The Education Committee of the SW Common Council

Wednesday, 6/23/2021

6-7:30 pm at

For Zoom Link for future meetings, Contact John Boutet @ jboutet@frontiernet.net

A PDF of these minutes can be found at: SWCC Education Committee Minutes 2021-06-23.pdf

Attendance:

John Boutet SWCC Education Committee Chair, 328-4271, jboutet@frontiernet.net

Eleanor Coleman Rotary SW, CFC YouthBuild, 224-5119, eleanor.coleman@gmail.com

Lentory Johnson Light the Way/Legacy Pk Sta, 749-3494, lentoryjohnson89@gmail.com

Lee Loomis School #10 Volunteer Tutor, leeloomis46@gmail.com

Moniek Silas-Lee School #19 Principal, 328-7454, moniek.silas-lee@rcsdk12.org

Welcome & Introductions

Update on School Reopening - New COVID guidelines

• Still planning on in-person classes in September; however, some parents have asked for hybrid so District is considering. Will follow-up with parents in August to see if they would be willing to have all in-person classes.

• Some adjustments may occur due to the Delta variant.

Primary elections

• Not sure how new folks in City and State office will impact busing or other community school issues.

• Voting cite at School #16 was confusing - not clear where to enter the building. We heard many complaints.
  

Local Busing / Child Safety Zone Progress

• No updates. Too soon to go back to Lovely or Superintendent with election results just in.

• Elliott in favor of community schools and busing; most school board members in favor of better busing options.

• New Legislators will hopefully work together in a progressive way to change the busing laws.

• Even if “equity” is a valid reason for getting laws changed, we will still need to figure out how to fund it.

CET meetings

• John continues to attend CET meetings. Has joined the School #19 PTA meeting to get a better sense of parent involvement.

Rochester Coalition for Public Education News

• CPE working to connect with Regents to express concerns and offer solutions.

• Big focus is to eliminate high stakes testing. Not necessary to test students yearly, and sometimes more often. Stresses teachers, encourages “teaching to the test,” and dampens students’ love for learning.

Walk in items

• Last School #10 CET meeting of the year - no mention was made of the 3 engineering tutors who have worked with students for the last 10 weeks. While recognition is not an expectation, wondering if their commitment is having any impact or positive effect.