Attendance: David Long, Howie Maffucci, Chojy Schroeder, Don Bartalo, Lee Loomis, Joe Simson, Dan Drmacich

Discussion & Decisions:

1. Dan reported that he attended the first session of the Rochester Teacher Center's presentations on Racial Equity & Justice in Education, as did Joe Simson; each stating that the seminars they attended were very informative. Adam Urbanski, co-presented in the opening session & was very supportive for mobilizing against privatization & charter schools, and was particularly critical of State Monitor Jallow's pro-charter work. We agreed that the RTA should be more active in opposing school privatization & anti-racism professional development & would support their efforts.

2. Dan reported that he has not received any response from Mayor Evans or County Executive Bello, regarding the Coalition's recent letter to them advocating for more support with RASE Recommendations implementation.

3. Bart & Dan reported that they and Don Pryor attended the 5/13 Urban League open meeting on the RASE Education Recommendations. The goal was to identify 3+ Education Recommendations that the meeting group could implement over the next 3-6 months. The group of approximately 25 individuals, representing many Rochester-area organizations, identified approximately 8 RASE Recommendations and had time to agree only on the first 3 that were listed, but not prioritize them. They will meet again to continue to prioritize. All 9 RASE Recommendation groups ( Jobs, Housing, Policing, etc.) will meet this Monday, 5/16, @ 9:00 am to report on their work. This one hour meeting is open to all at the following Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88680779050?pwd=ujnZ2Bh4geqB8DsIpcKLwM69Z...

Meeting ID: 886 8077 9050
Passcode: 301130

4. Bart & Chojy reported that they have been attending the weekly Education Mobilization meetings, organized by Jalil Muntaqim, and have been very impressed by the growing attendance, speeches and interaction with BoE members in lobbying for meaningful budget allocations and school reform. However, the recent BoE vote indicates that there is still much confusion and failure to address all the issues supported by the Mobilization group.

Our members recommended that the Mobilization group consider the possibility of continuing to meet and advocate for other changes they agree are necessary in the RCSD. The Mobilization group meets regularly on Mondays @ 6:30 pm. For more information on attending, contact Don Bartalo @ donbartalo@gmail.com

5. Joe reported that he has received no support from Monroe County administrators to administer our student survey on "Learning About Racism." Joe will create another letter to all Monroe County Supt.s to address the issue & its benefits, and share with us for feedback.

6. Chojy reported that there has been no movement from state legislators to address the issue of funding support for Afghan students who wish to attend NYS Community Colleges. Chojy & Dan will work on a letter to NYS Legislators Lunsford, Cooney & Baruth to address the issue with Harry Bronson.

7. We agreed that the state requirement for ELL students to pass NYS Regents standardized Exams for graduation is discriminatory, given the nature of all research on the language acquisition necessary for most ELL students to pass these standardized exams. We agreed that ELL students should be able to demonstrate their proficiencies through a portfolio/exhibition process and that we should request a meeting with Regents Norwood & Turner to discuss our concerns & recommendations. Dan will contact them.

8. We agreed that we will attend a meeting with D&C education reporter & author of the book: "Your Children Are Very Greatly in Danger," on Friday, May 20th, at 4:00 pm, by Zoom. We encourage all to attend, including special guests, and that the majority of the meeting will focus on the book's introduction and last chapter on recommendations regarding school desegregation. Howie will send Zoom invitations. Please send me any additional names & email addresses of other non-Coalition members you wish to invite.

9. We agreed to hold our next regular Coalition business meeting on Friday, June 3rd at 4:00 pm.