Board Work Session & Public Hearing | December 9, 2025

001Good evening. This is the Rochester City School District and this evening uh we are opening a conversation for the closure and public hearing regarding the closure of Northwest Middle School. Um tonight the board is again holding a public hearing to review input on the superintendent's recommendation for the closure of Northwest Junior High School. At this time, the board will receive comments. Um, however, no registered speakers signed up this evening and so no comments were received. This concludes the public meeting or hearing for this evening meeting adjourned. Good evening and thank you. Uh this is Tuesday, December 9th and tonight is the Rochester Board of Education work session. It is 6:01. We are going to open the work session uh with some very special guests this evening. I'm going to make my way down to the

002podium so that I may properly um introduce um the individuals that have supported us on the mental health ad hoc committee. So, give me a moment as I make my way down there and then we'll continue. Okay. So, before I go any further, I do want to first and foremost um speak about the inception of the mental health ad hoc committee. As we know, the district, Rochester City School District, has historically had challenges and we've had uh different um circumstances that have presented themselves. And several months ago, um, one of our commissioners, Commissioner Santiago, um, did come before his fellow commissioners and ask that we put together a mental health ad hoc committee to assess, uh, the things that we have going on here at the district and to get voice around how we could

003better shape some of the services and take them to the next level. And so this evening, it is our honor to honor you. Um before we move forward with that, I'm going to ask my fellow commissioners to join me here on the floor. And we're going to have um some of the folks who have again put in and dedicated their time over the last several months around the mental health ad hoc committee around something that is extremely important to all of us. Um and again something that commissioner Santiago felt was a necessary uh plight to move forward with and I want to make sure that I do acknowledge that. But most importantly, I want to make sure that I acknowledge the hard work and effort you all have put in to ensuring the students of

004the Rochester City School District get the support that they need and that we are doing the best that we can with it. I also see joining us several students from various high schools. I'm going to shout them out and if I miss you, shout back at me, okay? But I know we have Wilson. I'm gonna start with Wilson. You could give a hoot. Uh, we have Franklin over there. We have Edison. And we have Monroe. Did I miss any school representation? >> Padilla High School. Come on. Excuse me. And I called it Franklin. Thank you for that correction. So Wilson, stand up. Stand up. Wilson, stand up. East High School, stand up. Padilla High School. Edison, stand up. Monroe, stand up. Who else am I missing? School without walls. Stand up. Okay, there we go.

005Did I get you all? We appreciate you. We appreciate you and thank you for um being part of this. Without further ado, what I'm going to do at this time is I'm just going to call up some individuals that I have um certificates for up here and we'd love to take a picture with you. Um, but we have I'm going to start and please forgive me and and correct me if I mispronounce your name, but I'm going to try. And I have Chaz Dis >> Darice. Chaz Darice. Thank you for your service, Mr. Dvarice. >> Piola Machua. Paulo >> Paola, excuse me. Paola M. Did I say your last name correctly? >> Machuka. Thank you. Paola Machuka. Thank you. There you go. Miss Crystal Clark. Naomi Montigue, Jessica Nordquist, Thank you >> Ashalet Toa. Thank

006you. And finally, but certainly not least, especially in this particular space, we have Sarah Taylor. Thank you. Thank you again for your service. Um, we're going to just take a quick moment and if you don't mind, we want to get our pictures with you because you all have um really put in a lot of work and we're going to take a moment to do that. Follow the leading of Dejon. as well. >> We need all the students up too as well, please. President Simmons, if I can if you can give me like recognize me if you want to. Okay. But they're not are they not going to say Okay. So, we're going to continue with the meeting at this time and um I believe we have a presentation around um the work that has taken

007place through the MA uh the ad hoc committee at this time. So, I'm going to turn this over to Charisma Travis who will uh provide that recap and information. >> Yeah. Yeah. Hi. Good evening. So, tonight I will provide um the information on the findings and the recommendations that the mental health a committee have concluded on. Just as a reminder, I know I know President Simmons were kind of already talked about how the committee um beca became assembled. It was through board resolution once commissioner um Santiago you know had championed it and the board had voted on it. Uh part of that resolution, it talked about the committee charge which was to undertake a review of current district policies, data, programs, and or partnerships focus on addressing student mental health and support services to provide

008the board with written recommendations on approving district mental health practices including policy revisions andor adoption. These are the members who were a part of the committee. So although all we there were 12 all 12 were not here tonight but the this is a complete list. The two highlighted in gold were the co-chairs. So both Melanie Fontress and Sarah Taylor led the committee in its work and I wanted to say again thank you all. It was wonderful working with you all um over those weeks. And so standard operator procedure the committee worked at met every two weeks. Um and then once the committee completed its work the recommendations and findings were submitted to the superintendent's cabinet for review. And now final recommendations are being provided tonight. And so committee findings. So the committee finders included a

009wide range of policies and procedures covering mental health, mental health awareness, professional development efforts for staff are offered through student support services and human capital. Several district programs and community partnerships. There is a lack of evaluations to assess perceived implementation concerns for the district's programs, policies, and procedures on mental health. Some staff may carry unresolved trauma, impacting student support. Current procedures are more reactive instead of proactive. Certain mental health program funding is ending soon, impacting s sustainability. The perception is that the district's culture at all levels lacks accountability and positive effectiveness. And this is from the board all all the way down to our families. As a result of those findings, the committee recommendations include policies and training amending policy 5405 wellness policy to include required mental health training for all district staff. Provide consistent

010training for all district staff and families to strengthen the district's culture and effectiveness. Training contractual employees. Mental health awareness campaign. Develop a year-round mental health awareness campaign. Connections. Strengthening the connection between the district parent and community resources with measures of accountability. Student support services. Continue funding for all student support services outlined in the attached document is essential. See the board doc agenda item tonight to see the full list. Priorities should be given to the following re-engagement program at the hub called rise and return mental health transition program youth and justice transition re-engagement funding justification. It was funded up until Thanksgiving of this year. No other alternative mental health education programs in the district. At times, school buildings struggle to support students with mental health concerns. Students will still be enrolled at their home school, but

011in an environment conducive to their needs, similar to all city mobile mental health team funding ends in June 30 on June 30th, 2027. The mobile mental health team fills a crucial gap for schools without on-site mental health clinics. The team directly supports students and families in crisis through con consultation, screening, and trauma-informed interventions. It keeps students in school and reduces hospitalizations. Maintaining and expanding coverage ensures equitable access to mental health support across all RCSD schools, especially at new satellite clinics are being established. Mental health training for students, district staff, and parents. Some examples include mental health first aid, LGBTQ plus mental health training, cultural competence, youth teen mental health first aid strengthens the district's capacity to create safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments. Accountability monitor of existing support and contractors measures effectiveness and uses the

012results to determine whether to continue or seek a new partnership. And then finally, cultural and structural changes unifies culture across the district that emphasizes seeing the full humanity of our students and demonstrates respect towards each other to embody one RCSD. And so recommended next steps for the board amend policy 5405 wellness policy based on recommended committee revisions which can be seen on the attached policy on board docs on page seven and I want to say that pages 12. So there is a motion to move the wellness policy to um to start it readings if the board accepts the recommendations from the committee. The policy would be slated for amendment during the February 26 business meeting if it goes through the um process. There is a comment however on page 12 that provides another policy language

013option for the board to consider. So when I conclude this, you know, part of the discussion um to provide alternative language and then the other recommended next steps for the 2627 school year budget director to superintendent to allocate funding that supports comprehensive mental health training for board members, superintendent, staff, students, and families. sustain year-round mental health initiatives. For example, student support services, awareness campaigns, student engagement activities, loafy music, ways to cope with hardships. That concludes my presentation. There are there are any questions. >> Thank you, U clerk Travis. And so, um, I think I want to open the, um, day for discussion around the recommendations that were presented, um, this evening. Uh, Commissioner Santiago. >> Yeah. Yeah, I want to first off uh start by saying thank you to everyone uh who put their hands

014in this work um and who came out with a result that provides us with direction to better support our young people and our students inside of our schools. um now more than ever of course is needed and I'm glad to see that we have parent voice involved in this final work to see that we have student voice um most importantly involved in this work that we have community involved in this work and so uh on my end I'm 100% in support of whatever recommendations that this collective group has uh presented to us the board um of course I'll be an advocate for uh this agenda and this um and these uh final results that you guys have given. I guess for me my my only question would be to the superintendent as far as um

015your commitment you know to this work also because some of this stuff is is board um is board work um but of course this will have to be uh collaborated between uh the board and the superintendent to to make some of the these things happen. So, of course, a response from the superintendent as far as his commitment to this work uh will be very helpful, not just to myself, but to the people who have put their hands uh towards this work and the community that's calling uh for better when it comes to our mental health services and the RCSD. >> Um were you um interested in >> Yeah. So, I can speak very quickly to this. Um much of my career as a educational leader has really been based in student support. So everything that

016we need to offer to make sure that our students not only succeed academically but also have the supports in their acquisition of learning is important and will remain important in the work that I do particularly here in Rochester. >> Thank you. We're going to continue conversation. Uh Commissioner Lebrand did I hear from you? >> Yes. Thank you. Um I also want to thank everyone um for their efforts and their work in this clearly um it's been an ongoing issue in this district and not for lack of trying. There's lots of agencies and support and programs but there was never a coordinated sort of bird's eye view of everything happening and where there could be better alignment so that this actually gets implemented the way it needs to be implemented. People get the services that they

017need. Um, I do want to point out though for the wellness committee that that is a committee that is one legally required by New York State for school districts to have that focuses on nutrition and physical and activities for kids. So to have a recommendation that sort of blends those two. I would not support that because of the legal requirements for the wellness committee are completely separate from any of the recommendations. Um I would however recommend that we explore either an additional sort of policy um or something that mirrors the wellness committee but there are legal requirements for that committee too that includes having to meet four times a year. It's the placebased. Um, as you may recall, I came from Common Ground Health and that was the committee that we pushed for the district

018to also have implemented um, recess for kids because kids need breaks, brain breaks, opportunities to play even in school. Um, but I just want to uplift and highlight that the wellness committee has different legal requirements and is completely separate from this topic. Thanks. Thank you, Commissioner LeBron. Are there any other statements? >> Yes, M uh Madame President. Um I just want to also thank uh Commissioner Santiago because it really was from his um leadership that brought this to the board. Uh it is a very serious topic. I know that our young people have a lot of um probably the best thing to say is questions which frustrate um would frustrate people if they don't have the answers to the questions that they have and can go into things like depression and anxiety and and those

019kinds of things. But I also want to encourage our young people. you will get through and whatever you're going through, it's going to help and inform you of the work that you that God would have you to do. So, don't give up. And I do understand that there are a lot of people, a lot of young people who have really checked out. I would say don't do that. I would say continue to fight. Continue to fight because listen, you're you're young and you're going to see in the future how what you've gone through today or what your your your peers go through, how that's going to inform your work for the future. So, don't give up. We all go through these things. This is not anything new for the human condition. Um, I know on

020television it seems like everybody is having a good time, but we all have these issues that we have to deal with and then we have those successes. Let those issues inform your successes in the future and the work I believe that God would have you to do. So, I would just um have you to you you as a members of the committee as well as your colleagues, encourage them, tell them this this too shall pass. I don't know if you've heard that before, but trust me, this too shall pass and it's going to help to inform you to be a better person uh than you are today. And I would ask you to share that with your uh colleagues. And so with that, I will say uh we all go through it. Uh don't let

021it get you down and um you know, have a great uh great holiday, have a great year, and let's just keep it moving. Thank you, uh Madam President. >> Thank you, Commissioner Elliott. Um, Commissioner Griffin. >> Yes. Sorry. >> Thank you um for all the work that was put into this um ad hoc committee. I have a question. I don't know if um it was stated in here. I was trying to look and see, but I'm a little blurry a little bit. But at the end of the day, I wanted to question um I know the wellness policy is there, but I know we we're supposed to also have a safety policy. Is that something that would also be a part of the mental health or would that be something separate? Because you know, safety

022that's a that's something that we also need and is required by New York State. How would the safety part of this be um implemented into what we have here as far as the mental health? Would it be something different? Because I seen it when I seen it listed on in our uh as as far as a requirement, it said health and wellness or health and safety. So that's why I'm asking the question, how would that come into play? How would the health safety wellness whole thing come into play with the mental mental ad hoc or mental um policy. Sorry. >> Yeah. So for this particular committee, so are they all kind of intertwined? I would say yes that they are for the sc purpose of the scope of this committee, it was focused on just

023the recommendations received, but I do believe there's an opportunity to follow up on your question around safety and uh you know, how that type of thing, student safety. Um but for the scope of this particular um committee, the recommendations and and where they focus is what was presented on this evening. Um, I'm going to go to Vice President Malloy. >> I'll keep this very short. I just wanted to say thank you so much for the work, the time, and effort that you put in. Can you hear me? >> Oh, looks like says it's on. >> Mic isn't working. I just wanted to say thank you so much for the time and effort, especially to our students, but our community members, our staff. It was a big time commitment and it's much appreciated. Everything that you've

024done here helps inform the board in its work to make better decisions and so I just want to thank you for your time and effort. >> Okay. Um, Commissioner Santiago, >> one other statement. Yeah, I'm just I'm just uh just want to request that we can possibly end uh this topic uh with the chair of the committee possibly coming up and giving a quick synopsis uh you know of the work that was done in the committee uh Sarah Taylor who's who's the chair of the committee. Um so I do request that uh for the end. Of course it's up to you whether or not you recognize that but I think it would be nice to hear somebody from the committee uh share very quickly about their work. Commissioner Elliott. >> And I just wanted to

025actually I was going to piggyback on that. I should have said it when I was first speaking. I just want to um highlight Sarah Taylor. This is work that Sarah's been doing since I've known Sarah and I've known Sarah for a long time. So it was just >> the right I believe vehicle for her to participate in order to to do this work. Um she's been a great advocate around uh mental health and um I just want to acknowledge her officially for the work that she's doing and will continue to do. So, thank you so very much for that for this work and know it, you know, it's a lot of work. What we do is a lot of work. We appreciate all of your leadership uh in this endeavor. Thank you so very much.

026>> Thank you. And what I will say is that the um the recommendations I I am in total agreement. Mental health is not spoken about, especially in communities that look like ours. And it's it's it's concerning that we still have to push the narrative to understand that it needs to be talked about and needs to be practiced on a regular basis. We need to figure out mental health just like we figure out what we're going to eat at night. And that is that is the reality of what mental health is in in our communities. Um I do want to uh acknowledge that we have a lot of things budgetary implications, federal dollars, and then collective bargaining pieces that fall into some of the recommendations I'm seeing. um potentially. And so I want to figure out

027how we can best support the recommendations that have come before us to set us up for success. Um I do want to honor because we all do know Sarah Taylor and have if we haven't spoken at one of her wonderful um events that she's put on or informational pieces for the community or what have you. We we've either attended or spoken or been there. Um Dr. Taylor, I'm going call you Dr. Taylor. Do do you want to provide at least a a quick minute? >> Thank you. Uh, commissioners and superintendent who I have not officially met yet, but I'm sure I'll be at your door soon. um and to the youth that we had an opportunity to hear from at the hub and the amazing work they're doing in the community and my fellow committee

028members and Melanie Punches who could not be here today. Um again, thank you. We had Charisma was amazing guiding us, keeping us on task in the short time. But in summary, we were focused on the policies, what policy recommendations and also funding recommendations. And I just want to bring to the board's attention, I believe last week, uh, the common ground health staff was on WXXI highlighting the increase in mental health symptoms and selfharm and the recommendations that school-based interventions, we cannot we cannot cut out any funding related to mental health. We also there needs to be accountability. It was in the recommendations for the subcontractors and providers that are already there. Some accountability to the work they're doing. What accountability is there? That is important. Also, we also talked about the lack of correlation or

029collaboration between the office of parent and community engagement and some of the mental health services and the amazing work that the hub in Crystal is doing. There is no clear correlation there of collaboration for those departments. You can't work with the babies and the scholars without also helping the parents understand mental health. And last, I want to say the committee again is willing, I believe, I can't speak for everyone, but to stay around to make sure that these recommendations that are not just documented, but there is some implementation and measures and accountability. I always say, yes, we have outcomes that we have to measure. Yes, we have budgets, but this is about lives. This is about lives. We know what the suicide rate is right now among black and brown youth ages 19, 10 to

03019, risen faster than any other populations. So, this is about lives. This is about yes, we're here as a district to educate, but as a district parent with a child with the IEP, we have to do more work in that peer space. We're hoping to have peers over at the hub. Youth peer advocates credentialed, family peer advocates. We have to do a better job and it can't be just set aside. It must be prioritized. So my hope is that our work was not performative. That when we leave here today, we have assurance that the board will prioritize the recommendations and have some accountabilities and measures and that this work will continue as we want to not just enrich lives, enhance lives, but really promote mental health wellness from the top down. Thank you. >> Thank

031you very much, Miss Taylor. And with that, we do thank you once again for joining us this evening, presenting your recommendations and all the hard work that's gone into this. Okay, I'm just pulling up the agenda here. Um, I do want to entertain a motion to forward the wellness policy being 5405 out of the board work session. And this would put us in our first reading of the of the 5405 into the um first readings. >> motion by Commissioner Santiago, second by Vice President Malloy. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Okay. Motion carries. >> Did you say discussion? Yeah. I have I just want to say something. I I have a >> I I just want to I just I I want to say that in looking at New York State um education

032department there is things noted together with um the health and safety committee. So, I do think that um Commissioner Santiago, that would be for you and the committee just to look at that so that if that any adjustments need to be made based on what the state ed is saying that we do that now before we move forward because it's it it does say a lot in here. I've read it before, but I just wanted to make sure that I was I was what I was mentioning was accurate. So, because health and safety goes together. So, we definitely want to address that before we move forward. I think that is just my opinion. >> Charisma, was this their this was their last meeting and their final the the ad hoc committee is now um completed

033their piece. Thank you. Okay, so let's move forward on the agenda. Um we're going to >> I'm sorry. Um President Simmons uh I know he has a question with the discussion part. I just wanted to ask something really quickly before you all >> voted at this time, haven't we? >> The the the thing became the discussion part didn't happen when you guys voted. There wasn't room open for discussion. That's why he >> I can't understand you. There was no room for discussion when you before you all voted >> for the 5405. >> Yes. >> Right. So I've opened it up for dis I've gone back. Do I need to re pull that back in? >> No. >> Okay. >> But I wanted to just clarify something though before you all continue more. So >> yes.

034>> What I had stated in my pro the PowerPoint was that in 5405 if you look at page 12, there was a comment that was placed there um for board consideration. Currently there's language that's in the policy for you all to consider. But then the comment has alternative language. So I want to be clear when you're moving a policy forward are you moving it forward with the language as >> are you referring to? >> So if you go to the policy that's actually attached to board dots. >> Okay. >> On page 12. >> Yes. Okay. >> You'll see a comment. >> Oh the consideration comment. >> Yes. So I just want to be clear of what you guys are forwarding. Are you looking to just keep the language as is written in the actual policy

035or do you want to swap out the language that's in that box? I'm I'm in support of switching out the language that's in the box in the comment box. >> Okay. And also, I just want to also get a little clarity because I think Commissioner Griffin is bringing up some really great points around health and safety going together. I I don't think that's a question, but I do want to make sure that it's understood that um the mental health ad hoc committee was a was a temporary committee and what we're we're having this evening is a culmination of the expertise and the efforts that went into this and this committee is now um >> dismantled. >> This this is it's it's no longer correct. >> Okay. >> So that is correct. I just want to

036clarify to Commissioner um LeBron's point earlier. The actual policy itself goes under the three year every three years there's a review for the entire policy which you all voted on back in June. There's a wellness task force that takes place that every year they require to have certain amount of meetings based on state law. This specific task was just a review >> Excuse me. Could could you talk a little bit slower? I'm sorry. So the task at hand for this committee was charged specifically to focus on mental health not the entire all the pieces everything everything that they were given they decided that the wellness policy itself needed to be updated with that but there were other policies they reviewed as well and decided this is what needs to be updated the entire policy was

037not reviewed for like the other pieces just mental health that's it >> yes I just wanted to make sure that that was brought out and provided um clarity on what what's happened so far this evening, but that is not to dismiss that that that conversation. >> So that the conversation will be visited at another point in time because I think it's a very good point of clarity. Um and so I just wanted to acknowledge that. Um with with that um do we have any other discussion at this time, Commissioner Santiago? Yeah, I do also want to just add on that uh this is just adding the responsibility of mental health which I don't see that there's anything wrong within the wellness policy adding mental health to the responsibilities. Um and I know that there's legislation

038that's connected to this, but um >> they're two separate things. That's why you guys believe it's two separate things. >> They're not. But I am I am in uh full support of what the uh committee has proposed. Um there I don't think that there is an issue with um adding this as part of the work of the wellness. Um and so I'm I'm in support of it. Um and I have looked at the proposed language and there's nothing that's pulling it away from what it originally is. It's just adding on to the work. Um, and if there's already a body that's created to it, uh, uh, why not just continue the work, uh, through that through that body? And so, I'm in support of this. Thank you. >> Okay, we're going to, um, start putting,

039um, some closure on this conversation. I think we've had some healthy conversation. Um, I'm going to end with Vice President Malloy and then, um, Charisma, I'm gonna go back to you. >> Um, I agree with Commissioner Santiago. would like to include that language um in moving it forward. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Can I just ask that give us adisement in the future? I don't think you can do it right now. >> I I think it's a matter in the in the spirit of and the merit of what has taken place for this is is for me it is definitely never performative but it is for it not to become a performative measure that it is done with intentionality and that we understand exactly what it is we are putting forward. And so if it

040means that we have to take a little more time to digest and make sure that we honor the work that has gone into this so that it doesn't be for not then that is what I would like to see happen. Um because I want to support this because I think uh again the spirit and the fa when I look in the faces of these children that tells me all I need to know. So let's let's make sure we get this right so that it it is done and honored. Um, so where are we with the I know I called for a vote. You said prematurely and then I didn't leave room for discussion. So walk me back and take me back around. Where where do I need to be? >> So if you all are

041going to vote and it sounds like some are in um agreement of the language the um I know that you asked for legal opinion on um that I would say do the motion again to include the language on page the alternative language on page 12 and I will make sure that that change is reflected at the first reading. >> Okay. And then once we vote, if we need to swap this out during our readings, we can continue on. So with that, I'd like to entertain a motion uh for uh policy 5504 inclusive of the commented language captured on page 12 of the policy. >> So moved. >> Motion by Vice President Malloy, seconded by Commissioner Santiago. All in favor >> of the Any opposed? >> Nay. opposed by Commissioner Patterson and the the Do >>

042you need to withdraw the other motion? >> Nope. That I I think I think it's fine. Um just uh one point of correction for the the minutes. Um President Simmons said 5504. It's 540. >> 5405. Thank you for that. Did capture. Okay. And the motion carries with one opposition. Um, and so that will we'll put a pin on that part of the discussion at this time and we'll revisit at the first readings to make sure we get it right. Okay. Um, just opening my agenda back up here at this time. It looks like am I turning this over to you again, Charisma, for the um, multiple policies presentation? >> Where do you all stand with the other two items for the recommended? >> Um, we'll visit those later. >> We'll visit those later. Yes. So,

043yes, >> testing. >> All right. So the next presentation are the multi- policies 6150, 6240, 6,500 and 6700. And so as standard operating procedures, this is a policy process that was followed. And so relevant advisory groups were sent the policies and then the policies were submitted to district administration for review. And now final recommendations are being forwarded to the board tonight to review. And so these four policies are policies that require annual review. And so out of the four policies you have 6500 fund balance policy purchasing policy 6700. None of them have any significant changes. However, investment 6240, it called out the policy review requirements per state law and there are no NESB recommendations for any of those policies. Quickly with the deliverable review 6240 have a legally requirement. However, budget transfer 6150 um and

044then fund balance policy 6500 uh do not. And so posted here is what the policies currently say and asking the board if you want to continue with the deliverable to stay in the policy. And set 6700 also has a legal required deliverable. And so the board fors the policies out of the committee tonight. I mean out of the work session tonight. It will follow policy 2410 to go through it through its readings to be voted on at the February business meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you, um, Clerk Travis. And if I heard you correctly, you said that these would be voted on in the February, uh, business meeting. And at this time, um, we're going to, um, entertain motions for these policies, um, to move them forward into their first readings. Uh, starting with, um,

045policy 6150. So motion uh, entertaining a motion to forward policy 6150 out of the board work session. >> So moved. Moved by V can I bundle these? Moved by Vice President Mallaloy, seconded by Commissioner Griffin. All in favor? >> I also motion to entertaining a motion to forward the remaining policies 6240 uh out of the board work sessions and into first readings. >> So move. >> Moved by Vice President Mallaloy, seconded by Commissioner Griffin. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Do we need to have discussion? Yeah. Say, >> oh, my apologies. Discussion on these policies. >> I do. You have a question. She has a question. >> Well, it's not even a question. I think it's more of a statement. Um or just maybe a matter of fact of my opinion. I know

046that we have policy reviews that we have to go through monthly. But it but I over the last several years I've seen multiple changes on policies that um were not required by New York State but required by administratives here in the district. I I I'm questioning if the if the New York State Education Department of Education does doesn't feel they need to be changed, why are we consistently making changes at the administrative level? I I just I'm questioning that why I think it's a lot of busy work. If it's not something that needs to be changed, why are we changing it? And I think that's something that we may need to look at because I think we take too much time and putting in changing things that are not broken and we break them further.

047So I think that as a board we need to really hone in on why are we making changes? If we're we if they have an issue, if there's an issue there, I think that we should more so look at what what people are saying like the teachers and maybe what students are saying, but I know if there's certain administrative things that need to be changed, but are we really looking at what New York State is saying when we're making these changes and and and and voting on them to make the change? At what level are we doing this and why? So, I think more changes are being made that are not being that don't need to be made. I remember clearly when uh um um our past commissioner Willa Pow was here stated that everything

048was good and it didn't need to be changed and as soon as she left things start changing like you know like you change like you brush your teeth or change your underwear really. I think that we've made a lot of changes that shouldn't have been made and they were administrative changes and not in the best interest of our students and our teachers. I just wanted to say that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Griffin. Um, and I do know, yeah, I remember when, um, she finished and she got at the end of her tenure, she got a big old policy book. Part of that was that, um, during her time here, there was recognition that there were multiple policies that, um, were outdated, that had not been updated, maybe they were from the 80s and

049so on, and had not been visited. And so there was a um appetite from the board at that time to ensure that we did at least a policy review so that we did not run into policies that have been around for 20 years and not visited. Uh with that said, do the do they get changed just because we review them? No, we have the opportunity to just say, hey, we've we've looked at them, considered if they need to be updated or not. But I did want to provide that history. But I do hear your point around um you know if there's policies that don't need to be uh changed u um that that um maybe we look at that. So I appreciate those comments. And with that were there any other discussion items? I'd like

050to um I have a motion on on the table. Um so all in favor of moving these the following policies 6150 6240 6500 and 6700 to the first readings. So move. >> So move. >> Um all in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh we're moving to the item on the agenda. H being the video conferencing. This should not be a long conversation at all. We've kind of been here done that. Um we just didn't finish off. Uh where we are with this is that um with the video conferencing, our last conversation, we found agreement around um there were three different pieces. Um one being um extenduating circumstances and um recessing the meetings in the preamble. The only one we had a little bit of disturbance or concern around was part point one

051which was around um some language around um the public location and the four items. Charisma, did you want to provide clarity on that piece and that's the part we would need to vote on? The rest of the conversation is um moot at this point. >> Um so just for clarity with the video conferencing locations open to the public for section one. Um, just wanted to know where the board stands with that. Uh, if the board want to keep that paragraph that's currently in there. I know at the last meeting there was some conversations around changing the number of times um, board members are allowed. Right now it says once a quarter. Uh, there is also the NESBA recommended um, policy attached to this that talks about reasonable amount. So that's part of general counsel's uh,

052recommendation was to do that once per quarter. So that is a reasonable um amount. Um or the other option is removing it all together and moving forward with the rest of the language that's in the policy. So the question again is do you want to keep the language? Do you want to change it to a different number or do you want to remove the paragraph alto together? And I'm specifically talking about section one video conferencing locations open to the public. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And with that context and clarity, um I'm just going to put my position out there and I'm I'm okay with the language as it's been presented now that I have some additional clarity around um because I think I was joining that up with other pieces. Um so that's

053where we are. The rest of it we've already spoken through. So um and if there's any discussion on that we can move this forward out of the um the conversation to the business meeting. I think it would be any discussion with none. All in favor excuse me entertaining a motion to forward policy 2325 to the board business meeting. So move >> moved by Vice President Malloy, seconded by Commissioner Santiago. Any discussion? >> Favor. >> Yeah, let me just I I did read it um cursory. Um I just want you all to be mindful that you may not want you don't want to put yourself in a box. And I'm also thinking that uh because in particular when it comes to me because I was on the video a lot this year that some of these

054regulations may be um um made as a result of me. Now I may look like I was doing well. Um but there were some issues. So I would just say to this committee that uh to this board that you don't want to put yourself in a box. You don't know what people go through, >> right? And so you need to be careful of that. Um, and so again, you don't want to put yourself in a box. Um, even I think I saw where you're talking about asking for some kind of statement. >> Why would you want to ask for a statement? Did I misread that? >> You you misread it, but I can provide >> clarity. Yeah. So, so you you don't want to put yourself in a box. Yeah. >> Cuz you don't know

055what people are going through. >> People are able to handle things better than other people may be able to handle things. >> And those are the discussions we had. Respectfully, Commissioner Elliott, and and no, this policy was not written for you. Matter of fact, you would not even fall under under the >> concern. Yeah, this you would fall under extenduating circumstances, which is honored. >> There are serious situations go through. >> Absolutely. That is honorable and that is part of what the discussion was. So, I do appreciate you bringing out that point and those points were were talked about um because you all know. So, with that said, um I'm going to move this forward and we've had a lot of uh back and forth on a lot of the different conversations here and I

056want us to kind of get through the agenda. It's a 651 and um so moving this into toward the board business meeting. All in favor? Do you have a question? >> Comment. >> What's your comment? >> Thanks. I I think that just to um Commissioner Elliot's point um we don't always know what constitutes a significant um event for families and we just always have to be cognizant and consider that. Thanks. All All in favor of moving policy 2325 to the board business meeting. >> I any oppose? >> No. >> Nay. Okay. forward. >> So, uh, LeBron is a nay. Santiago is a nay. Commissioner Elliott is a nay. >> What was the actual vote on? I just missed it. I'm sorry. I went to the latest one. >> Moving the policy to the board business

057meeting. >> Oh, okay. I mean, the policy to the board business meeting based on how many with the video conference. What was the number? >> We just moving it forward. >> Moving. Yeah. He's saying, "Use your microphone, Commissioner Griffin." >> Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, guys. I'm I'm sorry. I'm I had to run to the lady's room. Can you please confirm with me what are we voting on? >> So So right now, policy 2325 is on the table to be considered for movement toward to the board business meeting for a final vote. >> Okay. So I Okay. So I we can move it forward, but I just want to know are we moving it forward based under five or three? What are we doing? and it is just just moving it forward is that's that's

058my question cuz I wasn't here for that >> but as it's written there was additional um communication you may have um exited at that time right there was additional conversation around uh the policy so at this point in time or clarity should I say points of clarity so with that we can move it forward to for a final vote at that time the vote could go one way or the other it could be uh no or or whatever the case is >> so I'll change mine to a yes to move it forward to for further to the next meeting >> and I'm changing mine to a no. Okay. So we're going to have um so we have the four nos and then we have in your uh yes >> if you're just moving it forward

059with it what is it three to five and as far as the absence >> at this point if we have if there's no appetite to move the policy forward to the board business meeting at this time then um it doesn't carry so so that's a moot point at that point >> carry then we could we can leave it as is >> we'll we'll leave that as is and um charisma I'll carry some other point >> I just want to put my clarity that what this means is that the policy as it was last amended back I think in February that is the policy that will will remain. No resolution would happen next week. So I just want to make sure that's clear. That's >> I'm aware of that. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank

060you. And so we just want to move on with the agenda at this particular time. And so we want to I think it's time to move it over into um the legislative priorities for the superintendent uh at this time. Thank you very much, board president. So, at our last meeting, the board um elevated um areas in which they would like to see legislative priorities um to be moved forward to the state. Um we had the responsibility of um taking the feedback from the board of education and um including our legislative priorities. I have Mattisol Ramos Lopez who will be leading the conversation this evening highlighting the additions that we added as well as some recommendations um for ultimately what will be the Rochester City School District legislative priorities. Chief Lopez. >> Thank you Dr. Roser.

061Good evening commissioners. In board docs there are two documents for you to review. One is the presentation that we are going to discuss now and the other is a narrative with the recommended legislative priorities. The first three items that are um for review are the items that you moved forward. So we are going to have foundation aid. I can go into these uh further if you'd like, but let's move on to the ones that the uh administration is recommending. So, foundation aid, transportation, and social emotional health services. The administration concurs with the board that those need to be included. The board wanted CTE to be included in that. Uh, last week, Dr. Roser and a few of us from the district attended the big five legislative conference and there was a discussion on special services

062aid specifically for the portrait of a graduate and the New York inspires plan. So in addition to CTE, we would like to add college readiness, make it one recommendation specifically asking for expanded funding and special service aid for uh CTE and college readiness. Are there any questions on that particular item and the amendment that we have made to your recommendation? Moving forward, there are two items that Dr. Roser and the administration are recommending for inclusion and that is funding for community schools. We would like to increase and stabilize funding for community schools to ensure sustained wraparound services that remove barriers to learning and support students, families, staff, and the community. And I will open that up for any questions or thoughts that you may have. The other recommendation that we'd like to make regarding the

063legislative priorities is expanding state support for expanded day learning programs that strengthen academic growth and provide safe enriching opportunities beyond the regular school day. The board did want the facilities modernization program to be included as part of our legislative priorities and we we are not recommending that this particular legislative priority move forward. Last month, Senator Cooney and Assembly Member Harry Bronson announced that Governor Hokll signed the RCSD modernization bill into law. The legislation authorizes an additional $1.25 25 million for a total of 600 million to complete phase three of the modernization program and that makes it a significant win for the RCSD. So if the board um allows us to we recommend that not be included in >> and just a point of clarity excuse me it was 125 million that was >> signed 1.25.

064>> Yes. Is 125 million >> 25. >> I'm sorry. Did I I have 125 written in my notes that said 1.2 25. >> Oh, excuse me. My apologies. >> So, just for the record, for the record, >> let's be clear, $125 million. So, that's exciting. Bringing the total to 600 million. >> Yeah. And if I can just say something real quick. So, the recommendation um to place this as a legislative priority was made prior to um Governor Hokll signing off on this. So we felt that given the fact that Governor Hokll has advanced a recommendation and legislation to add $125 million bringing the total phase three to $600 million that if we place this as a legislative priority that there may be some confusion um received from those who would look at our legislative priorities.

065And I if I could just say I'm I'm totally surprised totally surprised that we got uh that funding because um there had been some issues prior and so when I saw that I'm like whoa who did that? So uh I was just pleasant pleasantly surprised uh that the governor was able to sign that legislation and and I just want to put on record uh thanks to our uh delegation uh for helping us to get that additional funding. Definitely. Thank you to the delegation who's been working really hard. I do have a couple of hands. Before I do that, I do want to recognize something you uh Commissioner LeBron brought out the last time we talked about our um our uh priorities being the foundation a being pretty much the the foundation of any of these

066priorities even happening or what have you. But it prompted a thought around the social emotional health services which I 100% support. However, I'm wondering if that should be changed to um on the board's end to Medicaid to because Medicaid encompasses the social emotional health and the dollars that are flowing in and the potential compromise to Medicaid has a larger umbrella that could impact much more than just those services. Um, and so I would like to put on the table potentially changing that to read Medicaid and that falling up under it so that it it receives um it covers those things. Commissioner LeBron, >> thank you. I would support that too. I think you can say social emotional and Medicaid supports because if we don't have Medicaid, there's going to be lots of issues. But um

067I just want to one I'll thank the governor and our delegation for getting us the additional money. Um, it's still a phase three and all I think of is it's going to cost us more anyway because of the tariffs and where the economy is at. So that 125 may feel like we could even do another school, but it's probably just going to balance from these tariffs. So, and I'm okay with removing it for this year, but I certainly do believe that it needs to be added for next year because the request is still that there was a phase four. We knew that there was a phase three. Um, but we in this district absolutely still need a phase for to really get through some of the older buildings that we do not have the money

068to repair and that have not gone through phase one, two, and won't be able to make it through phase three. So, I just want to uplift that and I fully support our advocacy around Medicaid and what the state may do if right now with the bill as is Medicaid co-pays of $35 for people who are not working. That's what's in the big beautiful bill. It's stupid things like that that just logically don't even make sense because you have to be at a lower income to even be eligible for Medicaid. So, if I had a lower income, what makes you think I have $35 co-pays? So, we're going to be pushing lots of people out of being able to access health care, including mental health. So, I would be curious to see if the state doesn't

069have a plan that we start bringing to their attention, all of our interlocked work with Medicaid, how we are reimbursed, and what services are paid for. And if it's not going to be funded that way, what is the state's plan to help us address a gap that is going to be left by these changes? Thank you. >> Thank you. Is that a hand, Commissioner Griffin? Okay. Uh, so are we um, as far as the board, are we okay changing the priority to reflect Medicaid along with the social emotional health services? I think that putting that out loud um, and proud would be advantageous for us. So, we'll >> President Simmons. >> Yes. Yes. What I can do is I can edit the language, have it ready for the board meeting on the 18th, and then

070you can review it prior to then and and move it forward because we are working on the legislative breakfast >> in January is important for us to get that final statement. >> Commissioner Patterson, >> thank you. I think we can vote on the changes right now, you know, the changes that the superintendent recommended and just go with those. Okay. So, so >> if we vote on it right now, um because I do want to see Medicaid lifted as as a key point, but I would like to not hold up any because I'm okay with everything as it is, including the social emotional. I just want Medicaid added. And so, that might be a tweak to the language, but I think we can vote on it just so you all know where we stand. um and

071then just make that that that minor tweak. So, with that said, um entertaining a motion. >> Before we do that, I just wanted to make a comment about the priorities. I'm I'm really excited about the fact that we're keeping transportation in there. I know that we wanted to take it out last year, but I think that this is just so important that we continue to persist in trying to get this legislation um done. And it may be, and I'll just share this with the superintendent and his team to be able to, we may need want to go to those people, those legislators who may be on the border of this because we already know that we've got support for it. So, we may want to go to those who are um and and this is

072where the big five can help us with those who are saying no that we could talk to them or those that are on the border um to help to convince them that we need this for Rochester. So, I would just offer that. >> Yes. and and the local work that has taken place. Um I'm excited and I'm also very excited that we have actually created priorities five five of them, right? We got five. >> No, we got more than five. >> We got more than five, but less than 15. So, we are making progress. We're do we're doing okay. And with that, um I'd like to entertain a motion to um adopt the legislative priorities >> motion >> presented this evening. Motion by Commissioner Patterson, seconded by Commissioner Griffin. All in favor? >> Any opposed?

073Okay. Um, there we go. Um, >> I'd like to uh we have speakers forum listed here. I think I don't I don't necessarily have the appetite to continue that conversation right now. Can we push that to the business meeting or another meeting um just for the sake of time? 706 and we are some long-winded folks up here sometimes when we don't need to be and I really do want to move the the um meeting forward. I I'm just saying that respectfully. So, let's move on um and see what else we have on this agenda. Uh with that um this we're going to turn it back over to the superintendent for discussion around um academics. >> Yeah. So, we have two presentations that we want to provide this evening. Our first presentation is going to be

074on community schools. Of course, per our strategic plan, one of our priority goals is to transform all of our community schools by 2028 um to community schools. So, there's been a lot of work and effort to move that um aspiration forward. I have Chief of Staff Jamie Wilson who will be providing um a very brief update on community schools and the work that is being done in the district to advance that priority. Chief Wilson. >> Thank you. Good evening, President Simmons, Dr. Roser, commissioners. Um tonight, as Dr. Roser has just said, I'm giving a brief update on our community schools expansion. Um this work is central to our strategic plan and to strengthening as uh we just heard earlier today the whole child. Um and I'm just going to talk about what that's going to

075look like um for the next few years. Um so I just want to go over um what a community school is um and just making sure that we understand that it's a partnership um a partnership that exists between the school staff, students, families, and our community support. Um and it's a neighborhood hub. uh we were we are working to establish partnerships that yield results and that are aligned with our priorities and our strategic plan. What's important to note is that when we talk about community schools, we want to look at as we've discussed the whole child and there's buckets that we want to make sure that our partnerships are supporting and filling. Um those things are academic achievement. So our partnerships in alignment with academics, alignment with supporting our student health, wellness, uh the physical

076and mental supports that we are providing and also an alignment with family and community well-being and empowerment. Um there was a evaluation done I think in July of 2024 by Gibson um that I reviewed and it was aligned with the work that we are already engaged in moving forward. um and some of the recommendations outlined in that evaluation. So, just as a reminder, um one of our priorities in priority 4 is that we are expanding our schools to be community schools. 100% of our schools will be community schools by 2028. Um this is an aggressive goal. Uh but we do have some planning to do uh and supports that we'll provide to ensure that we're on track to meet that goal. The work um that you will hear is going to outline uh what we

077plan to do for our phases of expansion and to build community school capacity uh through a responsible and sustainable approach. Currently we have 12 community schools. Those schools as you see above represent elementary schools and secondary. Initially community schools were first established based off of receiverhips. What we want to make sure is that we are establishing alignment and also branding our community schools so that they are aligned across the entire district. We want to see that academic support. We want to see that support for student wellness and health which would include physical and emotional supports. And we also want to see that our families needs are addressed. Um and that is why you will see our community schools also all servicing through pantries. Um so currently right now all of our schools have pantries. What

078we want to look to engage is that we've identified strong partnerships for academic support and that we've also established partnerships in student health and well-being. And that is going to be what we consider our community schools. All three of those components need to be uh prevalent in our schools and we have aligned systematic and capacity approaches to support that effort. So as we discuss the expansion uh we want to very much um continue to make fidelity a priority. So research says that community school students who are in community schools and the programs that run with fidelity yield positive results. We know that students come to school when they feel a sense of belonging and so community schools support that which is why you'll see once community schools are ran with fidelity. Um national data shows

079that your attendance will increase your achievement will increase and how students feel about being to at school will increase. Uh which is why New York um is supportive of using the model to support receiverhip schools and school improvement. Our foundational work will identify needs. And so we're really looking to go back and identify what are the needs in our buildings, matching our partners that support those needs, identifying the outcomes outcomes of our partnerships, and then establishing a systemic approach to metrics and ensuring that what our partners um have signed up to do for our students and staff and family. um that we are watching the metrics and that we are paying a close attention to say that uh this program has supported us in these ways. Um we don't want to simply continue to add

080programs and add partnerships. What we want to do is make sure that our partnerships are aligned to each building's need. Each community need is different within RCSD. And we also want to strengthen our partnerships. So what what do we need to do as RCSD to strengthen our partnerships and then articulate to our partners and our community what we need from them to make the partnership a success. So to meet our goal you'll see that we have established three cohorts. Um our first cohort will start um with uh implementation in next year's school year. you'll see that January is the start um of implementation and that'll be January of this school year. And the reason why is because we want to ensure that every community school has the part uh specific training and professional development through

081the state that we have supported as a district to make sure that they have a community liaison um that they've established their core or anchor partners and that they are ready to um implement community school strategies. That's a seven-month process. So, if we can start in January, start having those conversations with principles um and begin to support each school and they're moving towards a community school that by the time the school starts, they've at least established a needs assessment. They've at least established some partnerships that they can rely on and that we've identified specific metrics for year one to gauge uh whether our schools are showing improvement. And so, as you see, we have our cohorts. Uh we have uh elementary school, high school, and all of our middle schools will be included in the

082community school cohort one for uh January 26 start. As I've mentioned before, um our neighborhoods are serving us as a hub. Uh we look to continue to ensure that our students, staff, and families are connected to each partnership. Uh we are looking to build our partners. We're having meetings with community agencies. We're being transparent in the needs that we need. Um and we're also supporting principles to have difficult conversations if the partnership is not yielding the results um that they thought it was. Sit down, have a conversation, talk about um what students needs. uh be be encouraged that we want to support a positive partnership and I think that is key in continuing the success of community schools and implementation with Fidelity. So that needs assessment is going to be happening for every cohort that

083begins in January. But we also want to look at the current 12 schools that are identified as community schools now and run a needs assessment with them as well. We want to level set in the year of 2026 so that we can ensure where we're going together uh as it aligns to our priorities to the district strategic plan and to our our board goals. In short, uh the expansion will bring coherence. Um again, I talk a lot about alignment and also we want to be keepers of our outcomes. So being able to provide the supports and and being able to articulate where we are with those metrics, a couple key actions that'll take place uh when establishing community schools. Um for your information that every community school should have an established community engagement team. Uh

084the community engagement team should include staff, families, students, and community partners. The group owns the school level da school level data. So as it pertains to the partnership that engagement team should be looking at their metrics, looking at the outcomes um and also establishing a systemic approach within the building at the school level um to engage further partnerships um and continue to grow those that are already existing in the school. I talked a little bit about conducting a needs assessment which is key. We can't start in the blind. Um in blind we don't establish what our metrics are. We want to know what our outcomes are. And so in order to understand that a comprehensive needs assessment should be taking place which is also supported by our community schools at the state level. And so

085you'll see in January the schools that we presented in cohort one will go through a training with the state on how to um implement a needs assessment properly and our team um and face will help support the needs assessment so that principles um understand exactly what metrics they are looking for as it it pertains to community schools. We also have an inventory and I'm not sure if you're aware um but each school has a partnership inventory where they are to look at and review existing partnerships for impact alignment and effectiveness. Uh I I feel that some of the problems are we have not established a system approach to being able to review an any existing um misalignments and being able to correct those. So we're really working hard with principles on when a community organization

086falls out of alignment with your goals and your outcomes, how do you re-engage? We understand community uh partnerships are important to the success of our schools. So, it's not about um being accusatory or even pushing them out. It's just about reestablishing um and adjusting so that both um organization and school feel comfortable um in the new plan. And one of the things that we've done, we actually had a meeting um the other day where we met with community- based organizations, not the entire list of partners we currently have throughout our school district, but we met with a core group of individuals and one of the things we committed to was most certainly supporting their efforts with meeting the needs of our children and our families. We see this as a partnership between the school district

087as well as the community- based organizations. But what is critically important about this partnership is a shared vision for how we're going to support one another and our efforts to make sure to guarantee that our children and our families have exactly what they need in order to succeed not only in the Rochester City School District but beyond the four walls that we call school. And finally, we want to continue that expansion. So, we want to continue to pursue new partnerships. Um, look for opportunities where we are engaging community organizations. Um, what I have found in my short time here, um, in Rochester is there are so many passionate people um, and how can we um, turn the passion into progress um, and yield positive outcomes. So the passion is very much there and I uh

088the the um energy in the room full of our community organizations that come to our meetings is encouraging and so we just want to transform that um in a way that we can clearly identify what's working. So again with a clear vision um uh we are continuing to plan uh prepare practice and perform um this is a seven-month process prior to even implementation begins. Uh so I definitely u want to stress that that needs assessment drives a lot of the planning um and then including our staff, our partners, our students in the preparedness of the community schools and the programs that they are designing. Um and then again once we launch uh we want to make sure that metrics are in place to gauge the success of that. In closing, um the community schools are

089across the nation and across the nation, um there is a is a framework with key practices such as governance, collaborative leadership, shared p power, and families and integrated student supports. So every everything that we've talked about when you hear the academic um review of our data when I hear us talking with the ad ad um ad hoc committee with mental health all of those things are embedded in community schools and the framework. Um so we are talking about the same things now we just need to be intentional um and continue to be intentional um about our implementation uh in our program development for community schools. So at this point in time, this concludes our update on community schools. As I mentioned, this is a very brief high level update as to the work that Chief

090Wilson and her team have engaged in with expanding the services and supports for our current community schools, but also outlining how we're going to be bringing on additional community schools to be able to meet the goals of priority four of our strategic plan. At this point in time, I will turn it over to the board president. Um, we are available for any questions that board commissioners may have. >> Thank you, Superintendent Roser, Chief Wilson. I do have a hand from Vice President Malloy. >> Thank you. First of all, thank you so much, Chief Wilson, for your great presentation. Thank you, Dr. Rosser, for the presentation as well. Um this is obviously very ambitious but much needed in this district and so um I applaud these efforts and am really excited to see uh where it

091goes. Um of course would like to see like if there are any budgetary challenges and um associated costs um with all of this, but I think that I'm really thrilled to see that there is a system of accountability that is going to be looked at within this plan. Um, I'm also just really thrilled to see the community engagement teams that suggestion. Um, it really reminds me of some of the successes that we saw at East High School in those partnerships. And you know, they say culture is contagious. Um, so many people have wanted to push community schools in this community for so long. And you know, when I first started on the board, that was all the hype, right? and that was back in 2019, 2020. Um, so it is nice to see a clear

092plan for this to come to fruition. It's much needed and I do like that some of our most struggling schools are at the top of the list um to get those benefits um and push this forward, but it's an ambitious plan and I hope that it'll be successful. I think our students will benefit immensely from it. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Commissioner Griffin. >> Vice President Oh, I thought okay, >> Commissioner You you were going to bypass you. You don't have a hand. Do you have a hand? >> Yeah, I did. >> I'm calling on your hand. >> You all right? >> Um >> did you have a question? >> I the only concern I think it's a great idea. I have a major concern though and my concern is based on

093the academic aspects of community schools because we are so far behind the eightball. I don't want to get so engulfed in community schools and pushing that when we have an issue with our academics as a whole. So my question would be what how are we tailoring that and what are our goals how are our goals being met for the academic part of the community schools because right now we have you know based on our I ready scores we have uh our children in the eighth grade reading at a fourth grade level. So if academics is a part of this, where how is it laid out? Cuz we don't have any we don't have we we we have issues with our data now. Um and we have issues with our children being able to understand eighth

094grade math to even elevate them. We're not meeting them where they're at. So that is a big in that's a big part of community schools. So I'll let you go ahead and take that take it from there. Go ahead. >> Yeah, the community school model addresses the holistic needs of all students. And when we define needs, we define needs as academic needs, social needs, emotional needs, as well as wellness needs. So, one of the things that Chief Wilson spoke to is that currently within the Rochester City School District, because there is misalignment within our community schools, we are not seeing the impact of our community school model because the fidelity of our community school model up until this point has not been where it needs to be. which is why we as a administration are

095really leaning in on making sure that our staff have professional learning around the community school model. That we're not only providing professional learning, but we're also providing additional supports to align the systems and structures not only in our schools but across our district to be more supportive of our schools. and that we are also engaging our community in this very important work. Many people have heard me articulate that 80% of a child's waking hours between kindergarten and 12th grade is spent in the community whereas only 20% is spent within our schools. We have had many missed opportunities to leverage that understanding by not working cohesively, strategically and collaboratively with our community-based organizations. That has since changed because to date we have had two or three organized meetings with community- based organizations and each time that

096we meet we bring on additional community-based organizations to come to our meetings so that we can have these conversations. Just this past, it was yesterday actually, we met with community- based organizations and talked to them about the importance of school attendance, sharing with them some very real data on school attendance and sharing with them that we are developing a report that number one will be shared with the board, will be shared with community based organizations as well as will be made public that speaks to the attendance of our schools. So there's a lot of work that we still need to engage in with community schools and we are very much committed in doing so. >> Okay. I just want to follow up with that. I I >> Before you follow up, what I'd like to

097do be for the sake of time is I want to get as many hands as possible. >> It's going to be a moot point if I don't address what he just said now and come back. >> Okay. Um have one last statement. >> Yeah. I I I hear what you're saying. I do hear what you're saying, but I guess because where we're at right now even with with uh leadership and how we are addressing the issues such as math and such as and such math in in particular and and I have I still question greatly how we're going to get there. And if you have that data that you're showing everyone else, I would love to see it because I haven't seen it and I've asked for it. So if you're giving giving data to

098the organizations, the commissioners probably should have seen it first. >> They didn't give the data. They didn't give data. >> So you just said there's data that you that you that you gave to the organizations. So I if there's data, I want to see that so that we so we don't have these questions as a commissioner. >> Okay. So what Okay. Thank you. Um was this research you're referring to um surrounding community schools? >> Okay. Um Commissioner Santiago. >> Yeah. I just want to um say how much I support the community school model. Um part of meeting the academic needs is meeting the holistic needs um of each and every one of our students and not just our students but our families and finding ways to create the schools as a hub where our families

099uh are involved, our young people are involved, our community is involved. Um and so I'm glad to see that there is an effort uh to push and expand community schools. Um, I guess my question and just what I would love to know and you guys do not have to answer this because it is an operations thing is how you guys do plan to support these transitions. Um, and that that would be great uh to be able just to hear a little snippet of very high level. Um, because these are a lot of schools at the same time. Um, and so what what is the plan to support these schools in the transition to ensure that we are doing it with fidelity uh this time and we continue our community schools model with fidelity. Thank you.

100>> Thank you, Commissioner Santiago. I I um sat at a few tables um with the promise of community schools, the desire to see them, and so I'm happy to see us move in this direction. I do recognize there is a lot of research and data um across the nation to support community schools and how um they can help school districts become more promising and create student outcomes. So, I'm very excited to see you all move in this direction. I have one final um hand and that'll be from Commissioner Elliot and then we'll move on with the conversation. >> So I I remember going to a RTA presentation um I don't know if it was last year or the year before and some of the teachers had did some work around uh you know it was

101like you know they couldn't teach because our students have all of these kinds of problems that they have at home. Um I said to them I said you can't worry about that. You just have to make sure that you're teaching. You have to expend your energy teacher because if you teach them then that will resolve a lot of the issues because it will break that cycle of poverty. And unfortunately, you have a lot of white women who think that because these little black kids can't learn because they're going through poverty. Well, most of us have gone through poverty and we knew that the way out was to get an education. And so that's what I tried to share with them at that meeting uh that focus on education. However, now that I'm hearing what you

102what you what the superintendent is presenting to us, this may help them in order to educate to to provide the education that our students need. And I'm, you know, I while I won't be here um after this this year, I'm looking forward to see that there going to be different kinds of results because if we've got teachers who are saying they can't teach because our kids having these problems that they're bringing in with this model, uh we should see some incre some academic performance being increased because they said that they couldn't teach well because of our uh because of the issues that our students were facing at hope. So, I'm looking forward to seeing the uh the performance of our students in the future. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um Superintendent. >> So, there's a

103lot, as I mentioned, there's a lot of work that we still need to do. Um community schools of course is a model that's embraced by New York State as Chief Wilson spoke to. Um it's something that I'm very passionate. It's a model that I'm very passionate about and I've seen proven evidence that when there is a community school design or model that reflects the national model that's implemented at a high level of fidelity that the results will come. So I look forward to working with each of these schools um to sort of answer the question that um Commissioner Santiago brought forward. Um, we have done presentations to our building principles who will be impacted by this. Um, and we will continue to invest in making sure that not only our internal staff are wellversed with

104the community school design that we're creating, but also our community and our parents are as well. So, thank you very much. Uh we look forward to providing the board as well as our community with updates in the future as to our progress with transforming our schools to be community schools that are operating at a high level of fidelity. Thank you very much Chief Wilson for your work on this. Our next presentation um is around our 2425 ELA and math state assessment results. As I shared with the board that what you'll see in this presentation are increases to our state assessment scores, particularly increases for the number of students who are proficient as well as decreases for those who are not. While there is room of course to acknowledge the increases, I have also shared with

105the board that these results most certainly are not celebratory. We are still trending unfortunately behind the state averages. the work that we do across the board, inclusive of the community school work, will most certainly yield positive impacts on student outcomes. So, the data that you're going to be presented with today is not greatlooking data. It does show improvement, but there's a lot of work that we still need to engage in as a school district and as a community with making sure that our children have the supports that they need, not only in school, but external to our four walls that we call schools. So, at this point in time, I'm going to turn it over to Chief Cody to lead us in this conversation. Throughout the conversation this evening, myself as well as Deputy Wright

106will be adding and supporting answering any questions related to the data as well as adding additional information to the slides that you're be you're about to be presented with now. Chief Cody, >> good evening. President Simmons, Vice President Mallaloy, commissioners and community, and thank you for the opportunity to share our grades three through eight state assessment results for the 2425 school year. I will share an overview of the student performance trends in ELA, math, and science, and then also share some of the instructional implications and examples of how we are beginning to address the data with our current efforts. We'll start with ELA. Uh, and our 24-25 results show that 19% of students in grades 3 through 8 scored proficiently in ELA. To note, while you see six years of data represented here, um there's

107no data represented as you'll see for 1920 as that was the year that no assessment was administered due to COVID. And then additionally in the 21 uh the 2021 school year, those assessments were voluntary that year and so the number of test takers was significantly lower than typical as that was kind of that first year as we were returning back. So while 19% proficiency in grades 3 through 8 for last school year does demonstrate an encouraging increase from the 4% in the prior year and an overall 6% increase from those precoid proficiency rates. Uh it certainly does not as Dr. Roser said meet our expectations and is not an acceptable outcome for our students. We remain deeply committed to accelerating growth and ensuring every child reads on grade level. And this data clearly shows how

108much work still lies ahead. Here you can see our districts 3 through 8 ELA proficiency compared to the other districts in the big five as well as trends in proficiency for all five of those districts over time. And while all big five districts have experienced similar trends in ELA performance, as you can see over the past five years, that relative distance between districts has remained unchanged, and we have still not yet ourselves shifted our trajectory relative to the others. Here you can see how students have scored across the four proficiency levels as measured by the New York State Assessment over time. Level one being below standard, level two being partially proficient, level three is proficient, and level four is that advanced proficiency. Most notably in 2425, the percentage of students scoring at the lowest level

109below standard level one did decrease from 62.5% to 54.6%. And more of our students were scoring um in that partially proficient or proficient range. As we drill down further, this slide shows the ELA proficiency levels by grade. Grades three and six, you can see demonstrate proficiency above our district average of 19% and grades five, seven, and eight demonstrate proficiency below that with grade four um hovering around that district average. Thank you. Uh while the year-to-year changes in grade level achievement have fluctuated slightly, what you're seeing here now is the um six years worth of change across each of those grade levels. Our 24-25 data does show higher proficiency across all grades compared to that precoid year of 2018-19. So if you just take and look at grade three for example, that lightest yellow bar on

110the left side of 18% is where proficiency was prior to COVID. The bars in between uh represent the missing data from COVID and then those COVID recovery efforts showing that across all of those grade levels for the first time since CO um our proficiency rates have climbed back to what they were prior to COVID and just slightly past that. Where the previous slide showed you the specific proficiency results for each grade level over time, this slide provides you with a cohort view. So following the results of each cohort of students as they have progressed through grades 3 through eight. It is uh important to note that while each cohort's enrollment largely remains the same uh from year to year, it's not exactly identical obviously as we have some fluctuations in enrollment as students move in

111or leave the district. But for example, if we take grade eight in this instance, um if you look at the bright green bar, which shows their grade eight proficiency from last school year, 18% tested proficient last school year. Their seventh grade proficiency when they were in seventh grade the previous year was 16%. It was 15% when they were sixth grade. So again, that's that same group of students. the uh high orange bar for the grade eight cohort at 20%. That is again the 2021 year when we didn't have necessarily the full population taking the test when they returned from CO oops back one. This graph illustrates ELA proficiency across the span of our elementary schools. You can see that there is a wide range of proficiency levels potentially reflecting the differences that we see in

112student needs in school contexts and the instructional experiences that our students are having. It is worth noting and celebrating those that experienced the most significant growth which includes school 12 whose proficiency rose 11.1% bringing them to the 25% that you see there. School 7 whose proficiency rose 10.8% 8% bringing them to the 20% that you see there and school 15 whose proficiency rose 10.3% bringing them to the 37% that you see there. This variation across our schools certainly signals to us opportunities to identify promising practices for sharing across the district for the schools where we are seeing more success as well as an opportunity to investigate the inequities, strengthen the school specific supports where where needed and ensure that all of our students across the district have access to highquality instruction regardless of their school.

113Similarly, here you can see ELA proficiency across our middle schools. Again, this distribution gives us valuable insight into where resources and support structures may have the greatest impact. Additionally, um it's important to note that Andrew Langston, Dr. Dr. Freddy Thomas, Loretta Johnson, and Thood Marshall were in their first year as newly configured schools last year when students sat for these state assessments. So, that was ELA. Here, we're transitioning to look at our 3 through 8 math results. Uh, as it relates to the math data, please know that our accelerated eighth grade students are assessed using the algebra regents, whereas our other students are assessed using the New York State math 3 through 8 assessments. So, where you're viewing overall math proficiency data that includes both assessments, it will be noted as you see on this

114slide at the bottom of the screen. In instances where you're only viewing the results of either New York State math or the grade eight regions, that will also be noted at the bottom of the slide. So here, as you can see, our 24 25 results show that 17% of our students in grades 3 through 8 collectively scored proficiently in math with 16% of them demonstrating proficiency on the New York State 38 math assessments and the other 1% demonstrating proficiency on the algebra regions. This demonstrates a 2% increase from the prior year and an overall 2% increase um from those precoid proficiency rates as well. With regard to performance across the big five, you can see similarities with ELA in how our results compare to the others and again that similar lack of change in our

115trajectory um as it relates to those other districts over time. Here, as with the similar ELA uh slide, you can see the distribution of student performance across proficiency levels on the New York State Math 3 through eight assessments over time. Most notably, I would say the percentage of students scoring again at that lowest level below standard or level one has decreased more than 20% from those post-pandemic levels. um from 80.1% in 2122, which was the first year that we truly did assess everybody as they returned, um to 59.7% this past school year, again with those higher percentages of students, therefore increasing in the partially proficient or the proficient range. As we drill down further, this slide shows you the math proficiency levels by grade. Grades three and six in this instance demonstrate proficiency above the

116district average of 17% with grades five, seven, and eight demonstrating proficiency below our district average and grade four being parallel with the district average. With regard to the grade specific proficiency changes over time on the New York State 3 through 8 math assessment, again the overall trend is positive, although slight. As with ELA, the 2425 data show higher proficiency across all grades compared with the precoid results in 1819 with small but incremental changes between then and now. again, which may suggest some recovery from the disruptions of COVID as we've now progressed just past those preandemic proficiency levels. Again, in that instance, grade 8 is only representing the New York State math 3 through 8 assessments separate from the regent's results. This gives you that similar uh cohort view over time as it relates to math

117proficiency, just like ELA, following the results of each cohort of students as they have progressed through grades 3 through 8. Here we see the math proficiency across the span of our elementary schools. Again, similar to ELA, our schools that demonstrated the most significant growth in mathematics include school 15, whose proficiency rose 13.2% bringing them to 39%. School 12, whose proficiency rose 9.1% bringing them to 25% and school 53 whose proficiency rose 8.4% bringing them to 19%. And here's proficiency in math at the middle level and what it looks like based on our 2425 results which this uh slide does include both of the regions and the 3 through8 assessment. So the dark blue uh portion of the bar represents the proficiency rate on the students who sat for the 3 through eight assessment and the

118uh yellow portion of the bar represents the proficiency of the students who sat for the algebra regent exam. The number that you see at the top of the bar represents the overall proficiency um at that school. So that was our math data. So the last data set that I will share is our 3 through 8 science data. There are some particular nuances to this um that include a shift to new assessments. So in grades five and 8, we shifted to brand new assessments in 23 24 and there's also been a shift from living environment to the biology regents for our accelerated students in the 2425 school year. um because of the vast difference in the assessments. Uh previously, science was tested at grades four and grade eight and the assessments themselves look very different. So

119we did not include the historic data from grades four and eight science um because it's not directly comparable to the new assessment data. So we would consider this essentially our baseline data for these new assessments. You can see that our baseline here for the 5 and 8 assessments from the 23 24 school year uh as well as the 2425 results which show an overall increase of 3% in proficiency. Very similar these graphs that you're seeing related to our comparison with the big five. Um again, our science results, you can see how they compare to others that we remain um scoring lower in terms of our proficiency than the big five. on the science five and eight assessments. Even with only again one year's worth of comparative data, we do encouragingly see a positive difference in

120student proficiency levels with less students scoring at that level one and more students scoring in the partially or the proficient range of two through four. Again, the lack of longitudinal data because of the newness of the exam um prevents us from analyzing that further. So, we don't have the cohort view slide that you saw for math and ELA yet, but that is something that as those fifth graders get to eighth grade, uh, we will provide you with that cohort view moving forward. Here you can see our 2425 science proficiency broken out by the grade levels in which it's assessed specifically with grade 8 being reflective of the overall proficiency made up again of that which has been demonstrated on the New York State Science Aid exam as well as on the biology regent exam. the

121New York State exam being represented by the dark blue portion of the bar and the region's proficiency being represented by the yellow portion. Here you have it broken out by assessment and grade level specifically including both years that we have the assessment data. Um again with regard to the uh grade 8 regent data the 23 24 represents the living environment regents. The results in 2425 represent that shift to the biology regents. Um and here I would note that NISED has um since the administration in June recognized some issues with the reading level of the biology test that they intend to course correct moving forward. essentially that um it was written at a level higher than they intend it to be written at moving forward. Here we see the 2425 uh science proficiency on the New

122York State Science 5 assessment across the span of our elementary schools. And on the next slide, you see the science proficiency demonstrated in our middle schools. Again, a combination of both 3 through8 test and regents. In instances like uh with school 58 where you don't see a blue bar, they have all of their students sit uh eighth grade students sit for the biology regent exam. So, they don't have any uh test takers in the 3 through 8 test. So although the specific results in math, ELA and science proficiency, you know, they do differ, we see overwhelming similarities um in too few students demonstrating proficiency, too many students scoring in that lowest proficiency band and our persistent lag behind the other districts in the big five. These all suggest obviously the need for us to examine

123and address some systemwide challenges and improvement priorities with targeted instruction and strategies specific to these three disciplines. So, our systemwide challenges and improvement priorities that I would just highlight and again, these are some of the ones um that have just been um quite evident in my four months here thus far um and many that you are obviously familiar with based on your experience and work here. In terms of leadership, our district's challenge has been the significant turnover in district level leadership, which has created inconsistency in vision, in expectations, and in support. We are addressing this with the current leadership team's commitment and long-term stability to rebuilding coherence across the system. As Dr. Roser has shared previously, our system has been operating as a district of schools rather than a unified school district leading to siloed

124practices both across schools as well as in central office. We're addressing this lack of alignment and coherence by dismantling the structures that have contributed, which has included taking action actions such as redesigning our network configurations and establishing crossf functional teams to strengthen communication and collaboration. Chronic absenteeism as well continues to undermine our instructional efforts. To address this, we're sustaining our attendance campaign and continuing to seek, strengthen, and implement creative community- centered strategies that encourage students to strive for five and stay engaged. Specific instructional challenges and improvement priorities um is a longer list. Um there's much work to be done there. In terms of our comprehensive pre-k to 12 curriculum, shifts in standards and inconsistent curriculum implementation have prevented us from ensuring a guaranteed and viable curriculum across our schools. We have as a district lacked

125a shared vision of the balance between the curriculum fidelity that ensures the quality of learning experiences is equitable across our district and our classrooms, but also the curriculum autonomy that calls for the honoring and the further capacity building of our teachers as pedagogical experts who bring the curriculum to life and enact it in ways that meet the widely varying needs of our students. Thus far, we've completed a curriculum audit and are building a long-term plan and cyclical process for curriculum selection and implementation. And we will be partnering with the Council of Great City Schools to support this coherent curriculum selection, design, and enactment. With regard to our instructional model and programming, inconsistent expectations for instruction have created confusion and inequity across the system. Just one example of actions we're taking to address this is a

126comprehensive review and realignment of multi-ingual learner programming, including our bilingual and newcomer services to ensure preK12 coherence and alignment to researchbased practice. The low proficiency rates that I shared with you this evening clearly signal a need to strengthen core tier one instruction across all schools and content areas. as well. Actions we're taking already to address this include reinforcing our vision of excellent instruction and deepening professional learning to support a common understanding and shared ownership of that so that all students are seen, engaged in grade level work, own the thinking, and are able to show progress. This also includes focusing the work of our instructional coaches on supporting teacher collaboration and capacity building and strengthening evidence-based practices and instructional routines in ELA, math, and science. Our professional learning has lacked focus, coherence, and alignment across roles.

127Over the first four months of the school year, we have more tightly aligned the professional development of our teachers, our instructional coaches, our principles, and our assistant principles to create a more unified system of instructional leadership and capacity building. Intervention practices and materials vary widely, leading to more inconsistency in support for the struggling learners across our district. We again we're targeting professional learning to provide the teachers who are providing tier 2 and three supports a fuller understanding of best practices and their ability to align the practices of their interventions accordingly and to be delivered with fidelity. This includes professional development to bolster educator practices aligned to the science of reading through letters training as well as professional learning to deepen effective implementation of core intervention programs that have demonstrated uh progress demonstrated the ability to

128impact progress in other districts like really great reading. An evaluation of our assessment portfolio has illustrated a need for revision to ensure that we have effective and efficient internal assessments that provide us with meaningful information to evaluate our impact on student outcomes and inform instruction while preserving instructional time and avoiding overesting. Between October 1st and November 24th, we paused and we revised the district-wide common formative assessments to ensure clarity of purpose, alignment to priority standards, and manageable highquality design that supports instructional decisionmaking. Lastly, we know that the ability to read is foundational to all else and that our continued failure to teach children to read as an equity issue of the highest magnitude. To address the multiple challenges associated with supporting positive literacy outcomes, we are ensuring and recommitting to a unified PK12 vision for

129highquality literacy instruction and strengthening those partnerships with families and community organizations. Through our recently formed literacy task force, we're engaging in far-reaching collaborative work between home, school, and community to level up literacy through purposeful collective efforts. So the data that I have shared tonight certainly underscores the urgency of our continued collective focus together on teaching and learning and reinforces the importance of our existing instructional priorities strategies we have in place and our commitment to continuously improving outcomes for our students. I thank you for your time and your partnership in this work and invite any comments or clarifying questions. >> Yes. So, thank you very much, Chief Cody, for this presentation and sharing of this data um for our community to have a better understanding as to where we're at as a school district, but more

130importantly, the things that we have been working on, will continue to work on to improve student outcomes. At this point in time, board president, I turn it back over to you to um entertain any questions from our colleagues here on the deis. >> Thank you, um, Superintendent Roser. Sobering data, but it's not something that I believe any of us are, um, surprised by. We know that historically our district has struggled and um I do celebrate the incremental increases, but to Superintendent Roster's point, we recognize this is not this is not a party. And what it does is it it's such a sober reminder that when I look at these percentages, what they represent and who they represent, which are actual children here in the city of Rochester that come to our schools to receive an

131education, to learn how to read, write, do science, and all of the things, and who deserve to be at that 100% mark. And I can't think of a year that they were at 80, 90, 70, or even 65%. And I don't know if that ever even existed. 65 would not be okay. >> 65 would not be okay. I'm sorry. Can I please have my remarks, Commissioner Griffin? Thank you. So, it it is sobering and what it does is it brings me to How are we governing here? I'm I'm excited to hear about um the identification of a district of schools versus a school district and the direction we're going in. I know it's only been about five or six months and we have a strategic plan, an academic plan and all of the things, but

132how we govern here on this day is and across the day and what we bring our what we lay our attention on is literally going to impact how effectively these outcomes progress or remain. and my questions were rhetorical because I already know the answers. Um, with that said, I did see a hand by Vice President Malloy. Thank you for your comments, uh, President Simmons. Um, thank you so much for your presentation, Chief Cody and Dr. Roser. Um, this is certainly sobering data and there is a sense of urgency. Um, listen, yay, reading and literacy. I love that. Um, we've already learned as a board through our governance training, through with our coaches, through the council of great city schools that when we talk about student outcomes, we're referring to measures of what students know or

133are able to do or demonstrate. Um, this is the stuff we should be talking about as a board over 50% of the time, if not more. Um, and so this this is sobering data. It's humbling, but it's also necessary and we have to get to a place as a board where we spend the majority of our time having these discussions. With that being said, I think that I I trust the administration and their plan moving forward. I think there's a lot of work ahead. Um, but I am optimistic in many ways. But again, we have a lot of work to to do. a lot of work ahead of us. One thing for me as a commissioner that might be helpful in looking at this data moving forward would be if we could maybe break down

134some of this data um with our sped populations as well. Um we know that some schools have much higher special education populations than other and that others and then that's not an excuse for results. Um, but it would be it would provide some introspection I think for us if we could or it would be enlightening for us if we had some of that data. Um, so I would love to see a breakdown of scores by sped um and look at those improvements uh school by school as well. I do notice as well when we look at some of our most successful schools comparatively speaking that some of our most successful schools also seem to be maybe our more selective schools in our placement processes or perhaps might be schools that have more affluent students who

135attend. I know that's not an excuse for results, but I I'm glad to hear that we're looking at equity um more closely. Um certainly leadership turnover has been tough. Um there have been silos um and that's apparent to even members of the board. Um so I am really enthused to see a more cohesive approach um and helping to make that the culture um of this district. Um, but I am pleased to see the connections and that commitment to the Council of Grade City Schools and those actions that are being taken, especially pertaining to um, reading and literacy because kids can't read, they're not passing a test no matter what level. So, thank you for all the work that you're doing. I'm looking forward to seeing uh, these improvements. >> Thank you. Um, Commission U Superintendent

136Roser, is there an opportunity to disagregate the data on >> Yeah, most certainly. Yeah, we have we have um the reports from state edet that disagregates the data by what is considered to be subgroups. I don't like calling them subgroups, but um by by student demographics. >> Thank you, Commissioner Griffin. >> Uh thank you. I just want to apologize to uh President Simmons for making a comment, but um our data was back in the days when I was going to school, it was a lot better. So, I just wanted to make that make that comment. Um, but I have a couple of concerns and and I and probably not, you know, directed towards you because you're you're fairly new. Um, but um my concerns basically is we have policies and protocols in place. And as

137I've been reading over the last several years in the position that I govern, I'm finding that a lot of the things that we have are there in place, but not they're not being utilized. They're not people are not being held accountable for for what we have set out for our children to achieve. Okay. So, so we everything is good. Talk is good. Like they say, talk is cheap. But how are we going to start holding people accountable? We can change things and we can say this is grand, but we need to hold people accountable for the code of conduct with information that's listed on there for the policies and the protocol, right? We are as good as our policies and our protocols. We know if we if we fall victim to not following them, then

138we're going to have fallout. Correct? So, I I I think that everything sounds good is good, but how are we uh you know, whoever in leadership is going to start holding people accountable to things that are happening in this district or else it's just not going to work. I don't care what you do. You can be a community school, you can be anything, but if you don't hold people accountable, like, you know, if you if if somebody commits a crime, we hold them accountable, right? For the most part, that's the same thing with the district. People are not being held accountable. We have people in place like for instance some people have Oz Musman we have we have uh general counsel I mean our general counsel auditors we have all these auditors in the building

139where are the audits so you know everything is as good sounds really good but I need to see the the data so I'mma say this to you mentioned in your in your in your conversation you mentioned curriculum audit right what tool did you use what digital tool did you use to to to uh gather this curriculum this data that I haven't seen or is it something that I have seen and I'm not and and we just wasn't privy to it or given because uh it was interesting to hear curriculum data and and I've asked for so many different things. So I want to know what method you use and if you can please forward that maybe to the board. I don't know if the board wants it, but I sure want to see would like

140to see how you gathered this information and how how often was this information used prior. I know we have I Ready and everything. We have that, but hey, you got data. I want to see it and I want to see what I want to compare and how we could move forward so I can be part of, you know, I'm sitting in this seat because I feel that we do have we do have a um we do have an obligation to our children and to our staff and our leadership. But I always tell the principles, you are as good as your leader. And if your leader is failing you, then guess what? That's the problem. So I I I commend you for all the work that you have put in thus far. But I really would

141like to know what the how you gathered that curriculum data. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Griffin. Superintendent Ro uh Roser. Um I know that um you're over the operations and and things of that nature. So, I want to make sure that that the these um that I appropriately position my questions to to yourself. Um and then you will um kind of share where where the information needs to go. But operationally, um I I do love that you all talked about fidelity and and identified those things. Um, were was there anything that you needed to bring out further in this at this time or? >> Well, the only thing I will say is that as we know and as we see through the data that and to your point that behind these numbers are children

142are children who are blessed with great ability and great promise. That is our role and responsibility as educators is to most certainly bring out that ability and assist them with being able to maximize their potential. The work is so critical here in Rochester that it requires us as educators, as administrators, as classroom teachers to laser focus our attention on this work. distractions that take us from being able to do so only harm our children and their outcomes. So I'm very thankful for the board for their commitment with the student centered governance and abiding by the best practices outlined in providing myself along with my team the ability to focus with great concentration on the work ahead of us. Thank you. >> Thank you. I don't see any further discussion items. Commissioner Patterson, and this will

143be the last um item. Did you have a a hand? Did I see a hand? This will be the last item and then we'll move forward with the discussion >> or with the >> Well, thank you for your report. I just have 10 questions for you. >> Kidding. I have one question. Everything was very clear. I understood, you know, everything that you put forth. I think the only question I did have is uh you spoke relative to I think it was screen 22. what level was test written on? And if you don't have the answer to that, that's okay. But if you do, you know, and I only ask that because in some of the civil service tests that I'm familiar with, often times they're written on levels that um even using vocabulary that is

144understood in the white community that's not understood in the black community. Um and there's proof of that. So, but anyhow, if you know the level, I appreciate you sharing. >> Yeah, and I can speak to that. So the level that all of our tests because they're state driven tests are written would be to the standards associated with that grade level. >> Okay. >> Thank you. With no further discussion, um, Superintendent Roser, >> um, that concludes my or my team and my presentations for this evening. >> Thank you. Uh, we're going to move forward on the agenda today. >> Thank you. Um I'm sorry. Thank you, Chief Cody and Deputy Wright for all your work. >> We're going to move forward on the agenda to the resolution reviews. Um and so our first um collection of

145res uh resolutions are going to be under the administrative supports resolutions number four for those following along maybe in the public. Um, and those are resolutions from what I see in the packet 281 through 298. Um, with our um, once we vote on these resolutions, that would be us moving them or our agreement to move them forward to the consent agenda for the business meeting on December 18th. Once these resolutions appear on the consent agenda, they are simply voted on. There is no uh discussion. So, this is an opportunity now and between that December 18th time to get um some understanding um if there is a resolution of concern, you can bring that out to a um prevent it from going on to the consent agenda potentially. So, with that said, I'd like to entertain

146a motion uh for resolutions 281 through 298. >> So, moved. >> Moved by Vice President Malloy. >> Where's 303 in this packet? >> I'm sorry. 303. Is that the next packet of resolutions? >> I believe that's in the second packet. This is 281 through 298 in this resol in this packet of resolutions. >> Seconded by Commissioner Patterson. This is open for discussion 281 through 298 under administrative supports. With no discussion, all those in favor of moving 281 through 298 to the board business meeting. >> I Any oppose? >> I >> motion carries. >> Okay, we have um >> ju just for clarification, there was a I don't think there was full support. There was a abstain that's in there. Did someone abstain? >> Was it Commissioner Griffin? You abstain? Okay. >> I think abstain means

147that you're not voting. >> What do you mean you abstain? >> I'm not voting right at this time until I have further review of all the resolutions. I want to read them. So, I'm at this time. >> I'm going to turn over to legal counsel because I don't believe we're legally able to abstain from. We can vote yes. We can vote no, but I don't believe we can abstain. But legal counsel, can you provide? >> Um, yes. So, unless there is something like a apologies um the mic is pretty loud tonight. Uh unless there's something like a conflict of interest um that you can explain and a reason to abstain um effectively your vote would be a no. Commissioner uh Griffin, >> until I clarify, till I clearly read all of the resolutions, >> I'm

148not I'm not going to vote on them at this time. >> So, you can vote no. >> No. And Yeah. >> Are you voting? >> Okay, then. Yeah, I'm voting no until I further >> that is fine. What you cannot do is abstain. But a voting no is fine. So we have one no and the rest carries. Motion carries. And you do um just for clarity, Commissioner Griffin, if there are any resolutions that you want to gain clarity around, you have until that board business meeting to to gain some clarity. Once they appear on the agenda, once they appear on the agenda, they'll go through. And so at this time, we're going to move forward to the written reports. Um, and this is um the admin. Okay. >> The academic, excuse me. Okay. Thank you

149very much. I was looking at I I said administrative. Those are academic. Thank you. The administrative supports and those Commissioner Elliot is where um resolutions 299 through 306. And I believe you were you had a question around 303. >> Motion. >> Yeah, we need to. Um and so entertaining a motion for resolutions 299 through 306 to move forward to the board business meeting. >> motion by Commissioner Santiago. >> Seconded by Vice President Mallaloy. This is open for discussion. >> So yeah. Uh thank you uh Madame President. Um I'm I've got um just want to ask um a question about resolution 303 and this is a relationship with Planned Parenthood and it looks like this is around uh just counseling but uh my concern is the if there is any medical um consultation going on and

150the reason I bring that up um years ago I think this may have been around 2010 or so I had a community person come to me who was a parent of a student at East High School and they have a health clinic, medical clinic there and they were giving birth control to 14 and 15 year olds >> without the the knowledge of the parents. Now I understand that that's legal. The problem I have with that is first of all, it's 14 and 15 year olds and we don't know if they're injected with some kind of birth control or having to take birth control, what that's going to do to them long term. You know, will they eventually be able to have children or whatever the case may be when you're taking it that young. The

151problem was is that this parent didn't know and the child was end up sick. So if they're not giving if they're given this kind of um um birth control particularly to kids who are 14 and 15 who really don't have the maturity to be able to make those kinds of decisions without all of the information uh then that is really concerning. Now I'm thinking that this is not what this is but that's a concern and the fact that the parent is not made aware of it but has to face the bills. Now this happened back in 2010. Now from another perspective, we know that with Planned Parenthood and how Planned Parenthood got started with Margaret Singer that she was a member of the Kulux Clan and this was about genocide, right? And so, but we're

152still we we don't always know that kind of information. And we also know that there is medical evidence that suggests that when it particularly when it comes to black women that black and I can I can raise my hand right now of the situation I'm going through that there are black women who are disproportionately not serviced right uh uh well medically than any other group of people. And so I would just have us to be mindful of when Planned Paren come and then there's this whole thing around genocides of black people. So, we want we want to make sure that when people come into our district that they're coming in to help to support our kids and not try to um destroy them. All you got to do is read the medical information out there.

153It's there of how they've done to our people and how that if you get welfare uh back in the day, you you had to be sterilized. So, I just want us to be cognizant of this, read the data on this, the historical data around this. uh some of the the the as I've said I had a in my own medical um situation that I was was going through had asked the doctors about certain things didn't respond didn't do it. So, uh I'm just mindful of this. Like I said, I think this is around uh some counseling, but if it's around the the the medical piece where um young girls go in there and that they are not um and and and parents are not aware that their children are being given contraceptives, uh then that's

154an issue and we need to be mindful of that. Thank you. And one of the things, if I can just say something real quick, one of the things that we will do um to guarantee that this is not a program um that issues um birth control, we will make sure that within the language of the contract that that's specifically spoken to. This particular agreement here speaks to offering a program entitled restore sexual assault services which is focused on providing support and advocacy for individuals affected by sexual violence. Um nowhere in this agreement or in our understanding which will be outlined in our agreement would there be should there be any providing or provision of birth control. Uavvar does it at East I don't know if they still do it but they back then they were

155doing it at East High School U of was coming in there they had a relationship with the U of and I don't know which other schools uh had that relationship with you >> thank you commissioner Elliott um >> Commissioner Griffin >> yes I just for clarity I just want to um this is the general counsel um I just want to make sure we have an understanding of recusing yourself from voting and abstaining Okay. So, um I'm just going to the Robert Russer order. So, I do have a right to abstain from voting for several different reason. I can recuse myself if it's a conflict of interest because I because of me I work there or something like that. So, I just want to know we need to clarify abstaining from voting and recusing yourself from

156voting. Do because I do have that right. So, go ahead. Um I I believe it's also in the board bylaws that you have to vote um you can vote yes, you can vote no. Uh if you're going to recuse yourself from voting, it's for conflict of interest reasons. Um it is a responsibility of commissioners to act on the matters before them legally. Um you obviously commissioner, these are are your decisions to make. I do not control what a commissioner does. I'm giving you the best legal advice I can. Um and so the decision is up to you. The the matter before the board was simply to forward the the packet on to the board meeting. Um you said your issue was you had not had a chance to review and so you will have that

157opportunity whether you vote I guess a yes or a no. And so that decision is up to you. I I do believe that the board has made a decision and that um and that you you vote yes or no. >> I'd like to call this meeting to order for one moment. I would like to call this meeting to order for just one moment respectfully. >> Clarification. >> What I would like is for the clarity if respectfully to to continue off. We we have a matter on the table right now and that is not the matter. I called on you under the premise that we would be t discussing the matter that is on the docket at this particular time. >> So I don't believe there's a resolution. for the record there's two terms there's there's

158way to abain from voting >> and then you have the right to recuse yourself so there's two different meanings there and I just want the listening public to understand yes I was asking you gave us one definition and that was just recuse yourself of so I'm I'm thank you >> okay thank you commissioner Griffin okay Um, so are we voting on this now? Okay. So, we have the matter on the table. And with that, all in favor? >> I. >> Resolutions 299 through 306. Moving forward to the board business meeting for the consent agenda. >> I Any opposed? >> Okay. And we have a no for 303. Do I need to >> So, I was going to ask for clarity for that. It sounds I don't know if Commissioner Elliott had the information she needs

159to to move forward with it. >> She just said no. If not, I would exclude 303 so that it comes out the consent agenda. >> That's where I was going with you, Charisma. Thank you. So, should I re restate that minus 303? So, with that, I'd like to reintroduce that. Do I need to like pull it back at all? Um, general counsel or just >> I just restate it. Um, okay. Just >> so with a restatement, I'd like to entertain a motion for resolutions 299 through 306 with the exclusion of resolution 303 to move forward to the consent agenda for the business meeting on December 18th. >> Moved by Vice President Malloy, seconded by Commissioner Elliott. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Okay. and then uh entertaining a motion for resolutions 303

160to move forward to the uh consent agenda for the board uh business meeting. >> I don't Oh, we're going to hold that one. We don't have to worry about because there's what what are you saying? >> That's not part of the consent agenda. >> I'm sorry. There's three people talking. >> So, what will happen is that moving forward the resolutions except 303 will go to the consent agenda. 303 will appear in its category on the business meeting agenda for you all to regular further discussion. Okay. Thank you. All right. Gets a little twisted around sometimes, but we've got it now. So, with that, the resolution passes for 299 through 306 with the exclusion of 303. Okay. And it looks as if we need to go to the written reports. And this is for the code

161of conduct committee. This is a memo. Am I reading this or you? >> No, >> okay. This is an FYI for commissioners to just take a look at the work um of the code of conduct committee. It lists um who the members are and so on. Um and then we have another final item before we move into executive session this evening. Um so I'm going to um give me one moment. >> Please do. Yes, Superintendent Roser. >> Okay. So, prior to us um moving to the next item, I do want to publicly um congratulate the Monroe Red Jackets football TEAM >> on winning the state championship this past weekend and for their undefeated season. We are extremely proud of the team's win and we are having we will be having some celebrations to recognize the

162team. We're currently working with the mayor's office um to do something extraordinary for for our children um the coaches, the building leadership and all those who supported our our young men over at Monroe this year. So, thank you very much. Congratulations team. It was great seeing the game. Um the second half was was phenomenal. Thank you. >> Thank you, Superintendent Roser. I'm really excited to hear that there'll be continued celebration. I know again yourself and some folks from the cabinet were able to go over and see the game in person. Um and then community members, we were uh there at Monroe High School to receive them upon their return home as state champions. So, thank you for kind of um inserting that and I cannot wait to celebrate those young men further because they certainly

163deserve it. Um, at this time I'm going to transition the board meeting for a brief moment um to allow for a statement from Commissioner Santiago. Uh, thank you, President Simmons. Um, when I ran for the Rochester City School Board, my passion was for our students. And today, as a member of the board, that passion has only grown. As a son of this community whose seat whose seat at this deis has only been possible because of the multitude of hands that helped me put that helped put me here. I take my position on the board of education very seriously and I execute my role with a great sense of responsibility, obligation and purpose on behalf of the community that has placed its faith and trust in me. In February of this year, a verbal disagreement occurred

164between myself and fellow board member James Patterson as we left a public meeting before the 2025 school board election. Mr. Patterson filed a petition to remove me from office because of that interaction. Though the election has come and gone, the petition remains and it is now moving towards a hearing in December of 2025. To all members of this community, I want to clearly and sincerely say that I apologize this situation has continued to serve as a distraction from the heart of our mission, our students. I want to publicly apologize to m Mr. Parson and my fellow board members for the distraction caused by my role and the disagreement between us. I am sorry that this incident happened for the distraction and and the confusion it may have caused and I take responsibility for my part

165in how this distraction began. In the heat of the disagreement, my colleague believed I use an iteration of a word I didn't say. But the heat of a disagreement or a split-second reaction does not excuse any behavior that pulls focus away from the children we are here to serve. And this experience has taught me important truths about how to serve our constituents in a community as a professional while still maintaining the openness and honesty that I value in my communication. As a young leader, I am still growing. Moments like this challenge me, they humble me, and they push me to become better. Better for our students, better for our families, better for the Rochester community that trusts me with this responsibility. I am committed to learning from this experience, moving forward with integrity, and continuing

166to serve in a way that honors the people who believe in me. Our young people during this time does not need division, but they need unity, courage, and adults who can come together despite their differences. I believe in Rochester. I believe in our students. I believe in the future of the RCSD. It is together, not apart, that we can change the path of our district and build a better future for our students who deserve nothing less. Thank you, >> Mr. Patterson. >> Yes, I have a response. While faith teaches us grace and forgiveness, this district is equally committed to restorative practices which demand accountability, responsibility for one's conduct and consequences. In light of the 11th hour and nature of Commissioner Santiago's apology, I am not prepared to respond at this time and would like to

167reflect upon what was communicated by Commissioner Santiago. Therefore, Madame President, my fellow colleagues, and Madame Clerk, I reserve the right to formally respond at the December 18th board business meeting. Thank you. >> This meeting may recess into executive session, closed to the public to discuss matters leading to uh collective bargaining. At this time, um I believe we'll be meeting on the second floor conference room. Need a motion. Is Travis will be meeting on the second floor conference room. With that said, entertaining a motion to uh exit into executive session. >> So moved. >> Moved by Vice President Mallaloy, seconded by Commissioner Patterson. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Second floor.