001Good evening. Welcome to the Bella Vista Charter School of the Arts public hearing. Today is May 19th, 2026. The education law subdivision 28571 and regulations of the Commissioner of Education uh 119.4 require the board to conduct a public hearing within 30 days of receipt of notice of an application for a new or revised charter school. The Board of Education of the Rochester City School District is conducting this public hearing regarding an application for a new charter school um proposal intended for the Bella Vista Charter School of the Arts. The purpose of this hearing is to gather community input to provide to the New York State Education Department. Bella Vista Charter School of the Arts proposes to open August of 2027 and would serve grades 7 and 8 in year 1 with a total enrollment of
002150 students. By year 5 in the 2030 through 2031 school year, the school would expand to serve grade 7 through 12 and enroll 550 students. So, we have two speakers scheduled for comment. Our first speaker is Kareem McCullah. Thank you, Vice President Malloy. Good evening to Dr. Arser and the other commissioners of Rochester City School District and the public at large. I want to begin by making something very clear. This is not an argument against school choice. Families deserve quality educational options and every child deserves access to schools where they can thrive academically, creatively, and emotionally. However, I am deeply concerned about the continued expansion of charter schools in Rochester without a full assessment of the long-term impact on our public education system. The proposed Bella Vista Charter School of the Arts would directly compete
003with School of the Arts, one of Rochester's most established and culturally significant district schools. This is not filling a gap in programming. It is duplicating an existing program while further dividing already limited students, funding, staffing, and resources. Right now, Rochester has already approximately 17 charter schools. Meanwhile, RCSD enrolled had enrollment has declined dramatically over the last two decades, from nearly 34,000 students to under 20,000 students today. During that same period, charter enrollment has continued to grow. The issue before us is not whether charter schools should exist. They already do. The issue is whether continuously adding more schools into an already shrinking system is sustainable. Every new charter expansion contributes financial instability, staffing reductions, program cuts, governance conflict, and long-term uncertainty for students and families. At some point, unchecked expansion stops being about choice and starts
004weakening every educational institutional institution involved. A pause is not anti-charter. A pause is reasonable governance. Before approving additional schools, the state and SUNY should conduct a serious assessment of the cumulative impact on district finances, special education services, workforce stability, neighborhood schools, and long-term student outcomes across Rochester. Our students and family deserve strong district schools, strong charter schools, and sustainable opportunities for future generations. But we cannot continue expanding indefinitely without understanding the consequences. Now is the time to pause, assess, and stabilize so Rochester has a real chance to build a strong, sustainable educational future for all of our students. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank thank you, Commissioner McCollough. And our second speaker tonight is me. Um Ladies and gentlemen and members of this panel and members of our community, my name is Amy Malloy. I'm
005a proud member of the Rochester community and a parent to four kids in the district, well, three of whom who are still here. And I'm a supporter of the Rochester City School District and public education. I also support school choice, so this is not an anti-choice statement. I'm proud to serve as the vice president on the Board of Education, but I'm here tonight to speak in opposition to the continued expansion and approval of charter schools in our city, as I have for the past 6 years on the Board of Education. At a time when RCSD is facing enormous financial challenges, increasing student needs and staffing shortages, rising operational costs, charter schools continue to siphon millions of dollars away from the public school system that serves the overwhelming majority of Rochester's children. Every time a student
006leaves for a charter school, critical funding leaves with them, but the district's obligations do not disappear. RCSD still must maintain buildings, transportation, food services, special education services, counseling, and support for our highest need students in a variety of ways. This creates an unsustainable financial burden on a public school system. Charter schools often market themselves as superior alternatives, yet many do not serve the same student populations as RCSD. Far too often charter schools enroll lower percentages of students with severe disabilities, high-need special education classifications, English language learners, and students with significant behavioral or emotional needs. RCSD remains the district of last resort, the system legally and morally obligated to educate every child who walks through its doors. At the same time, charter schools are governed by private boards that are not directly accountable to Rochester voters
007or taxpayers in the same way an elected Board of Education is. Decisions impacting public education and public dollars are increasingly being made behind closed doors by unelected entities. That is deeply concerning for anyone who believes in transparency and democratic accountability. We also must be honest about the way many charter schools achieve their results. Some engage in practices that effectively cherry-pick students or counsel out students who struggle academically, or emotionally. When those students return to RCSD mid-year, the district welcomes them and educates them, often without the funding following back in proportion to the needs of those students. And despite years of disruption and resource diversion, many charter schools do not significantly outperform RCSD as a whole when you account for demographics and student needs. Yet they continue to drain resources, fragment communities, and create a two-tiered
008educational system in Rochester. Recently, the Buffalo Public Schools took a strong stand by approving a moratorium resolution opposing the expansion of new charter schools in Buffalo due to the financial and educational strain that they place on the district. Rochester should seriously consider doing the same. Our city deserves a thoughtful pause and an honest evaluation of whether continued expansion is truly benefiting all students or simply weakening the public school system that most families still rely upon. Thank you. And at the at this time, that concludes our charter school public hearing. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Malloy. Commissioner McCullah, and um this charter school hearing is Vice President Malloy has mentioned has come to a close. We're going to transition our conversation over to the speakers forum this evening. We have several comments that have been issued,
009and those comments are available via BoardDocs. About 28 comments there, and we have 21 speakers signed up to uh for this evening for the speakers forum. I do want to recognize just a couple of things before we get started and one of those things being our context on on these particular forms and most some of you who have participated before may recognize this. Some others may not and so the board does not typically respond during the speakers forum our priority is to listen and to hear from you. So we often will not provide a response but just ensuring that we are listening and hearing. Also that we expect district officials and the public as well as ourselves to conduct ourselves and themselves and to speak in a respectful and courteous manner as to model proper
010civility and decorum for students. Shouting, personal insults, vulgarity, profanity, attacks, revealing information prohibited by law or any conduct that disrupts the flow of business is considered to be out of order. The board may among others steps available to pursue into law, excuse me, take the following actions during the meeting to maintain a fair and efficient meeting. And that is we may interrupt or warn to terminate a participant statement when the statement exceeds allotted time, is personally directed, abrasive, obscene or irrelevant, or request any individual to leave the meeting when that individual whether in person or virtually does not observe reasonable decorum or the conduct interferes with the orderly progress of the meeting. Call for a recess or any adjournment any other time when the lack of public decorum so interferes with the orderly conduct of
011the meetings. This is not something I've created. This has existed. We just haven't always uh read these statements. So I do want to put that out there. Also I do recognize the time we're in and which is a very sensitive time for folks and different decisions and plans are coming um forward. Some are being tweaked and then there's updates and so it's kind of this inconsistent information. I do want to allow the superintendent maybe 3 minutes to provide some general updates that may help folks as plans and developing information are still coming forward and then at that time I will then call individuals up to speak so that we can again hear from you. Superintendent Rossler. Yeah, thank you very much, Board President. Thank you very much to our members of our community who are
012here present today as well as those who may be watching online. Um, I do recognize that there are a lot of speakers here today, um, particularly for the bilingual pre-K 3 program as well as the nature-based um, learning program. So if I can have an opportunity just to provide some updates, um, based upon what we just heard from our Board President that there's always things in motion and it became very apparent um, through the conversations that I've had with members of our community as well as others who have raised concern particularly about the bilingual pre-K 3 program at School 12. I'm happy to share that as of today the bilingual 3 pre-K program has been reinstated at School 12. >> [applause] >> I have to recognize the hard work of our school chief, um, Chief
013Morian, in really working with the building principal to identify, um, another space for, um, something else that needs to happen in that building for this upcoming year. I had the opportunity this afternoon and also meeting with Principal Heart just to get a clear understanding. I walked the pre-K classrooms. What I saw and of course I came right at the closure of the end of the day, but what I saw were the beautiful faces of our pre-K 3 students as well as our pre-K 4 students in both the bilingual setting as well as the monolingual setting. And it was great to see that that program continues to produce um great results for our children. So, once again, just so that everyone is clear, the pre-K 3 as well as the pre-K 4, both bilingual and monolingual
014programs at School 12, will remain as is for this upcoming year. >> [applause] >> With that said, you still have not come out for not, and I want to make sure that if regardless of the progressing information that you still have an opportunity to share your voice. So, even if it is relevant to what was stated here, um we still want to hear from you. And so, I'll start with Still got the nature-based. Oh. Yeah. I'm sorry. No problem at all. One last um piece, the nature-based learning. I learned this afternoon that there were some concerns around what's taking place with the nature-based learning program. And what I will share with you that the team has been really progressing and having conversations to identify another funding stream to be able to support that program. We
015value that program tremendously. In fact, when I was incoming superintendent um under the leadership of Anthony Rodriguez, I had an opportunity to visit that class and meet with the instructor and really to learn about the value of that program. So, we are fully vested in making sure that that program operates as it has been operating over the past several years. The challenge that we face, of course, as a school district is that we have declining enrollment, increase in expenditures, and our revenue streams are not matching of course our expenditures. So, some very tough decisions had to be made and unfortunately, that particular position did not find itself in its in our budget for this upcoming year, but I will rest assuredly say to you that we are concentrating on looking for additional funding through a
016philanthropic support, looking at grants to be able to reestablish that particular position for this upcoming year. I've even had conversations and I'm not certain if she's here yet, but I won't call her out by name with a parent um who's very much interested in working with the district to explore opportunities and I know that my administrative assistant is working to identify time in my schedule as well as within this particular parent's schedule um to be able to sit down for us the thought partner how we might be able to leverage our resources, our connections to make sure that this position is reestablished for next year. We will be meeting with my grants person along with uh my chief of staff who works very closely with the philanthropic community to be able to determine whether or
017not in short order we will be able to reestablish this position before the end of the year. If not before the end of the year, we will continue to work throughout the summer time to identify funds to support this particular program. So, I wanted to provide those updates because unfortunately given the the um the mediums that we have as it relates to communication, um we have not yet had an opportunity to share with the school 12 community the activity that's happening um here in central office to support the pre-K program as well as the the um nature-based learning program. So, that concludes my updates regarding those two topics that I see that are on our list for conversation this evening. Thank you, Superintendent Ross. I'm going to start with the first name on the list
018and I'll call you as you come up and remember that you do have 3 minutes at for such time and when that concludes you'll hear a timer go off and you should finish out or we'll actually ask you to stop at that 3-minute mark. To be succinct, we do have a several speakers and so the first one being Clara Washington. >> [applause] >> Ms. Washington will be followed by Karen Fellows and then Melissa Rodriguez-Mehan. Uh Ms. Washington? Good evening. My name is Clara Washington and I am a parent leader and a parenting educator. I'm here today because for over 2 years I have spent countless hours inside my nonverbal daughter's school at Edison and the Nyssa in the Nyssa program talking to parents, observing the school, the classroom, and giving strategies to help the staff
019better assist my daughter. Yes, the budget has passed but issues cannot wait. I have been in the classroom when the leaders have not been. Despite all the talk, no real action has been followed. We remain dangerously short-staffed in the 614 classrooms. I have seen parents arrive that have not been trained or have been familiarized the staff the I'm sorry, or even been familiarized with the individual education plans. My daughter's class went without a teacher for almost 2 months. What should have been a structured environment became a daycare for parts of the day. And that is unacceptable. Most urgently, my daughter needs consistent speech therapy. She is non-verbal, and I have been desperately trying since she was four to get her sign language. Yet, the school says there is no one who knows sign language, so
020it would be not useful for her. This is a devastating barrier. Without sign language, she has no consistent way to communicate, and the gap is growing every day. I also want to highlight the lack of transparency in the classroom. The doors are locked, closed, windows covered, no one can see inside. Parents deserve transparency. We should be able to walk in and know that our children are safe, supported, and receiving the education that they deserve. I must also recognize the associate director who is working tirelessly, but also completely overwhelmed and understaffed. She needs more support. This is not a one-person job, and she should not be left carrying this responsibility alone. I want to be clear. We need solutions. First, I urge you to utilize parents who are true experts of their children by offering incentives,
021provide certifications, compensation, so parents can come in and support their children. Second, invest in the community resources, specifically Autism Up, Starbridge, and PLTI. These organizations have expertise and resources that could help strengthen support the students. Rochester City School District has continually provided band-aids instead of fixing the system. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Washington. >> [applause] [cheering] >> Deputy Wright, Deputy Wright, can you work with that parent to give additional information and also share some of the updates that are happening? Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker on the list is Karen Fellows. Hello. Um my name is Karen Fellows, and I am the mother of a 15-year-old young man who's in the NICA program at Edison Tech. My son is non-speaking autistic and requires maximum support to meet his educational needs. We have been very fortunate.
022He attended school 28 from kindergarten through eighth grade, where he had an excellent uh education. Uh he received specialized programs that helped him grow, learn, and start into his own educational journey. I'm here because the programs that supported my son are now at risk. Short-sighted efforts to balance budgets are being made on the backs of our most vulnerable students. And in doing so, the district risks undermining its obligations under the federal special education consent decree issued as part of the settlement and N.N. all versus Rochester City School District. Under that decree, the district must demonstrate measurable progress under 21 benchmarks tied to student outcomes, service delivery delivery, equity, and compliance. While progress has been made, several benchmarks remain under active monitoring, and the district still faces potential corrective action. So, the question I have is
023how do we continue to progress towards the consent decree while managing financial and legal risks? In my opinion, the 641 classroom model is the most effective way to make sure these students are taken care of. And we have just said we are canceling 641. And we had a talk about more charter schools. Fantastic. So, I have four outcomes that I'd like to discuss. First are academic outcomes. Students with disabilities continue to show gaps in reading, writing, and math. We know this. Our schools are in receivership. This is an issue. The 641 model provides near one-to-one instructions for the students, which is very, very important. Constant progress monitoring and the ability to deliver intensive, evidence-based interventions. Without this level of supports, students will fall further behind, prolonging oversights, and increasing long-term cost. Second, service delivery and
024compliance. With significant losses in special education staff in recent year, the district is already struggling. We know this to deliver required assistance consistencies. This leads to missed instructional time, as Clara was talking about, non-compliance with IEPs, federal law, and increased legal risk. 641 classrooms help stabilize this by concentrating staff where needs are the highest, ensuring services are delivered reliable, and reducing reliability and reducing costly legal exposure. Third, behavioral outcomes. My son is a sweet kid. He is well-behaved. He rarely, you know, has problems. This is because he gets that hand-on continuous supervision and immediately immediate intervention when [snorts] he has behavioral issues. This reduces suspensions, which we all know is a problem, increases time in class, and supports compliance with equity goals. Fewer suspensions also mean lower downstream costs and more consistent learning. Fourth, placement
025stability. When adequate support is not provided in the classroom, students are moved, sometimes multiple times. All right, to end, I'm going to give you some cost money. An 813 classroom costs 270 to 410,000 uh with and will serve several needs. Miss Fellows? Yep. So, the time has come but what I would ask you to do is if you would like to submit the remainder of your comments, >> Mhm. you can place them over here and so we can make sure that those comments, what you missed in the 3-minute mark, that that we can still see them. Yeah. >> And I do appreciate you. Thank you. >> the cost-benefit analysis where complex cases, I mean, if you're sued, we're exposing the district to 1 million, 10 million, or more. >> thank you. Yeah. Um >> But
026please leave those Please submit those comments cuz we don't want to miss them. Definitely right. If you can also reach cuz both parents are from the same school. Mhm. Thank you. And then we have Melissa Rodriguez-Mehan who is coming up next. >> [applause] >> Miss Mehan will be followed by Laura Smith. Hello. Thank you, Superintendent, for that update. I am going to read my original um comments for the record. Um so, as a School 12 parent, bilingual education vice president, and early childhood professor, I am urging you to carefully consider programmatic changes to School 12 and any other schools moving forward. The district touts research-driven and student-centered decisions along with family engagement, yet the impending actions of movement of pre-K 3 bilingual out of School 12 and the elimination of the nature-based learning coach position
027do not align with what the district claims they do or strive for. Extensive research shows that bilingual education improves emotional regulation, motivation, and decision-making. These are crucial foundations for academic learning. School 12 has this continuum built in from pre-K to 6th grade. This OLA program has been in place for almost 40 years. Any cuts, movement, or changes could threaten its long-term sustainability. Our pre-K 3 and pre-K 4 bilingual programs are an important part of our school community. In regards to the nature-based learning coach position, are you aware of what the students, teachers, and parents think about nature-based learning? Because I am. Our research team conducted an empirical study interviewing 13 teachers, conducting over 26 focus groups with over 90 students. We conducted over 25 hours of observations across grade levels, including bilingual, monolingual, special education
028classrooms, since all students in the school get access to nature-based learning instruction. And we found that NBL aligns with many of the superintendent the superintendent's priorities for the district. I have seen firsthand how NBL aligns with academic standards, holds students to high expectations, integrates literacy, science, math, and social studies through real-world experiences, and how all students feel joy, excitement, and freedom as they engage with their peers and their local environments. They build empathy. They self-regulate. They problem-solve. They ask questions. NBL supports the whole child. It is literally a holistic approach. We received from received reports from teachers of 100% attendance on NBL days. Students with with disabilities who are minimally speaking voluntarily spoke about NBL topics. The positive impact of NBL touch each and every student at school 12. At NBL events, children and their
029families share in community space and time over a love of a program that has made the school better in so many ways. The work and effort that has been put in place to bring in community partners also needs to be highlighted. This community has built something powerful. I urge you to reflect on how what you say and what you do is completely misaligned and how offering no public forum to discuss these changes or reductions to pre-K 3 bilingual and NBL completely contradicts tenants of family engagement. You will actively be causing harm to our community. Stop making decisions in a vacuum and start engaging the communities that are actively impacted. Our students, our families, our teachers. Nothing about us without us. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Ms. Meehan. We have Laura Smith. Laura Smith is the
030next speaker and she will be followed by Isaac Grimm. Thank you. My name is Laura Smith. I'm a school 12 parent and I also happen to be the parent that the superintendent was discussing in regards to seeking alternative funding sources because I'm the current chair of the action for education equity project sponsored by the Rochester Education Foundation that looks to find alternative fundings when we can't find them through regular sources. So, I'm going to throw away the notes I was going to make because I already see something in the feedback from school 12 and the feedback from Edison and I am also the parent that sent you all the presentation around centering family and child relationship and when you have to make difficult budget decisions protecting the relationship of the first circle which is the
031relationship between the family and child and the people who day-to-day provide them support. Whenever we hear about these budget cuts or changes to classroom structures, we are deliberately and intentionally breaking those bonds. We are damaging the trust between family and school and between family and the district as a whole. And that is expensive for the district. So, when we look at the nature-based learning program for example, we've spent four years on that program. That's a lot of money and it is in investigation as to whether that's money well spent by the Stony Brook port review. The money should have been allocated for the whole time that you needed to do this pilot. And we shouldn't have to come back and keep advocating to keep that money because it undermines the credibility of the program, it
032wastes a lot of time, and you risk every time losing all that investment. So, I know we're always on fire, I know there's not enough money, and that is not our fault, that is a state-wide problem in funding our children. But you are the people in the seat, and you have to center the child and the family, and you have to fight as hard as you can so that nothing you do impacts those first-level relationships. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Ms. Smith. The next speaker we have is Isaac Grimm. He will be followed by Melissa Sandoval. Thank you. My name is Isaac Grimm. I'm the father of a current pre-K 3 bilingual program student, Ismael Grimm Sandoval. Is she say hi? Hi. Uh I want to express my gratitude for the reversal on
033the decision that I'd heard about earlier to cut the bilingual program. That program is deeply important to our family. Um we are a bilingual family. We raise are raising both of our children primarily in Spanish at home, though they've picked up English incredibly quickly and well. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And I'm grateful that I can hopefully rest assured that our 1 and 1/2-year-old son, Ellington, will be able to attend school 12 and receive the same great education [clears throat] in pre-K 3, pre-K 4, and beyond, a bilingual education that honors the cultures of both of his parents and um provides that strong the strong benefit of a bilingual education which I don't need to repeat of what Melissa said about how much kids get out of that kind of education. I sincerely hope that you
034all can find the funding to continue the nature-based learning program. Yeah. Hola. I know that Ismael gets a lot out of his nature-based learning program. Right, Ish? He loves it. He counts down the days snow or shine in the lead up to nature-based learning and always has a lot to share. And it's you know, what's more important than getting getting kids out in nature? It's it's a beautiful thing. And I I'm implore you all to pursue every new every avenue you can to continue that program. I know you can find the money somewhere. It's Y'all are smart people. I believe in you. And that's all I got to say. Thank you for continuing the bilingual program. Thank you. >> And find that money. Thank you, Mr. Grim. Ismael, it's nice to meet you, sir. The
035next speaker we have is Melissa Sandoval who will be followed by Kristen Mou. Okay. So, I'm Hello. Good evening. I'm Hi. Hi. Hi. Okay. Um so, I am Ismael's mom and uh I have not spoken publicly in a minute. Uh so, I was told to just speak from the heart. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Um first off um with the program um of nature-based learning, Uh it is something that helps make School of 12 so unique. Um the obvious connection to Mother Earth, um can only help our children with emotional regulation and all of the life skills that uh they need and sometimes us busy parents, as you can see in motion, are not able to always offer while we're trying to balance everything else, um as Laura mentioned in terms of those circles, how they
036cross over. Um I can feel calm and at peace knowing that if I didn't get that nature walk in with my kid um on a certain day, I know that um it will come and that he enjoys the fact that his school is so close to uh Highland Park and everything it has to offer. Um so anyway, I just I really um strongly believe in that program. And I asked him today what he liked about the program and he said because he likes being outside and it makes him feel calm. And that's pretty amazing. And in terms of the bilingual uh program, I am a dual citizen. Uh I have dual citizenship here in the US and in Colombia. And Isaac and I used to live abroad in Colombia. We could very well take our
037children to Colombia if we wanted to and have them get uh bicultural bilingual education there. But we're here in Rochester because our family uh or Isaac's family is based around here. We need the support. And when I found out about this program and how it really offers an opportunity not just for uh native born speakers, but also non-native born speakers to learn Spanish, it it really just helped me feel like, "Okay, my son is going to be one of many who is on this path of um walking between two worlds and uh exposing his Latin culture to non-Latin folks and also connecting with folks who blend in and look a little more like Isaac. >> [laughter] >> So, uh the fact that it's a pipeline for the OLA program and doesn't segregate the kids from,
038you know, the the Spanish speakers here and the non-Spanish speakers over there. I really think that's strong and needs to be publicized, promoted, and expanded. And that's the work of the administration to actually get the word out cuz uh I have met other Latina moms like me who were shocked that my son goes to a bilingual school in the city because they didn't actually know. And that's uh a shame. And things like the this week on Facebook, learning about school 12 wasn't even spelled properly. That's concerning, so Let's do better, Sandoval. >> [applause] >> We have our next speaker who is Ms. Moo. Uh Kristen Moo, forgive me. And then Kristen Moo will be followed by Kirst- Kristen Brown. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Kristen Moo. I am the parent of two RCSD
039students, one in second grade in the dual language program at school 12, and the other uh will be there for kindergarten next year. I'm here to speak about the instructional coach position that was eliminated in next year's budget because it directly impacts an essential component of my children's education and that of their schoolmates. That is the nature-based learning program at school 12 built and sustained by instructional coach Kira Stevenson. I'm a budget person. I understand looking at the numbers, seeing something that looks like an outlier, an expensive extra that is nice to have rather than need to have. And yet, if you look closely, you may see that what looks like an extra is actually meeting an urgent need. In the case of nature-based learning, it's proven to advance fundamental educational goals like improved social
040emotional skills, classroom engagement, even test scores. Ms. Stevenson's work should be held up as a model, sustainably funded and replicated, not reliant on outside partners, grants, or the efforts of classroom teachers alone, and not dependent on parents with privilege to stand up and say, "This is one of the bright shining This is a bright shining light that gives us faith in the promise of public education here in Rochester, not just for our kids, but especially for kids most in need." If only people in power could understand the true value and what's at stake. I'll close with a story. My second grader is currently thriving at School 12, but kindergarten was rough. His sweet little brain runs a mile a minute, his body doesn't always cooperate with his own intentions, let alone that of any authority,
041and he is intensely interested in his own interests, not curated subject matter packaged to meet learning standards and boost test scores. In kindergarten, every day for months, I left him inside the school entrance wailing, at times restrained from running after me. I routinely got calls and messages about refusal to participate in class, constant movement, and emotional dysregulation. Photos and videos posted to Seesaw would either not include him in the frame, or he would be visible in a corner separate from the other children and pasting or rolling on the floor. And then one day, a series of photos came through and I saw my son crouched next to a plastic baby pool, eyes wide, and leaning in with a slight smile as Stiggy the tortoise ambled in the foreground. This was the first evidence I had
042seen in months of kindergarten. Kindergarten's supposed to be fun. Um of an engaged, happy kid in a space I later came to know as the North Star Nature Center, the home base of nature-based learning at School 12, lovingly built and made to flourish by the singular instructional coach, Kira Stevenson. Thank you for your time. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is Kirsten Brown, followed by Rosa Terlazzo. Good evening. My name is Kirsten Brown. I am a parent of one current scholar and one former scholar in Anna Murray Douglas Academy 12. During the pandemic, when RCSD was completely remote, I watched my children's enjoyment of learning grow incredibly dim. Seeking a change, I partnered with another family from School 23, actually, and together we made a choice to enroll our kids in a nature-based
043program outside of the school until our building reopened. The transformation we saw in our children was astounding. Learning outdoors. And not long after our own school offered a nature-based learning program when we opened back up. To understand the profound impact of this program, you have to listen to the voices of the students themselves. They say things like, "If you're sad, that's okay. Maybe nature can cheer you up." "I need to just sit here and enjoy nature." "We will make this a special place to learn for all of the kids." "Can I write down everything I'm thinking?" "Thank you, nature. I feel better. Thank you." "I am so grateful for nature-based learning. I didn't have this at my old school. I am so happy to be a student. I learn so much. I love NBL. I
044hear laughing. We get to find things, see colors. I touched ice. I can be creative. I can connect with nature. I can see me in nature. Math outside is much better because we actually see how thing how to use it. Plus, it felt calm when I was thinking. I like that I get to make myself with nature things. I get to look at myself and see how awesome I am. It was fun. Through this program, our children are learning to be creative, to look at themselves, and to realize just how awesome they are. So, as a proud member of the School 12 community, I thank you for working to ensure that more children in our school, and hopefully across this district, have access to this educationally and social emotionally impactful program. Thank you so much.
045>> [applause] >> Thank you. Rosa Terlazzo, and then followed by Stephanie Kraus. and social emotionally impactful program. Thank you so much. Thank you. Rosa Terlazzo, and then followed by Stephanie Kraus. Hi folks, can you hear me all right on Teams? emotionally impactful program. Um I'm Rosa Terlazzo. I am a parent of Annelise Terlazzo, who is a second grader at School 12. Uh I'm going to keep these comments pretty short in light of um what our superintendent said at the start of this meeting. Uh we are also here just to say what an incredible resource the nature-based learning program has been, and what it has meant to Annelise, but not just to Annalise. We came to Rochester about six years ago um so that I could take a job as a professor at the University of
046Rochester. And honestly, many of my colleagues told us we should absolutely live in the suburbs, and we didn't want to. We wanted to be part of School 12 because it's such an incredible vibrant community, and because we think that every student should have the opportunity for a rich, exciting, wonderful education. And School 12 has been doing that so beautifully, and nature-based learning is part of that. And I I just want the school district could to commit to the idea that students shouldn't have to go to the suburbs. Students shouldn't have to go anywhere else to have these opportunities that are so incredible. And so, I'm very glad that you're looking for the funding, and I want to just echo what other parents have said about making sure that this is something that is sustainably funded
047into the future um so that Kira is not in this position a third time now of thinking that she's no longer uh going to have this job. Or if she, you know, at some point retires, that that role is still one that is treated as essential for all of the reasons that other parents have talked about that that this is, if you're looking at it even purely in economic terms, the things that it does in terms of boosting attendance, the things that it does in terms of social and emotional development, the things that it does in terms of right, impacts on standard test scores, that this is something that pays for itself. So, please let's commit to it so that every single child has this opportunity, and they don't have to they don't have to
048think about going nice or out for it. So, thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Stephanie Kraus, who will be followed by Brady Fletcher. Thank you, Mr. Lazell. Good evening. My name is Stephanie Kraus, and I am a School 12 parent with children in the fourth and first grades of the OLA Dual Language program. This is my third year in a row coming before the Board of Education to ask for clarification or adjustment of budgetary impacts at our local school level. I find this process very superficial and opaque, where families, teachers, and possibly even school leaders cannot understand the full scope of proposed changes until after the vote is already taken and displacement notifications are going out. Parental engagement should be a top priority for RCSD rather than an afterthought. Had that engagement existed,
049you would already know my concerns on two critical and successful programs at School 12, which we are now learning will either be gone or seriously compromised next year. In what should have been our third year of the bilingual pre-K program, the district now plans to move this classroom out of School 12 and out of the South Zone altogether. I don't think we should have to tout the extraordinary benefits of bilingual education to our board, so I won't. But eliminating the continuum of bilingual education at School 12 makes absolutely no sense. Our teachers and facilities are already uniquely situated to support our youngest bilingual learners, and their successes should be championed. Moreover, eliminating bilingual pre-K from our neighborhoods detracts from bilingual families who are looking to establish ties where their children learn and play and only
050undermines the sustainability of our OLA Dual Language program. School 12 should also be entering into our fifth year of nature-based learning or NBL. As a frequent volunteer in the building, I have seen the joy, empathy, confidence, and yes, reading, writing, and math skills, too, that this program nurtures in our kids. And this is not just a single classroom or the extra effort of some dedicated professionals. The NBO program is designed to bring the many benefits of nature-based education to every child in our school and reduces barriers for everyone by managing nature spaces, outdoor gear, classroom materials, valued community partnerships, and more. We need a dedicated staff member to sustain this program and all the benefits that it has to offer. The impact of that one staff position across more than 700 students is one of
051the most efficient and impactful investments this district can make. We love School 12, our state, our teachers and staff, and our community there, and we have monitored the work done to retain essential counselors and social workers and support staff for our schools. But it sometimes feels like the district is looking to take away the very things that are working. Assuming that successful schools can always do fine with a little less. And while School 12 may not be well may well be may be well represented here tonight, I know that we are not the only families in the district to feel this way. I choose to keep my children enrolled in RCSD, and I will never acquiesce to that mentality. You need to do better by all of us, and please start by reinstating these programs
052at School 12. Thank you, Ms. Prowl. We have the next speaker on the list as Brady Fletcher, who will be followed by Trish McDermott, Trish McDermott, excuse me. Hello. Hi, it's hard to follow those comments. Those were very powerful. I'm also here today to So, I'm the parent of a kindergartner at School 12, and Uh, I'm I'm very new to the parent community at school 12. I'm very thankful for everyone who's spoken today. It seems like we have a really robust community. Uh, and I I just also want to, you know, give the sense of what nature-based learning has meant for my son. Uh, and uh, he went from, uh, over the course of this year, uh, you know, being a child who had trouble adjusting to school at, uh, you know, despite going through
053UPK, right? Even in kindergarten, uh, having trouble keeping still and paying attention and all those things that, you know, are not uncommon among kindergarteners. Um, but nature-based learning really gave him something, uh, that, uh, a new dimension of his education that we weren't even really, you know, we didn't we didn't really understand the impact of until recently. His curiosity about the, uh, outdoors, about the natural world, about, um, you know, all the things growing around us now that this long winter is over, um, it has has been a really amazing thing to see and I, uh, I just want to say, you know, it's a it's a little bit of a weird position that we're in here today, uh, you know, speaking about defending the existence of a program that really should be expanded, uh,
054throughout the district and, you know, I know that probably all the parents here are today would also come here and advocate for that expansion, um, throughout the district as well. So, um, I really hope that, uh, again, you reverse this decision, uh, I I again I want to speak I want to also reiterate the importance of having a staff member, uh, in such a role, uh, you know, I know that, you know, cobbling together some kind of a program without a staff person is not going to be the same thing as having a staff person dedicated, uh, to this role, uh, and so I really hope that you all will, uh, reconsider, um, especially, you know, in an era where, uh, we really need to be, uh, engendering a connection to nature among our children.
055Uh, I And you know, this is again a reason why school 12 was appealing to us, really drew us in. You know, the very idea of nature-based learning. So, I hope that you'll come around to supporting it. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Fletcher. Our next speaker is Trish McDermott, who will be followed by Pablo Sierra. around to supporting it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Fletcher. Our next speaker is Trish McDermott, who will be followed by Pablo Sierra. around to supporting it. Thank you. Hello, can you hear me all? Yes. Thank you so much. Um, again, my name is Trish McDermott and I'm here because I recently heard of the potential issues with these two programs and I was so encouraged to hear at the beginning how there is some support from the
056school board in continuing both of these programs from school 12. I'm also very new to this area and to the school in particular. We have an incoming kindergartner to school 12 and we have also hopefully a future school 12 attendee here as well. And when we first moved to the area and we were looking at schools, everyone's saying the praises of the nature-based learning program at school 12. And that combined with the bilingual possibilities really made it the top of our list when we were ranking kindergartens for our daughter this coming year. And so, I think this the board has heard, but we just want to echo how valuable this program has been in the community, how it's attracting people to the school. And I have to echo the comments of the previous um who
057said, this sounds like something that everyone in uh the school district deserves and needs." Um and if School 12 can be that first pilot project to show how effective it is, um I hope that that will be the case. Um we So many people have said we don't need to sing the praises of a bilingual education. We all know how important it is um for our children's development and for um just a better understanding of the world and um especially now in this very difficult um you know, political position that we're now in in society, I think it's extra important to um instill in our kids a more global view um that's more inclusive to others um and um learning Spanish is something I think is so important for my kids if they're able to
058see the world in that way um that I think that's going to be valuable for future generations. So, I really appreciate the board's time. I appreciate that you are responsive it seems to um parents' concerns and community concerns um which I think is really important and I'm so glad um that it looks like the future of these two programs is at least going forward to the next year and I hope you will take this um as a lot of community support and support and engagement to follow them into the future. Thanks so much. Thank you, Ms. McDermott. Bye, baby. Our next speaker is Pablo Sierra who will be followed by Jessica Fleming. I know Pablo is on his way. Is it Is it possible to Yes, I'll I'll call on the next speakers and then
059if he's here, um we'll we'll call him up. So, we'll go with Jessica Fleming who will be followed by Cara Brown or Cara Brown. Good evening. My name is Jessica Fleming. I'm the parent of two students, um, fraternal twins who are both in self-contained ASD programming at RCSD. They are ninth graders. My son Bryson is at World of Inquiry currently. He's in a 12-1-1 class. And my son Elijah is in a 12-3-1 ASD class. I I know it says that I'm talking about budget cuts, but I'm going to be more specific and talk about the way that things like reconfiguration and the current proposal for next year, um, impacts the ASD students, um, and also just what that looks like in the building as far as discipline and decision-making. So, I it Before reconfiguration, my
060son Elijah was at School 29 up through sixth grade. School 29 was one of the schools that was closed during reconfiguration. His twin, Bryson, was at 29 for primary school and moved to School 45 in elementary school. In when so, um, when School 29 when school the the cohort that's in ninth grade right now for ASD students, when they left their sixth grade classrooms, every single one of those students, knowing reconfiguration was coming because this was a plan for years, every single one of those students went to community schools that then closed the next year. So, these ASD students had some stability in building the same building, the same school every year. Then they all went to either School 5 or School 45 when their community schools closed. Schools that we then closed the very
061next year. For my son Elijah, between sixth grade and ninth grade, he has gone from School 29 to School 5 for a week, to School 45 where he had no teacher with his brother who had no teacher for two straight years, to Loretta Johnson and to Wilson. The Our district is in the news all the time. The cuts that are talked about on the news, the way that our community talks about our district, is impacting my son's anxiety extremely. He's very well worried that Wilson will be closed next year. It has increased his anxiety. And he started to have behaviors in school that he has not had in years, which has led him to a five-day suspension this year for all behaviors that are listed on his behavior plan. I mention this because Ms. Fellows
062mentioned earlier we have this decree, right? And we have suspend reduce suspensions for children with disabilities. It was one of the things on the decree and I am telling you that is not what is happening. When we take these kids during reconfiguration, we put them in buildings, we drop them in buildings, new buildings. Now we are going to have a self-contained classroom in every single building. I am a CPAC parent. We just listened last night for hour about the training for the paraprofessionals. The The building the >> [clears throat] >> administrators in the building who are in charge of the paraprofessionals are not on board. They aren't. That has not been our experience at Wilson. This has not been our experience Well, this was not our experience at Thurgood. The kids at Thurgood often times
063went from having no teacher for multiple years, the same class, 12 kids all together for for for the same class for straight years, to then being dropped in the middle school where they change classes every 40 minutes. >> I don't even want to stop you because I want to hear that and can we connect her cuz Yeah, um Deputy, if you can get the parents' contact information. >> Thank you, Ms. Brown. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is going to be Jessica Reinbold and I believe I saw Pablo Sierra walk into the room. So, we're going to have Jessica Reinbold come in and then we'll call Pablo Sierra. Hi, I'm Cara Brown. I think you actually skipped me. Oh, I apologize. You know what? I thought that was You You what? So, that was Jessica
064Fleming. Jessica Fleming, thank you. And so, we have Carol Brown. Then, we'll go to Pablo Sierra. And then, I'll call it from there. Thank you, Ms. Brown. Sorry about that. Well, I just want to first say thank you for holding space for all of us and myself tonight. Um I'm here as a community member before I was that. I was a parent of an RCSD student. And just a little quick note, um before I was that, I was a student in the OLA program at School 12. >> [cheering] >> So, I probably was in the first class, I'm dating myself, 1991, okay, kindergarten with Mr. Moore, but I will say and attest to the fact that being in a dual language program has created several opportunities for myself professionally and, you know, socially throughout the
065years and I'm grateful for that opportunity. So, please continue to keep that program. It continues to affect us. Um I also want to just mention that I'm here um as a former parent. My daughter, Milan, was a ninth grade student, a dance major at School of the Arts. She entered School of the Arts in eighth grade, as many of you know. This is an amazing school, an amazing opportunity for many of our scholars. And you have to audition to get into that school. While she was there, she thrived. She um was in honors classes. She actually represented RCSD in the Meek of a Soapbox Challenge um in Washington, right? Um yet, she was in dance concerts. She did a lot of different things. She was an athlete. And yet, my daughter um still fell victim
066to being attacked. Um she was jumped on a bus, an RCSD bus, while going to flag football um at school in March. It's no coincidence that her principal, her former principal, is here. I'm not sure if he's still here. Is he there? Oh, I think he left. I was hoping he would be here to hear this because um my impact statement, I felt like it didn't have an impact. My daughter is one of many. Um despite all of her accolades and her her accomplishments or her abilities to try to dissuade another student from being physical with her, it happened. Not only did the student um attack her, she attacked another student in the same day. Right? So, there are many many different layers. Not only was my daughter and another scholar attacked, but I also
067emailed an administrator 4 days before and requested a mediation. Right? So, a lot of our parents who are due diligence, we are scared to have our children in environments where the culture is toxic. I need you guys to understand that we unfortunately are living in a world of baddies, right? Where everybody finds acceptance in how fast they can engage in physical violence instead of how they can communicate with each other and find resolve. And it's very scary. I think we can all attest to the fact that we watched the news recently and we saw what happened at Charlotte Beach, right? Where our students who are smart, who are talented, who are very much loved are finding themselves in situations. And not everybody, you know, wants to be in those situations. However, our families are deeply
068impacted and we are traumatized on all levels. I'm not sure of what the resolution will be. I know that I was told that I could fill out a dossier report at one point, which was something a reporting tool to allow my daughter's the person who attacked my daughter to be reported. However, what's next, right? I know that that that student received consequences, but I just want to tell you guys that there is a culture here. There is an impact on our students' mental and emotional well-being, and something needs to happen. So, thank you again. That's right. Past, present, and future. >> [applause] >> Pablo Sierra is our next speaker. After Mr. Sierra, we'll have Jessica Reinboldt. Thank you. Good evening. Uh my name is Pablo Sierra. I am the president of the Bilingual Education Council
069this year. And I have three children in the school district, one in elementary, another in middle school, and one who is about to begin high school. All three have attended an RCSD bilingual program. All three will be School 12 graduates. So, today I want to speak in favor of reinstating the School 12 bilingual pre-K 3 program. 2 weeks ago, I was able to visit a classroom run by Mrs. Awilda Morrison at the start of their school day. And I was so impressed by how those little ones interacted, listened, played, and learned from each other and their teachers. These three and four-year-olds are learning in two languages and it's it's organic to them. It's fluent because they have a community that supports them. They have experienced teachers that have been doing this for over 20 years.
070The bilingual pre-K 3 program is already implemented successfully. It works well on the first floor classrooms at Anna E. Murray Douglass Academy. These rooms are specifically designed for our youngest learners. If you visit, you'll find tiny toilets, tiny sinks, tiny desks because these are spaces designed for three and four-year-olds. No argument can be made that there isn't enough space for this program. Our bilingual students are already using the appropriate space for their learning and it shows. The decision-making, the emotional regulation, the cross-cultural communication, it's all there. These are the foundations for academic learning. Son los fundamentos del aprendizaje. And these pre-K 3 students are thriving thanks to individuals like Mrs. Morrison. Finally, the bilingual pre-K 3 program ensures that a balanced number of Spanish and English-speaking students enter the school's pre-K 4 program and eventually
071the Ola program every year. So, this is a kind of pathway that we need that we're building. Eliminating this program would remove access to a successful bilingual education model for families in the South Zone of the city. So, I urge you respectfully reinstate the bilingual pre-K 3 program at school 12. Muchas gracias. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Sierra. Our next speaker is Jessica Reimbolt, who will be followed by Lisa Silverstein or Silverstine. >> [applause] >> Good evening. My name is Jessica Reimbolt. I'm the vice president of Vente. I'm here tonight to speak about the proposed clerical cuts and the impact that they will have on our schools. It was hard for me to piece together in just 3 minutes to show how detrimental these clerical cuts are going to be. Do I start with
072the $40 failing system that is Oracle and how much work clerical must put in every single day just to make sure employees are paid and supplies get ordered for our students? Clerical staff have worked tirelessly to fix the errors created by the system. We would not have gotten through this school year if it wasn't for the secretaries. And the thank that thanks they get is 35 of their positions are being cut. Nobody making these cuts has any clue how much work secretaries and clerks do at the building. And I just want to say for the people who don't know, this is my 20th year at the district. And other than the three that I've been the vice president, I have been a secretary. I was a clerk here. I was a secretary at a building
073and I was the lead secretary for the district. So, unlike everybody who made the decision to make these cuts that have no clue what clerical do, I do. When I asked, "Who's going to do the work that this that when when these positions get cut?" My answer I got, and I I is, "I'm not really sure what work they do to be able to answer that, but all I can tell you is that a formula was used." How can you use a formula to determine support needed when you don't even know what they do? Has anyone sat in a school office for any amount of time to even understand the impact that these cuts are going to have? The district is cutting middle schools down to one clerk, and I would love to see anybody
074in this room sit in a middle school office on a Monday and while they try to successfully meet the needs of parents, staff, and students. When clerical positions are cut, those responsibilities do not disappear. They're shifted to an already overextended support staff. The district is doing what they always do, which is cutting from the bottom while adding positions at the top. We are losing critical clerical positions, but we have added titles such as assistant supervisor of payroll. When was the last time the executive cabinet was cut down based on a formula? And I'm not just talking about cutting one chief and creating another. Why are the jobs of our members and members of other unions the only ones affected by the number of students and by a formula? Work will get missed, and safety concerns
075will arise because clerical is going to be stretched thin. The impact will reach our students directly. Clerical staff are not extras. We are the tier one employees, also. We work directly with the families. They are essential to daily function and safety of our schools. They help create stability, consistency, and connection for families and students. I urge the board to carefully consider the full impact of these reductions. Supporting clerical staff means supporting the entire school community. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Ms. Reinbold. Our next speaker is Leva Silverstein, Lisa Silverstein or Stein, please correct me and then she you will be followed by Miguel Diaz. Okay. Good evening. My name is Lisa Silverstein and I'm the chairperson of the home hospital teaching program. I want to speak tonight about the district's stated commitment to
076fiscal responsibility and right-sizing the budget and about what many of us are struggling to reconcile with what we're actually seeing. On the very same day that 12 home hospital teachers receive layoff notices, the district posted 11 new community liaison specialist positions representing almost a million dollars in salaries. When we look closely at the job posting, we found something striking. Connecting students and families to services, helping families understand special education and IEPs, advocacy, family engagement and serving as the bridge between school and home. This is not new work. This is our work. I want to share something important with you. At my request, Adam Urbanski asked Superintendent Rossler to meet with me regarding the proposed reduction to our unit. I have spent 32 years as a home hospital teacher in this district. The superintendent has been
077here less than a year. Yet he declined to meet with me and no one from central office ever met with our administrator either. That was disappointing, not because I expected agreement, but because I believe discussions matter. I have seen many configurations of home hospital during my years in the district. Perhaps together we could have explored solutions, strengthen the program and incorporated new responsibilities without dismantling the expertise already in place. You were told that caseloads declined, but caseloads declined because students who were once received direct instruction are increasingly being placed in front of Chromebooks. In the suburbs, when students struggle, families invest in one-on-one support because individualized instruction works. They don't throw their kids a Chromebook and say, "Learn it on your own with minimal supports." Yet that's the reality of what they will be getting
078here. So, when I step back and look at the bigger picture, I don't see right-sizing. I see a reduction in services presented as efficiency. I see layoffs justified by skewed data that we challenged and many of you totally ignored. I thank those board members who questioned the lack of transparency and the concepts of a plan presented for our students. And while Dr. Rossiter has said he wants home hospital teachers in classrooms to fill staffing shortages, our 12 teachers received callous letters on Friday, not only informing them that they were laid off, but instructing them to turn in their ID badges and their laptops. Meanwhile, parents have been receiving letters from Dr. Rossiter stating that access to home instruction will become much more stringent, creating fear that their children may no longer qualify for services they
079depend on. Tonight, I'm asking you to stop and look at what is happening because budgets are moral documents. They reveal priorities and right now the message being sent is deeply troubling. Experienced educators can be discarded. Vulnerable students can receive less and programs can be dismantled without any meaningful discussion. You can call this restructuring. You can call it right-sizing. But, if children lose support, families lose trust, and our most vulnerable students are left with less, then let's call it what it really is, a choice. And moving forward, I'm asking you to please make better choices. Thank you for your time. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Ms. Silverstein. The next person is Miguel Diaz, who will be followed by Kathleen Sobers. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Miguel Diaz. I'm I've been a teaching assistant for 3
080years in the Edison Tech High School in the 614 ASD classroom. I'm a proud father of a child with special needs here in the district. He goes school 28. I also reside in the inner part of the city. When I first started working in the Rochester City School District, I believed that one job should be enough. I believed that I could support my family while making a difference in the lives of the students. I do make a difference. Every single day I tell my son, "You can be more than your diagnosis. You can The opportunities that we have here in the district are endless." Not to mention the programs that we have in the Edison campus where we take the kids out to work and they get a paycheck for it. But the truth is
081that when I go home and I look at my paycheck, one job is not enough. I currently work two jobs. Unfortunately, my wife is the only nice secretary in the school right now and as a fellow member of Bente mentioned here, she is one of those 35 people who's getting cut. We don't know what's going to happen with her. So, I get to carry my family once again in my back. The reality what it takes to be a TA today in the New York State is raising the bar for teacher assistants. And that matters, right? Because with higher expectation must come fair compensation. To even begin with this job, we are required to complete multiple state mandated trainings. That's a training to prevent harassment and protect students' dignity. Child abuse reporting to safeguard lives. Violence
082to prevent to keep schools safe. Pass certifications exams so that prove that we can support instruction, undergo fingerprint and clearance because we are entrusted with children. And that doesn't stop there. We must maintain certification, pursue higher education, and complete ongoing professional development. Many of us work towards a band certification that requires college credits and real classroom experience. More responsibility equals more stress. With every new requirement, the responsibility grows and so does the pressure. We are not just assistants, we are educators, we are counselors, we are crisis responders, we are caregivers, many times we are mothers and fathers to our children in the special education classrooms especially. We handle behaviors, emotional needs, safety concerns, and academic support all at once. The level of responsibility comes with a real cost, mental exhaustion, anxiety, stress that follow us
083home to our families, not to mention dealing with our own children's as well that are also in the district and and also go to school for the special education. We must pay Why must we Why must we are asking that you match the role? If the state requires more training and more testing and more accountability, then the pay must reflect that because right now we are being asked to carry more without being given enough to sustain ourselves and as a father, I feel that I deeply I am pouring everything into other people's children while worrying about providing for my own. Parents and teacher assistants >> Mr. Diaz, thank you. We do have your comments. I want to make sure that I hold everyone to the same time, but I do hear you and I know
084what you're talking about cuz my son was a TA in this district. I know we're not supposed to render comments, but for Yes, I I know exactly what you're talking about. Thank you, sir. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Our next speaker is going to be Kathleen Solvers who will be followed by D Dixie and then our final person is Angelo Palminari Palmer Palmarini, excuse me. So, Kathleen Sobers, please. Good evening. I'm Kathleen Sobers. Before I address you all, I want to address the congregation. How many of you all believe that one job should be enough? Stand with me if you believe that. [applause] One job. Thank you. >> [applause] >> One job should be enough to ensure that you have a decent living way, a way to life, but unfortunately, this is not so. One
085job in our society today is not enough, especially in RCSD. I was researching what the living wage in Rochester is. For a single person, it is 23 It is $23.43 per hour, or $48,865 annually. And that is a single person without children. With someone with children, a single person, too, it is $38.72 per hour, or $80,797 annually. I also look at the minimum wage. It says $16. And that is what some of the pre-K paras are getting. I am here to represent the pre-K paras. And I know their heart. I know their cry. I know what they're going through. When I visit them on a daily basis, some of them said to me, "Sobers, I don't even know how I'm going to get to work tomorrow." Some of them have three, four jobs. I know
086one friend that have five jobs. And still it is not enough. And those jobs are not for extra spending. Those jobs are a means of life. Because without those jobs, they cannot come to our CSD, they cannot report to the school. They can't do anything, and their hands are tied. And I want you to know that life for us are it is hard and it is difficult. And I'm speaking from experience, my own experience. My husband got sick, and guess what? Just like my colleague, I have to carry the burden on my back. And I surely do I surely don't make $48,865. I surely do not make that per year. But yet, I have to do what I have to do. When I look at my colleagues, when I hear their cries, when I see
087their pain, it burns. And I'm asking myself, what can I do? How can we fix this? We are their care workers. We are parents in pre-care. We clean vomit. We clean tables. We clean stool. We do everything that we are asked to do and much more. But still yet, it is not enough. Still yet, we are the lowest paid people on the totem pole. If you want to ask my colleagues, they will tell you what I might working for. I'm surely not here for it for the money, but because I love doing what I do. They come to work, they work 6.5 hours, leave that job, go to another job, and work another 6.5 hours. Not because that they want to, but because they have to. Is one job enough? It should be, but one
088job is not enough. Thank you so much, Ms. Solvers. >> [applause] >> Our last two speakers for the evening. The next one is is D. Dixie, and then we have Angelo Palmerini. Hello. Good evening, members of the board. My name is D. Dixie. Every day, our support staff walk into classrooms ready to serve our most vulnerable students. They do this out of deep care, but the economic and physical realities of their daily routine has become completely unsustainable. Our support staff, they face intense physical hazards daily. On any given day, a staff member might be punched, kicked, spit on, or have, you know, feces smeared on them. They manage toileting needs and navigate severe emotional crises. Students possess a vast range of needs. Meaning the physical demands on our staff shift radically from minute to minute.
089Yet, regardless of these extreme responsibilities, their pay remains the same. That's why one job should be enough. Right now, our starting wage is just $17 an hour for paraprofessionals, 20 for TAs. Let's look at the the the raw numbers of what actual what it actually takes to survive right here in Rochester. At $17 an hour, a full-time staff member earns roughly 35,360 a year before taxes. That's below the 37,200 a single adult needs just for basic housing and groceries. It locks our employees directly into survival mode. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a single adult in our community needs $23, like Ms. Silver said, and 43 cents an hour, or about 48,734 a year just to cover basics like food, housing, and transportation. That leaves our staff with a with a massive gap, or
090over 13,000 a year short of a basic living wage. Consider the rent reality. A local one-bedroom apartment averages $1,200 a month. By By the standard of 30% housing rule, an employee needs to make at least 48k a year just to safely afford that rent. Our staff are short by more than a thousand every single month spending way more than 30% of their paychecks just to keep roofs over their heads. I have people in my building right now that are couch surfing, that's homeless, that is just barely making it. For a family of four, two working adults must pull at least 64k combined just to scrape by. And that doesn't even touch child care. To reach a true comfort zone to live well in this city, a person needs 50k to 72k before taxes. Because of
091this $17 an hour reality, our staff they're trapped in a brutal brutal squeeze. They are forced to work two and three jobs like Miss Ober said. I just want to say this. I would like to invite you all out to to walk one day in our shoes. One day in our shoes because one job should be enough. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Dixie. And our final speaker for this evening is Angelo Palmarini. Good evening, President Simmons, Vice President Malloy, Board Commissioner, Superintendent, and members of the community. My name is Angelo Palmarini, President of the Board of Education Non-Teaching Employees. I'm here tonight to speak regarding the reductions of home school assistants and food service workers and the troubling direction these staffing decisions appear to be taking. Home school assistants provide direct support to students
092and families every single day. They help students stay engaged academically, maintain communications with family, provide guidance, and serve as an important connection between home and school. These are dedicated employees who have committed themselves to helping students succeed. Yet, despite the importance of this work, these employees are now facing job loss due to budget cuts. What makes this especially difficult to understand is that at the same time these positions are being eliminated, the district is expanding community liaison specialist positions that perform many similar functions and responsibilities. But, at rates of pay that are roughly 2/3 higher than the pay received by home school assistants. The major difference is that community liaison specialists do not visit homes. You got it, more management and less boots on the ground. If the district is claiming financial hardship, how does
093it make fiscal sense to eliminate experienced employees in lower paid positions while expanding positions with substantially higher salaries? The district also announced reductions in hours across the board for our food service workers. Cuts that collectively amount to roughly 25 full-time equivalent positions. These reductions will have consequences. When you take hours away from people who are already working less than 40 hours a week, you push them to make impossible choices. Many will be forced to seek second jobs. Some will be forced to leave entirely. And when experienced workers walk out the door, the district loses institutional knowledge, consistency, and quality of service our students depend on. We cannot pretend that these 25 FTE cuts worth of hours will somehow leave our operations untouched. It will not. It will strain the remaining staff. It will increase turnover.
094It will make recruitment harder. And ultimately will impact the students we are all here to serve. Our message is simple. You cannot build a stable, reliable food service program by destabilizing the people who make it run. I urge the district to reconsider these reductions. Our members deserve respect. They deserve stability. They deserve to be treated as the essential workers they are. Budgets reflect priorities. And to ensure that the staffing decisions that are being made are based on student needs and sound financial judgment. Tonight, I ask the board to prioritize the employees who have already proven their value to the district and its students. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Pomeranian. At this time, this concludes our speakers for this evening. We again thank you for sharing your voice, your insights, and giving us
095understanding. Everyone have a wonderful evening.