The Education Committee of the SW Common Council

Wednesday, February 18th, 2015

6:30 to 8:00 pm

Arnett Branch Library, 310 Arnett Boulevard

Next Meeting: Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 6:30 pm at the Arnett Library, 310 Arnett Blvd.

There will be no meeting in March.

Meeting Convened at 6:30 pm

Attendance:

John Boutet           SW Common Council Education Committee Chair, 19WCA Delegate

Eleanor Coleman   OACES & ProsperRochester, Inc. (Grandparent/School #10)

Jeremy Coleman    Uncle/School #10

Robin Dettman       Education & Business Organization Consultant

John Laing            19th Ward Schools Committee Chair, School #16 & #19 Volunteer

Jennifer Lenio        Rochester Public Libraries (South District)

Bill Nichthauser     19th Ward, School #22 Volunteer

Beverly Usher        Grandparent School #44, PTO VP, 19WCA Delegate

Guest: Jay Grasso, Field Representative for New York State Senator Mike Ranzenhofer.

School #44

• Group met 2/4; 15-16 people (parents, teachers, neighborhood residents); would like to have seen more parents.

• Encouraging parents and 19WCA membership to reach out to School Board in support of School #44.

• Beverly brought examples of a community service project, cards made by students for veterans.

• Pat Merle from Corn Hill has visited the school and will be expanding her volunteer commitment and will encourage other Corn Hill residents to volunteer. (Pat is off to a great start as you can see in: Thoughts and ideas on ways to help School #44 from Pat Merle)

• Beverly and John B attended Thurston – Brooks Merchants Association and signed up 9 supporters for keeping 44 open. We met Jay Grasso at the meeting.

• John has been in contact with Lashay Harris, who is running for County Legislator, to garner support. She will attend future meetings. We need to engage all levels of government to succeed in saving our schools.

Meeting with Wade Norwood 1/30/15

• Spoke with him as member of the Board of Regents; He is strong supporter for neighborhood schools.

• He agreed to have a conversation with Superintendent in support of neighborhood schools; but also recommended that we reach out to individual School Board members to elicit support. Plan for closing 44 was part of a Board decision so we need their involvement.

• We have met twice this year with School Board Member Mary Adams and sent emails and/or left phone calls requesting meetings for the other Board Members. Cynthia Elliot responded suggesting we connect with her in early March.

• Board members are working more effectively together this year and we should take advantage of this now.

• Suggested mastery of the demographic numbers. What are the projected elementary numbers over the next decade? Lower population means cost of buildings should be lower for RCSD. Use part of the school for services. Have the services pay some of the cost of the buildings.

• Longevity - Where do we project the school to be in 3-5 years? Does it stay in neighborhood? What will it offer in the next couple of years that is different than what it provides now? How do we address busing issues? Willa Powell has been instrumental in formulating Open Enrollment to enrich the curriculum in various schools; this brings with it busing need issues.

Jay Grasso, Senator Mike Ranzenhofer’s Field Representative (61st District) A video of the discussion we had with Jay can be found at: http://youtu.be/6oGBsOsvhg4 The summary is below.

8203 Maint St. #4

Williamsville, NY 14221

(585) 703-0920

grasso@nysenate.gov 

jgrasso3838@gmail.com 

ranzenhofer.nysenate.gov  

• Need for short-distance busing to support neighborhood schools; advocating for busing1/2 mile from school (current 1.5 miles is too long for young children and makes it difficult for working parents who want to be sure their younger children get to school).
• Ranzenhofer looking to open a satellite office in the 19th Ward. Jay attends many of the neighborhood meetings already.
• Work closely with Robach’s office and has good relationship with Jake Waters, Robach’s local representative.
• Beverly gave an overview of the reasoning behind supporting neighborhood schools. Jay recommended writing the Senator a Letter of Support so that our concerns are documented and can be addressed. Senator Ranzenhofer is on the Senate committee that oversees education.
• Grasso has observed that public safety is an across-the-board issue.
• What has school rehab/closing process been? Goes back to the Facilities Modernization Plan; first phase started 3 years ago (number of schools refurbished and decision made to close schools); second phase funded in the last sessions of the legislator; recently signed by Cuomo. School #16 was originally on the possible closing list; students moved to another school across the city because of #16 Building issues on Post Ave. They were also looking to close School #10 and #44 was also on possible closing list. We got the board to vote to renovated #16 and we were able to keep School #10 open on Congress Ave. The decision to keep 10 on Congress led to focusing on closing 44. Have been told that School #16 renovations will permit it to reopen fall 2018. Concern expressed that, should we eliminate schools now and replace them with housing we are creating a future problem. Should there come a need to rebuilding school space in these areas in the future, we will have eliminated those properties as usable sites and building new schools requires acquiring larger sites than the current grandfathered school sites.
• We will send Jay a map of the school locations to differentiate his area from Robach’s. (Check this Map showing schools slated for renovation and closing and this Map showing feeder patterns in SW Quadrant and this SW Quadrant Map Showing neighborhoods in the SW Common Council.)
• Invitation extended for him to attend the SW Common Council (3^rd Thursday).
• On the issue: Push to testing. Senator against high-stake testing.
• Eleanor asked for their position on GED vs having the training to do the job as this position limits many qualified applicants. Eleanor maintains that GED not necessary for certain jobs, especially after training is provided. Jay suggested that we lobby for not requiring GED by explaining our position and sending it to him. He also asked that we invited him and Ranzenhofer for a tour of OACES. Eleanor asked about incentives for new job hires; some funding available for Economic Development projects in the City and this may fall under that. Send a letter.
• Some discussion about the high poverty levels in Rochester and affect on students. SWEM connected to the food backpack program in conjunction with Foodlink.
• Ranzenhofer a successful family lawyer (including defense attorney) for 35 years.

Public Libraries - South District - Jennifer Lenio

• 3/19, 3 p.m. Is the Rundell Library haunted? Presenter has done a lot of local research.
• Monday 12-3 - Literacy Navigators (help with resumes, etc. anything on computer)
• Tuesdays 4-5 - Computer Tutor

Other

• Need to connect with parents in the neighborhood to educate them about advantages of neighborhood schools.

The meeting adjourned at 8:15pm

Minutes submitted Eleanor Coleman

Addendum: Related to the issue of high stake testing and privatizing of education through Charter Schools that were discussed at this meeting, you may want to look at this report which was aired at the same time and includes input from Wade Norwood: http://www.whec.com/article/stories/S3709812.shtml?cat=11217