19th Ward Schools Committee
7:00 p.m., November 9, 2021

Present by Zoom: John Boutet, Kelli Briggs, Douglas and Charlotte Giebel, Lee Loomis, Phyllis Moss, Dan Ross, Eva Thomas, Sarah Yaworsky

Dr. Phyllis Moss convened the meeting at 7:00 pm and introduced our invited guest, Ms. Kelli Briggs, Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Rochester City School District.

Ms. Briggs summarized her fifteen years of experience as a teacher and administrator in the Rochester City School District. She explained her current work on community partnerships, parent engagement, and her involvement with the community schools. She emphasized the importance of talking about solutions to build strong schools, listening to the community concerns, being transparent, and promising only what one can deliver. Her work seeks affirmation of the family and community concerns. She seeks feedback from those families that withdraw their children from the city schools. She expressed her eagerness to learn the issues of importance to the 19th Ward Schools Committee, and was familiar with our concerns about achieving local busing.

Ms Briggs indicated her own learning has been stimulated by the free online workshops of Monique R. Fletcher who works with the National Center for Community Schools at Children’s Aid to provide training and technical assistance around a variety of topics in the cultivation and strengthening of systems to support
effective and responsive community schools as a Client Engagement Associate. Ms Fletcher’s workshops are listed and available at this web address: https://www.nyscommunityschools.org/family-eng-equity/

Principal Eva Thomas reported on her work engaging parents of the students of the
Walter Cooper Academy (School 10). She mentioned the importance of engaging students through educational field trip experiences, and her present plans to take School 10 sixth grade students on a trip to Washington DC this year.

Phyllis reported on the commitment our committee is making to assist School 10 in
achieving math and ELA proficiencies as part of the effort to meet Demonstrative Indicators required of schools in receivership.

Charlotte reported the Schools Committee will have a three to five minute slot at the 19th Ward Convention to be held by Zoom on Friday, November 19th at 7:00 pm. Phyllis agreed to speak at the convention requesting for volunteers to assist in
meeting the educational goals of the four elementary schools in the 19th Ward. She will be contacting Tyrese Bryant, who is organizing the convention.

Lee Loomis reported that the tutoring program which he has co-ordinated for many
years for School 10 will soon be up and running. He particularly praised the healthy
practice of having students on Fridays call out the good things which they have seen other students accomplish in the past week.

The next Schools Committee meeting was set for Tuesday, December at 7:00 pm via Zoom.

The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Douglas Giebel