19th Ward Schools Committee

7:00 pm, 5 July 2022 via Zoom

Present by Zoom: Phyllis Moss, John Boutet, Jane Braband, Lee Loomis

CET Meeting Updates: 

John reported that School #10 has a CET meeting on Tuesday, July 12th at 5:00pm. His calendar also shows Wilson Foundation Academy (WFA) has a CET meeting on Thursday, July 14th but it may have been canceled. Both WFA and Wilson Magnet have new Community site Coordinators. The site coordinator at WFA is Kimberly Brown <kimberly.brown@rcsdk12.org> and the coordinator at Wilson Magnet is Alicia Fonseca <alicia.fonseca@rcsdk12.org>. Alicia Fonseca was at the SWCC Education Committee meeting on June 22nd: SWCC Education Committee Minutes 2022-06-22. Alicia discussed having interested student from Wilson Magnet volunteer in the community to work with the 19th Ward Community Association (19WCA) as the Association does strategic planning for future projects in the neighborhood. Phyllis agreed to call each school to see if CET meetings will continue during the summer and to get dates. She will also attend the July meetings but asked John Boutet to continue attending and reporting on these meetings when he can.

Community Groups Addressing Public School Education Issues:

1. Phyllis reported that the Citizen Action of New York, Rochester has been meeting each Monday from 6:30 – 8:00pm via Zoom in preparation for Mobilization for Public Education workshops. The group is hosting at least two workshops on issues concerning RCSD, including racism. The first session will be held in July13th from 6:30 to 8:00pm and a second session in August 14th from 6:30 to 8:00pm. This “mobilization” will culminate with a rally or march in September. Dates for each of these events are forthcoming. Phyllis encouraged committee members to attend if possible.

2. Rochester Coalition for Public Education meets every other Friday from 4:00-5:30pm. The group is considering hosting Tim Wise, a national speaker on the topic of racism. They also hope to survey students regarding their experiences with racism and are working to help dismantle racist systems in some of our educational programs.

3. The SW Common Council: John reported that he had a very good meeting with NY State Senator Samra Brouk who was born and raised in Rochester, New York. John suggested that she would be a good person to get to know. She understands education problems in Rochester and worked well with our Rochester Majority Delegation. Together our "dream team" helped get 1/2 mile busing bills introduced to strengthen neighborhoods.

Tutoring Programs and Spelling Bee:

1. Lee Loomis reported that he met with Michelle White, School #10 Site Coordinator. She seemed to think that reading books online, when this is already done through so many other programs, would not be effective. It was decided to wait until the Fall and attempt to reinstate the in-person program. Lee has a meeting scheduled with Principal Thomas on Friday, July 8th to talk more about the future of the program.

2. Jane Braband had some initial difficulties getting placed after going through the volunteer process. She was finally placed at School #10.

3. Phyllis reported that she is interested in building a community-based tutoring program under the umbrella of her own ministry. Her goal is to offer her services directly to parents instead of working inside the school system.

Phyllis suggested that we have three models of tutoring here and that we should continue to work hard on each one.

No update on the Spelling Bee.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 9 at 7:00 pm as Phyllis will be out of town on August 2nd.

The meeting adjourned at 8:21 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Phyllis Moss