001Good evening. This is the Rochester Board of Education. Today is November 18th and we are opening for our speakers forum at this time. Uh we do have three speakers signed up to speak with us here in person as well as two submissions uh that we can access through board um through the board docs publicly. And so I'm going to call our first speaker of this evening. I do want to um just validate that uh speakers are allowed three minutes to speak at which time we'll ask that you end your comments and we do not necessarily respond as we want to hear your voices. This is your opportunity to speak with us. So my first speaker is Ed Donnelly. Come on up to the podium, sir. Thank you. >> Block doesn't count, right? >> Okay. Thank
002you. Yeah, Ed Donnelly. I'm a resident here in the city. Been paying taxes for uh about 17 years, a retired 32-year uh teacher. Uh good evening. Thanks for the invitation. I've spoken before, but not at a speaker thing. Uh I heard um I I want to focus on the Rochester International Academy since it was listed under operational efficiency at the BU building utilization framework that was on November 5th. At that meeting, it was a board working session. It was announced that school number nine was relocating to Jefferson campus during the renovations. It also said that RIA would not stay at Jefferson that year uh next year, but no new location was named. What caught my attention was the explanation that the state education department believes it's critically important for RIA to be colllocated with students
003who did not fit the demographics that RIA program accepts. That statement raised a few major questions for me. First, is there an actual directive for the New York State Education requirement uh requiring collocation? And is the board seeing this in writing? And if it exists, can we see it? Second, if school number nine is moving to Jefferson for the year, might that already be the stated location, the collocation goal, make that meet that goal? If so, why move RI at all? especially when the new site hasn't been publicly identified. From where I'm standing, it feels a little bit like the needs of RIA students may not be centered in this process. And this is important. Many RIA families live relatively close to the current campus. Moving the program to a new still unknown building creates
004extra barriers, longer travel times, more complicated transportation, and added challenges around parent engagement. RIA is really known for their engagement with families and they often rely on coordinated transportation and uh translation services to participate fully in parent teacher conferences and school events. Increasing distance doesn't just add cost to the district. It makes it harder for families who are already juggling a new language, new systems and new routines. We need to be thoughtful about that impact. Please, one more concern. At the same meeting, there was no mention of an exciting work underway to explore creating a RIA International 712 school in partnership with the internationals schools network. That's an inspiring vision. Reimagining RIA as a true international themed secondary school, not only an entry program, but a school that could attract families across our district who
005want an internationalized curriculum and a global perspective in their school day and year. That possibility deserves visibility in the building utilization discussion as well. So tonight, I respectfully ask the board to please request clear documentation from state ed about this alleged co- collocation requirement. also ensure that any loca relocation plan for RIA prioritizes students needs the well-being, access, and stability of his students and families. And please reaffirm that the long-term vision of RIA 712 school remains on the table. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Our next speaker this evening is Choy Stroeri. So, I'm sorry, Sogi. Thank you, M. Good evening. First of all, I want to thank You can't hear me. I'm tiny. >> I'm sorry for >> Just restart that clock. >> Forgive me for being short. Thank you for allowing me
006to speak tonight. My trust in belief in your human goodness has impelled me to come here to talk about the relocation of Ria. My faith emerges from the belief that voicing my concerns at times with the power of peril of discourse can be practical and transformative. Therefore, I have allowed myself to ask you about how the relocation of RIA was planned. Does RIA's principal know anything about this plan? Has anyone thought about how the process will impact the folks at RIA? Do we really need to be listening or following the tunnel vision of our rat Albany and the way they want our schooling to be. I know we all have had our share of grief and suffering. We are not competing to measure our grief. I'm asking every one of you tonight to think about
007how your decisions about relocation of RIA as you'd mentioned per the state RIA has to be colllocated can hurt the lives of the many students who are already there. The journalist Nicholas Kristoff said, "If your moral compass is attuned to the suffering of only one side, your compass is broken and so is your humanity. I know your humanity is not broken because I know some of you quite well and you are in my heart. Therefore, I am asking you to have empathy for the suffering of the innocent students and their parents who are at RIA. Hoping you can hear my voice even though you may not like hearing it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker this evening is Kristen French. Oh jeez. All right. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.
008Um, I'm going to address two of many issues that directly connect to responsible budgetary planning, busing and staff retention. We need to do a better job at tackling the late buses because it's adversely impacting our school communities. My current school CSR15 has changed. We are told to change from an early school to a late school this year to combat this issue. Yet, we continue to have late buses. Our buses have been up to two hours late in the mornings and in the afternoon and it totals 42 hours so far this year. This equated to students missing breakfast with their friends, loss of instruction, missed field trips, families missing work, staff staying late, and missed PDs. And students on late buses begin their day disadvantaged. And talking to teacher friends across the district, this is very
009similar to what that that's happening for them. The random use of robocalls and children getting home at 6 p.m. on a regular occurrence. So, how do we combat this? Competitive wages for drivers. Our bus drivers are the first and last point of contact for thousands of our students. Paying our bus drivers a fair living wage is a smart financial stewardship. When our drivers are compensated appropriately, we have full routes, buses that arrive on time, and transportation system that families can depend on. The average bus driver makes equivalent to $20,000 in the 10 months. That's about $20,000 below the living wage for someone with no children in Rochester. We also need to demand that bus companies provide safe and reliable transportation. A colleague shared with me that their students miss almost an hour of school every
010day because their specialized bus that they need for their students in wheelchairs is in disrepair and that cannot be driven. Um, as I was writing this, it reminded me of a um a story recently that happened to me where two students um had a late bus, two students with very special needs and their teacher was absent that day. So they were with a substitute and I was doing late um dismissal duty and I can hear them screaming and crying from across the way. So I end up taking them in. I end up staying with them. Um luckily I was able to find a safe quiet space for them and I was I'm familiar with these two students. If I wasn't there, they would have been with somebody that was not familiar with them and it
011could have been very dangerous and unsafe for them and very traumatic. Also, we end up staying for like a whole another hour. um and my administrator was with another set of students with very specialized needs. So this was a very hard evening day for myself and the the kids and I it's been difficult for them even every dismissal I think it's something that they think about. Um and the other issue is staff retention and I'm going to focus on professionals implementing specialized related services um which I do. I'm a speech pathologist. Um, and adequate compensation can also be time. And for these staff members, it's essential to have dedicated time in their workday to complete tasks related to federal, state, and district compliance. And this ensures legal compliance, maintain high quality therapy ser, reduces burnout,
012and I will send you the rest of my comments. Um, I just want to let you know also that the um CSR PTO were planning on they canceled their meeting to be here, and they signed up. they wanted to sign up and they got denied because the topics didn't match whatever was supposed to be on whatever whatever whatever. So I was expecting a room full of 20 other people with me. So they were denied to speak this evening. So hopefully um we can resolve that and we can bring them in here um and figure that all out. Thank you. >> At this time that is our last speaker for this particular evening. And so with that, I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn the speaker's forum for this evening. >> Second. >> Uh motion
013by Commissioner Griffin, seconded by Vice President Mallaloy. All in favor? >> I. All right, everyone. Have a good evening. Thank you for your comments.