19th Ward Schools Committee

7:00 p.m., August 3, 2021 by Zoom

Present by Zoom: John Boutet, Phyllis Moss, Jay and Dan Ross,, Sarah Yaworsky, Douglas and Charlotte Giebel

Our new chair, Phyllis Moss, conducted the meeting.

• Phyllis reported that she had met with Lee Loomis and is very interested in our finding a way to replicate the tutoring program he works with at School No. 10.

• Phyllis will contact the four principals of Schools 10, 16, 19, and 29 to inquire into how our Committee and the 19WCA might help them. The first question seems to be how to vet new volunteers efficiently so their applications don’t disappear downtown. (Sarah mentioned that her church vets volunteers using the Sex Offender registry which is publicly available.)

• Identifying the Site Coordinators at each school might help us with starting to volunteer. John mentioned that School 19 has Melody Bishop and School 16 has Robert Burns for Site Coordinators.

Ideas to increase volunteerism in the 19WCA:

1. Find someone to administer the program generally to facilitate training, communication, and vetting.

2. Reach out to the U of R grad students who helped with the Spelling Bee in the Spring.

3. Consider getting an Americorps worker to coordinate.

4. Doug will contact the Education Department at Roberts to invite volunteers to help.

5. Suggest to the 19thWCA that Supporting Education in the community could be a good topic for this year’s Convention in November.

• • We could promote tutoring opportunities.

  • Publicize the RASE report.

  • Invite Caterina Leoni Minnino from School 17 or Ann Bartello or Diane Watkins to speak about the needs and opportunities.

  • Charlotte will speak with Karen Emerson, 19thWCA president about Convention.

The Community Education Issues

• John gave information about the Rochester Coalition for Public Education. They had a meeting to discuss the report entitled Racial and Structural Equity which was attended by Phyllis and John. Our committee members are encouraged to read the section on Education beginning on page 101 of the report. There was concern expressed that this report be acted upon in creative ways and not left on a shelf!

• To that end, Phyllis hopes to write articles and “Op Eds” with Sarah to raise some of the issues for discussion more broadly.

• Douglas mentioned that he will be applying to the Rochester Community Foundation for Spelling Bee support for 2021-22 in the amount of $2500.

The meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Charlotte Giebel