SWCC Education Committee Minutes 2022-06-22

The Education Committee of the SW Common Council

Wednesday, 6/22/22

6- 7 pm

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

Here is a pdf of the minutes: SWCC Education Committee Minutes 2022-06-22.pdf

Attendance:

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

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

Marilyn Cunninham Graves CME Church Pastor, revmrcunningham@yahoo.com

Alicia Fonseca Wilson Magnet Community Schools Site Coordinator, alicia.fonseca@rcsdk12.org

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

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

Jalil Muntaquim Special Projects Coordinator for Citizen Action, jalil.muntaqim@gmail.com

Charles Reaves NSC Administrator, 428-7630, charles.reaves@cityofrochester.gov

Welcome & Introductions

Quick update of school news

John has been attending CET meetings at Schools 3 (DAHY), 10, 16, 19 and WFA staying abreast of school issues and improvements. We also work closely with Joe Baldino at School 29.

Getting HS students involved in neighborhood strategic planning

19thWCA seeking on doing Strategic Planning with Causewave Community Partners; would like to focus on getting youth to step into leadership roles on the planning for items they value.
We need to be specific about exactly how youth voices will be heard and used; needs to be an opportunity for integral participation.

Local busing update - (Please support Assembly Bill 1276 and Senate Bill 4414). in committee)

Were anticipating the attendance of Harry Bronson and Demond Meeks to get input on this issue but John had difficulty starting the Zoom session on time.
Passing this bill would go a long ways to getting local students to attend their own school.
Assembly and Senate have been focused on gun violance recently so this Bill has taken a back seat.
(On Thursday we heard the governor may call the legislature back into session to deal with the Supreme Court's concealed carry ruling. Could they push the 1/2 mile busing bills through then? Having a bus ride is a safety issue now more than ever.)

Change in Receivership Law - Legislation (S 9284) in committee

Doing away with the term “receivership,” which carries a stigma with it for the schools harming their ability to move forward; New law still provides the extra support needed to improve school performance. John in conversation with Caterina Leone-Mannino, a strong neighborhood schools supporter, who is reviewing the specifics of the changes in the law evenings and will share her thoughts with us.

19WCA Schools Committee (Minutes Index).

John attends all 19WCA Schools Committee meetings and Schools Committee chair Phyllis has attended SWCC Education Com. and Rochester Coalition for Public Education meetings. All three groups have participated in protests Jalil Muntaqim organized at Central Office.

Rochester Coalition for Public Education News (Minutes Index)

We have invited several members of Citizen Action, 19WCA Schools Committee and the SWCC Education Committee to attend Rochester Coalition for Public Education meetings so we all know what others are doing.

Walk in items

Jalil Muntaqim, Special Projects Coordinator for Citizen Action - Working with UR to recruit teachers form RCSD (only a 30% recruitment rate at this time). Have scheduled a meeting next week with Adam Urbanski (RTA) and Valerie Marsh (UR) to enhance this program.

$1.1 billion RCSD monies needs to be used wisely and effectively for building better schools; we need to monitor the funds and show that we are watching/expecting/demanding the funds be used per community request/input.
Proposed Workshops w/ 8 topics:
- July 13 - 1. School Lunches, 2. Increasing Full Staffing of School Safety Officers, 3. Mandatory Anti-Racism Education for students and teachers; 4. Full Implementation of Culturally-Responsive Sustaining Education Framework.
- August 17 - 5. Full Implementation of Code of Conduct; 6. Establish a Citizen Budget Review Committee; 7. Diversity & Equity in Hiring Practices; 8. Full Implementation of Restorative Practices. Demands for the Mobilization for Public Education
Budget submitted by RCSD to City Council was rejected suggesting a lack of confidence in the abilities of RCSD leadership.

Alicia Fonseca, Community Schools Site Coordinator at Wilson Magnet - has some key initiatives she is working on:

Activate the parent network; better access and communication for parents; increase conversations with area businesses and resources; enhance parent ability to access the resources.
Build parent participation in school; parents not feeling welcomed; starting by creating a parent resource center.
Need to increase the parent voice in the PTSO, which has low participation; 900 families come to the building.
Community Schools Site Coordinator role is to get neighborhood and community school involved; usually initiated when a school goes into receivership; Wilson Commencement is not in receivership; principal is being proactive vs reactive.
Networking Suggestions:
- Stella Wang (stella.wang@rochester.edu) works with UR students with a focus on SouthWest businesses
- Charles Reaves (charles.reaves@cityofrochester.gov), Administrator for the SW Neighborhoods