Dr. Walter Cooper Academy, a city-wide Expeditionary Learning program, in this building. 61 of our 19th Ward students attend this program– almost 1/4 of the enrollment and the largest neighborhood constituency. This is the only EL program on the city's west side. The east side already has 4 of these desirable programs. If the school building is closed, our children will have to be bused to the other side of the city if they want to attend an EL program.

Rochester is planning to spend over 1 billion dollars to renovate and improve our city schools - but not equitably in our neighborhood. We will lose both our school and a successful school program. Further, our SW neighborhoods have 80% of the Rochester City School District's South zone students yet are designated to get only 57% of the South zone elementary schools and less than 30% of the zone's school modernization dollars.

Rochester does not need another neighborhood unattractive to families. RCSD abandoning yet another neighborhood will only hasten the drain of students to charter schools, further draining our district's budget.

If you share our concern that this is not a positive step for our neighborhood and city, please join us for a short rally to “encircle” our school with concern on Tuesday, April 23rd at 5:30 pm. We are asking the School Board to VOTE NO to closing our school and moving the DWCA. We want school resources to be equitably allocated.

Join the RALLY on 4/23 at 5:30pm and
Call our elected officials to let your voice be heard!

In addition to the rally, we are asking that people contact our elected officials before 4/25 to urge their support for keeping the Dr. Walter Cooper Academy on Congress Ave. - just a short call saying that Southwest Rochester deserves a future with neighborhood schools, a future that would become impossible for us if this school building is closed. SW Rochester deserves an equitable share of our City School District's resources.

Please consider expressing your views to:

Rochester Mayor Tom Richards 428-7045

Rochester City Council: (585) 428-7538

Council President: