Thank you to Eleanor Coleman for taking these excellent minutes so the community can share in this important information.

School 16 Revitalization:
A discussion With Ralph Spezio & Luis Aponte
August 13, 2012

In attendance: Luis Aponte, John Boutet, Marian Boutet, Angie Burch, Eleanor Coleman, Brenda Driscoll, Kathy King, Deb Leary, Bill Nichthauser, Joan Roby-Davison, Chojy Schroeder, Ralph Spezio, James Swank, Diane Watkins, E.J. Watkins, Deb Wight 

Regrets: Mary Thomas

Purpose:

• Learn from experience of Ralph Spezio and Luis Aponte in JOSANA neighborhood
• Preparation for School #16 meeting at SW Community Center on Wednesday, 8/15, 5 p.m.

Timing is very important. Superintendent asked Dr. Spezio to be part of the Facilities Assessment & Master Plan (FAMP) Committee. He is pushing hard for a few things:

• There should be parents on this committee (they have added 1 parent – Candice Lucas)
• Need neighborhood leaders at the table (none yet…but will be part of the decision-making process)
• Should have City of Rochester representatives at the table. Why? i.e.: If the City is developing policies for urban villages while the RCSD promotes busing – these are two policies that are working against one another (one city representative has been added)

Next Step: Ralph has recommended that the FAMP Committee go through the Superintendent with their recommendations and then hold a formalized, authentic process that includes the community to discuss possibilities and options. Community should be able to view a “menu of options” and provide their input and requests.

Anita Murphy, new Director of Operations, has been supportive.

Community organization is crucial; we must position ourselves for leveraging community input. Need a grassroots infrastructure. Window will open and close quickly (deadline is 9/15 for this Committee to give Superintendent a list of recommendations and options).

School #16 Data

• Sits at the end of a beautiful park
• Housing in the area is architecturally attractive
• Failing school in neighborhood erodes and destroys the neighborhood

Two Key Concepts
1. Recognizing the power of a neighborhood school
2. Community's insistence and documentation of their expectations for a community school

• Superintendents come and go; community will stay; RCSD answers to community

SED lists WHAT the child must learn, not HOW they must learn it.

Community Accredited Schools Model
Important to make clear our expectations for a new school.

School #17 area is smaller; School #16, 19th Ward, is much more expansive. There is an opportunity, for example, to have several schools in one neighborhood that serve several grade levels.

Challenge: There are 13,000 extra seats in the district; 4 charter schools are to open up; One option the RCSD could solve this issue is by closing schools.

Steps:

1. Make it clear that we don't want that school to go away; tell RCSD to give us our options
2. After we have that commitment, we make it clear that we want it to be a neighborhood school; these are our expectations (this clarity should be embraced by a principal); goal: one should not know where the school ends and where the community begins.

Steps taken at School #17:

1. Stop the bussing – no open enrollment (not sure that can be done any longer)*
2. Make it clear that the principal reports to the parents & the community; very difficult concept for parents to grasp
3. Extended the safety net; increased number of safety guards who also were issued two-way radios; talked with RPD to change platoon times so that they would be on the streets when school let out.
4. Parent meetings that include childcare and entertainment for children
5. Bulletproof lights in problem areas
6. Very strong phone tree
7. Wide variety of clubs that would not have been possible if students were bussed
8. Etc., etc.

Concern: Current school system is principal-dependent (if the principal leaves, the school climate is at risk).
Solution: Community needs to advocate for what they want (e.g., write a letter to Committee and Superintendent that says we want a neighborhood school); then, develop our expectations. Use these clear expectations to search for a principal; principals can judge for themselves whether or not they should even apply. Community expectations also serve to identify outcomes desired…and these can be measured so that the community will know if their expectations are being met.

Community Member Comment: Appears as though a health center attached to a school increases the tax base offering more resources for the area (as opposed to a school that has a junkyard in the backyard).

Important concept: You want the schools to be community-driven vs principal- or Central Office-driven.

Important concept: Transformative change is needed (this is a grassroots approach, one that was used to transform School #17 - community partnerships, collaboration, etc.); we need to be accessing resources from the global community. Local businesses are no longer available to assist us; money is sent out of the neighborhood.

Luis Aponte, Leader for Sector 3 (JOSANA Neighborhood)

• Be prepared - there will be those who misrepresent themselves and the facts.
• Asked the teens what they want from their neighborhood (1,000 kids, under 18, no recreation facilities, etc.); 13 football fields of empty lots
• Developers had their own ideas of how to build and not soliciting community input; Building Advisory Committee had one small clause that required community input.
• Detrimental leadership attitude: “I don't want to be responsible for anything that happens in “my” building after school hours.” (city principal from Brighton)
• Need to follow up on claims; avoid he-say, she-say. Call a community meeting; put information on the table.
• Community should also include business owners and church clergy
• Luis will provide John Boutet with a flowchart of who reports to whom in regards to school reconstruction
• Community meets every Wednesday, at 10 a.m. at Charles Street Settlement House to brainstorm solutions
• Send your own representatives to people to BAC on a regular basis
• Decide what you want to use the school for
• Hold them accountable

K-8 is not a desirable model UNLESS there is a clear physical separation (K-4 and 5-8). Elementary schools typically have much more nurturing and wrap-around services. Ralph believes that some of the challenging issues around adolescent behaviors could be alleviated if the school is neighborhood-based.

Eleanor will ask NCYJ and SW Safety Net for support.