The article begins by saying "There are many talented people in Greater Rochester working to make the region a better place to work, live, and play.  But it often seems like the same names dominate the headlines, while other no less deserving people go unnoticed.  The Rochester 10 -- an annual project by City Newspaper -- is designed to bring some of our community's hardworking background players to the forefront."

Here's a copy of the item:

• Photo by Mike Hanlon
• John Boutet (left) and John Laing.

EDUCATION: John Boutet and John Laing

If you've ever attended one of Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas's coffee and conversation events — essentially a public meet-and-greet with the superintendent — then you know John Boutet and John Laing. The men retired from their jobs several years ago, but not from civic duty.

The men volunteered in city schools for several years, but then made the leap from volunteers to education activists in 2012 when they learned that School 16 in the southwest section of the city was going to be closed.

Vargas's decision to close the school was based on multiple concerns, chiefly what he saw as the deteriorated state of the building. He wasn't sure that investing millions to fix the school was sensible.

Boutet and Laing jumped into action, lobbying Vargas day and night for months to change his mind.

"Yes, it was an old school, but it had been serving a purpose," Boutet says.

Boutet and Laing say that closing the school would jeopardize the stability and vibrancy of the southwest, and make it more difficult to attract families to the area. They and other southwest residents deeply concerned about School 16's future recognized the need to build a community-wide effort to save the school.

Boutet spread the word on the social networking site www.Location19.org, which continues to be used as a neighborhood communication tool about city schools. Boutet also pursued the support of the 19th Ward Community Association and the Southwest Common Council, an organization that represents many southwest communities.

What Boutet and Laing understood from the beginning is that School 16 is symbolic of a much bigger problem: the loss of connectedness between schools and neighborhoods.

And the fight to save School 16 reignited a sometimes heated public debate about the role and value of neighborhood schools and their direct influence on a neighborhood's stability.

Efforts to keep School 16 open succeeded. Vargas agreed to make the school part of the second phase of the schools modernization program to ensure it got the repairs it needed.

"I think he listened to us because we developed a relationship with him," Laing says. "There's a value to persistence."

But the southwest then faced the prospect of more closings with Schools 10 and 44.

Boutet, Laing, and many other southwest residents organized and went back to work. They were able to convince Vargas and the school board to keep School 10 open, but the board voted to close School 44.

The men are still involved in city schools. Laing, for instance, works with fourth graders interested in science, and he promotes the popular 19th Ward Spelling Bee. And both men still advocate for neighborhood schools.

"Busing has been the poison for neighborhood schools," Boutet says. Parents are less interested in volunteering in a school that isn't near their home and their children don't attend the school.

"There's all sorts of ways people can get involved," he says. "But they want to do it in their own neighborhood."

By Tim Louis Macaluso