Board Business Meeting & Charter School Public Hearing | September 25, 2025

001Good evening. Uh this is Vice President Malloy and this is a call to order for the Rochester Prep Charter School public hearing. Uh, education law subdivision 2857 and regulations of the commissioner of education require the board to conduct a public hearing within 30 days of receipt of a notice of an application for a new or revised charter school. The board of education of the Rochester City School District is conducting this public hearing regarding an application for Rochester Prep Charter Schools. The purpose of this hearing is to gather community input to provide to the New York State Education Department. Rochester Prep Charter Schools and Education Corporation with the authority to operate more than one school seeks to renew its charter and its authority to operate the following schools. Um Rochester Prep Charter School One, Rochester Prep

002Charter School 2, and Rochester Prep Charter School 3. Um, a determination regarding this application has not yet been made and is currently under review by the New York State Education Department. Um, at this time I do not see any speakers listed to speak. With that being said, the hearing is now adjourned and we'll go right on to the next one. Do I need to wait or we good to go? Let me just get onto my other screen. All right. Once again, good evening. I am Vice President Mallaloy. Um this is a call to order for the um Rochester Academy Charter School public hearing on September 25th, 2025. The education law subdivision 2857 and regulations of the commissioner of education require the board to conduct a public hearing within 30 days of receipt of notice of

003an application for a new or revised charter school. The board of education of the Rochester City School District is conducting this public hearing regarding an application for Rochester Prep Charter Schools um or for the Rochester Academy Charter School. Uh the purpose of this hearing is to gather community input to provide to the New York State Education Department. Rochester Academy Charter School proposed renewal term of grade levels and projected enrollment is requested by uh or they're requesting an increase in enrollment um years 1 through five from 2026 through 2031. A determination regarding this application has not yet been made and is currently under review by the New York State Education Department. Looking at the speakers list, I do not see any speakers listed. So, at this time, this hearing is now closed. Thank you and welcome.

004This is the Rochester City School District Board of Education business meeting and today is Thursday, September 25th. Um at this time, I'd like to call the meeting to order. Uh and we're going to ask that we uh reverence the flag and uh with the pledge of allegiance and we will ask our student representative, Mr. Elijah to lead us in that pledge at this time. Please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag to the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, Elijah. At this time, I'm going to turn the mic over to our board clerk, uh, Miss Raheima Wyn, who will provide the roll call for us. >> Good evening, commissioners and community. Uh, we're going to

005do roll call. If you could just indicate present. President Simmons, >> present. >> Vice President Malloy, >> present. >> Commissioner Elliot. >> Commissioner Griffin. Commissioner LeBron, Commissioner, Excuse me, Commissioner Patterson, >> present. >> Commissioner Santiago. >> Thank you. >> Did you hear me? >> Present. >> No, ma'am. We did not, but I will now mark you present. >> Yeah, because >> we can hear you. Thank you so much, Commissioner Griffin. We do have you accounted for. We're going to move on with the board of education upcoming events if you'd like to continue there. Clerk Quinn. >> Yes, ma'am. The board will open the month of October with the work session on October 14th convening at 6 pm. They will follow up with the Hispanic Heritage Celebration on Wednesday, October 15th. The reception will begin at

0065:00 p.m. and the program at 5:30. The board will close out the month with a speaker forum on Thursday, October 30th, beginning at 5:00 p.m. immediately followed by the board business meeting at 6 p.m. All reference meetings are held here at 131 West Broad Street and conference room 3A3B. >> Thank you. >> Any and in regards to signing up to speak and addressing the board, any individual may register to speak by contacting the board office by noon on the day of the meeting. You may call 262-8525 or email board of education rcsdk12.org. No unregistered speaker may address the board and no individual may speak on behalf of a registered speaker. At the time of registration, you must include your name, telephone number, home address, affiliation, and the topic on which you wish to speak. Individuals

007who do not reside within the city of Rochester do not have the privilege of speaking at meetings except when an exception is granted by the chair at a meeting for which you're requesting to speak. Each registered speaker may address the board for up to three minutes. Speakers utilizing translators, including American Sign Language, may address the board for up to six minutes, which include three minutes for the speaker comments and the remainder for the translation. You may view the board's uh calendar, meeting calendar at rcsdk12.org/beeal. Thank you. >> Thank you, Clerk Quinn. We are going to move into the acceptance of minutes. We have a multitude of minutes u for acceptance letters A through G on the agenda being the June 26th business meeting. July 8th work session. August 12th work session. September 2nd special meeting

008to convene for consideration of resolutions. September 9th work session and consideration of resolutions. September 16th speaker forum and the September 16th, 2025 work session. All 2025. Uh moving to or motion to accept the minutes. So vote moved by Vice President Malloy. >> Seconded by Commissioner Patterson. All in favor of the minutes? >> I I Any opposed? >> With no objections, the minutes have been approved. And we're going to move into our uh advisory reports at this time. And so, Mr. Elijah, if you'd like to proceed with the student report. >> Good afternoon, everyone. I hope we've all had a strong start to our new school year as we continue to go further into our schedule. Our September has been pretty active as one of our committees have come to life. Classmates have began to reconnect

009and student voices already begin to advocate. Now that the school year has started, the student leadership academy, the student leadership congress, my apologies, have began to blossom. Yesterday was our second meeting where we had a total of five schools in attendance. the schools in which were Monroe School of the Arts, Padilla High School, Edison Tech, I wrote the same school twice, uh, and School Without Walls. The representatives from the following schools have been introduced to the bylaws for the Student Leadership Congress and have and are excited to make quick work of things as we have already began to identify problems within our buildings. For other schools, I cannot wait to see them become active. I know sports and jobs are hindrances to attending our meetings, but I can still cannot wait to see you guys

010there. Our next meeting will revolve around reviewing the board policies that have been introduced to me around two weeks ago, September 14th, and I will release our opinions before October 15th. Before I transition away from the student leadership academy, I wanted to raise awareness about a dilemma revolving around the New York State phone ban. In the meeting yesterday, a student uh mentioned that IB students rely on tablets to do their work for academic purposes. With the New York State phone ban in process, uh it becomes very complicated for them to do their work. The reason for that being that most of their stuff is on these tablets and with the confiscation of these tablets, it's hard for them to access certain things that they cannot access on their Chromebooks. I also wanted to raise awareness

011about the New York State phone ban because of other dilemmas such as students being behind on their schoolwork because they don't have tech the technology that they need because there is a shortage of it. Now with the class of 20 uh with the class of 20h 30 rolling into the schools and leaving their middle school issue chromebooks to their buildings there's a big demand for these computers. Now the problem really doesn't rely within the new era of students that are coming in. It relies into the old classes that we have here. With the newer classes being prioritized, the wait list for the older classes increase over time. I know I'd fill out an I filled out an application about 2 to 3 weeks ago at the beginning of the school year and I have not

012received anything yet in regards to my computer at all, email or voice. It's obviously very crucial to have one of these because a lot of the work now is online and without a computer, your grades start to become falling behind. you start to fall behind, it becomes very hard to catch up, especially in the early of the school year where there's a lot of stuff going on, SATs, college field trips, etc. It's not just myself, and I've heard this from an abundance of students within my building complaining about the same situation where there's a shortage of Chromebooks because they're going to the freshman classes and the older classes who actually need Chromebooks are not receiving them. Now, it's safe to assume that if it's going on in one building where there's a mass population of

013students, it's also going on in other buildings. So my last question or my last awareness that I want to the last thing I want to bring up is how much consideration was put into the grand scheme of things regarding this phone ban and rather just than the things at face value. Aside from that the school year has been looking good. Uh it's been looking like it's been off to a good start. The student spirit is in the air with crowd crowds filling the stands and sports are moving into high gear. I hope the vision of a new era in school continues to come closer and closer as we progress through the year. Thank you everybody. I will see you in October. >> Thank you Elijah for that insight and we have Thank you. >> Thank

014you for that your insight um Elijah and that is how we want to hear student voice advocating and that is helpful for us to um bring your your perspective and experience into consideration. With that said, I don't see any advisor any other uh council or advisory reports for this evening. Um before we move forward on the agenda, I do want to acknowledge that there's been a shift in how we are doing business meetings. Typically on the fourth Thursday of each month, you would have a uh speakers that were able to come sign up, speak to the board based on topics or what have you in three minutes. We have implemented a speaker forum which takes place and correct me if I'm wrong, I think it was on the third Tuesday of each month typically. this

015month it would be on the 30th of October. Uh with that said, we do recognize we have uh different challenges and things taking place and not everyone has caught up on that information. It has been shared, but it takes time sometimes to get that. I want to if if I can see a show of hands if there's anyone who was interested in speaking this evening at all because there were some inquiries. Um and so I want to just acknowledge that. If none, we'll move forward. But I do want to uh make it known that I'm willing to allow for three minutes. Well, with the board's consent if we But I just wanted to check the interest. Okay. With none, we do want to um move forward with the uh evening. And I'm going to ask

016to entertain a motion for executive session. The board may convene into executive session to discuss matters leading to the appointment, promotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of particular persons or organization and pending or current litigation with general counsel. Um, entertaining that motion. >> So move. >> Vice President Malloy, second by Vice, I'm sorry, by Commissioner Patterson. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Okay. The the board will at this time move into executive session. I think I'm ready. Okay, ready now. Thank you. Okay, welcome back. We are uh the Rochester City School District Board of Education business meeting again. Today is September 25th. We have exited executive session and we're going to move forward with our board reports. There is no report for audit at this time. We will ask that our new CFO

017uh Robert McDow join us at the podium or from where you're seated um to present the monthly report and at which point will I have some maybe some questions for you. So Mr. McDow, the mic is yours, sir. Thank you for having me. >> Um, so I don't know the protocol, so I'm just going to go through the report and give you a a quick synopsis of what we have here. Is that is that okay? >> Yes. Typically, we just go over the report. You'll share some highlevel information and then we may have a question or two, but yes. >> All right. So, are you ask are you going to ask questions or you want me to go through the report? >> Go through the report and after you're done with the report, maybe we'll

018have a question afterward. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> So, for the most part, this report is uh up till September 25th, which is today. Uh and we're we're giving you a really quick synopsis of where we stand financially. um for most school districts the summer months um we don't receive a lot of revenue. Um so uh uh that the case for Rochester is the same where most of our receipts and dispersements are somewhat uh the same. Usually um the dispersements are a little higher. So on the first page of your report you'll see our cash flow uh decrease uh slightly from 356 million or $57 million. Now, I do apologize profusely for interrupting. I'm not seeing the report attached to board docs. >> Okay, no worries. So, we're just going to

019ask to pause for one moment where so that we can view along with you. >> Okay. Okay. And just so if you're wondering what's happening, just the report needed, we had to update the board docs. I'm trying to get back in now to make sure I can access >> and there we go. Okay. So, we do now have the finance report. Mr. McDow, thank you for your patience. Please continue. >> No worries. So to continue um for the current year uh and at at this time um we usually in the summer um our dispersements or expenses out out outpace our our revenues and that's the case here where we uh we started uh with about 357 million in the bank and um now we're at 353 million in the bank. uh not a major uh

020downturn but expected since our state aid doesn't start to flow in until end into end of this month and then you have some other months where we'll start to get an uptick in state aid. So um at this particular moment not a major change in cash flow um as illustrated here but expected for our district. When you turn to the next page, we start to look at our special aid and our and our revenue. Um, biggest adjustment in our revenue is our special aid fund. Uh, with the uptick of about $1.7 million and most of that is from the referee the refugee um school impact uh grant and most of those funds are rollover funds. So monies that we had in uh the grant the previous year that we didn't spend, they roll over to

021this year and they increased those um those balances that we can spend. Um and as we move further down the report, uh no changes in appropriate fund appropriated fund balance. Um and and if you go to your third page, you can see our funds and what we spent and what we've appropriated. And something I asked our our budget uh director today, which is unusual for me, but seems like it's normal for Rochester. We don't encumber our salaries at all. So, as someone who wants to give you a financial forecast on a monthly basis, not encumbering your salaries uh doesn't give me a more definitive look as to what we look like when it comes to our expenditures. So, um it looks like we have about 74% of our budget available. we really don't because we

022haven't encumbered all of your salaries for the year. So, um just something to keep in mind as we uh move forward and it may be something that I will look to explore even further. Um I don't want to go through each and every page, but I will highlight a few things. Uh next week I'm meeting with our our bankers in the city. As you look at our our cash balance and our general ledger summary, um again, uh it shows that we have the 30 semi-million dollars in the bank. And here's a breakdown of all of our accounts. Um, one thing that um I have a slight concern about is uh our general checking. We have $25 million in that account. Um, I do know that uh there are higher interest rate um bearing accounts uh

023that we can look into. Um but I don't know the protocols and procedures uh that are used with the city and it's something that we can discuss later on and I'll discuss with them next week. But um these this is a breakdown of all of your accounts and um again as I learn uh the job more I'll be able to give you a better understanding of uh what we possibly can do if anything. Uh the next page is your cash flow projection. um you have your actual up to August and then you have your guesstimates for the rest of the year. Um and the the good thing is uh once we get to June, we're expecting that uh our cash flows will be somewhere our ending balance will be somewhere over $400 million. Your last

024few um um reports here, you have your re revenue summary. Again, you can see as of uh August 31st um page 7, we don't really have a ton of revenue that we've brought in, and that's that's normal. Um you know, so don't be alarmed by that. Uh most of the revenue that we've brought in has been interest earnings. The rest of it you'll see populated as we get into September, October, November when the state is um uh functioning and sending money our ways. Um going forward, these are more breakdowns of your revenue and your expenditure. uh accounts. Um, and if you have any questions, please let me know. Um, Mike and I, our budget director, we thoroughly went through these earlier today, so I didn't see anything that was overtly alarming or that um that

025that should be brought to your attention, and I know that's that's what you're that's what I'm supposed to do if I see it. Um, the last 20 or 30 pages of the report are all of your budgetary transfers. So, um I know anything over 500,000 has to go to the board, but for transparency, we show you all of them so that you see them. You have any questions, let us know. Again, I did review all of these with um u Michael earlier today. Um and there weren't uh any anomalies or things that brought major concern to me or we would have addressed them or uh we would have had further conversations. So, um any questions? Thank you, Mr. McDow. Commissioner um LeBron. >> Yes. Um I guess my my question right now because this is

026um as of August 31st is when can we expect the year end report um and the closing of the books because we have not we're about to be going into October. I was anticipating it tonight. I know we're a little bit behind on closing the books, but can we get a date on when the board and the district is going to close the books and when we can expect to see that? >> My expectation is that that will come in the next uh 30 to 45 days. Um I I will admit that with the issues that we've had with our um transfer or conversion over to Oracle, we have had some um issues with the the ledger and we I want to make sure that that ledger is uh uh accurate. Um so I don't

027want to rush rush this process. So I would say 30 to 45 days. Can we align that with an actual board business meeting so that we so if you want to say the November board business meeting that would give you 30 to 45 days. >> Dr. Roser. >> Yeah, we could both certainly do that. >> Thank you. >> Were there any other questions or statements from commissioners regarding the financial report that was u presented? Um, Commissioner Patterson, >> we do we Okay, Commissioner Griffin, if you mute, I know I um now know that you have something to say. I'll have Commissioner Patterson go and then I will come to you. Commissioner Patterson, >> thank you. Um, I just want to say I appreciate the report uh you reporting out and uh I like what you

028said about just taking your time and getting it right the first time. So, if it takes a few additional days to, you know, make sure that it comes in, you know, the way it's supposed to, I'm really appreciative of that, that you take the time and dot your eyes and cross your tees. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Griffin. >> Yes. I I have to say that because of all the things that have happened with Oracle and um to Mr. McDall's point, he came in on this and he's trying to um go at it with boots on the ground. um if he needs that time to make sure that we have uh uh h a viable uh information regarding the financial report that he needs to be allowed them days. Don't stick him to no

029to a November date and and and he's coming in and he's we've been working with Oracle and so many errors with that from other leadership. I don't think that's fair to him. So if he needs that time, I'm willing to give him that time. I I I would think that the public would want something to be factual and right, not wrong. So, if he needs that time, I as a as a commissioner, I think he needs to we need to give him that time. I'm I wouldn't lock him into an order date. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I don't think that's fair. >> Thank you, Commissioner Griffin. Um, Superintendent. >> Yeah, Commissioner Griffin. Um, we're going to align it with u one of our business meetings. Um, so um Mr. Mcdow and I

030will will work to to make sure that what we produce is is going to be quality and accurate so that the board will then be able to act on it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That's sufficient. Dr. Arasa, >> I think my whole point is that we don't want to we don't want to brown beat somebody just coming in the door and to make sure that he is he's doing his he's doing his job. So, I think that's important. >> Okay. Thank you for your comments and and expressed thoughts, Commissioner Griffin. Um, at this time if there's no other questions and I do see Commissioner Santiago's hand. >> No, I just want to say that it is legally required for us to close our books. So, I think usually by now it's done. So, it's

031just interesting that it's not done, but we know that there's transition. Um, but we also have responsibilities legally that we have to accomplish. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments or questions regarding the financial report presented this evening? With none, uh, thank you, Mr. McDow, for your report this evening. Moving forward on the agenda. I'm bypassing the president's report and we're going to move into >> to take a motion to accept. >> Oh, you know what? Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh motion to accept entertaining a motion to accept the financial report as presented this evening. >> So moved. >> Moved by Vice President Malloy, seconded by Commissioner Patterson. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Financial report has been approved. uh moving toward the superintendent um report at this time. >>

032Okay, >> Dr. Roser. >> Yeah. And I'm not going to take too much time because I know it's already getting late and we still have another major um presentation to provide um to our board commissioners and our community who are here. So, real quick, I just want to provide an update on a number of things that are happening um throughout the district. Next slide, please. Um I do want to to sort of point out that um at last Tuesday's work session we talked about concerns families may have with school related matters and we want to make sure that our families um have the resources to place in place to address um these issues. Um we do have on our website um a platform that that will provide opportunities for parents to better understand parents and

033caregivers to better understand how they may elevate concerns that they may have. It's broken down by classroom concerns, building level concerns, concerns with transportation, special education, technology, etc. What we are planning to do is to make sure that all parents are aware of this. So, as a part of our monthly u family newsletters that go out um we will be putting this in each of those monthly newsletters um into the um the end of the year. I do want to to sort of also articulate the first day of school um which took place quite some time ago but it was um before our um or after our last business meeting. Um, I had the privilege of visiting schools across the district and having the opportunity to to go into classrooms and really see our children,

034really see our teachers, and just really see the whole school community doing what's in the best of children really reminded me why we are so connected and why this work is important. As we begin this new school year, we celebrate the excellence already present in our school district and we look ahead with a shared commitment to build on the excellence and create even greater opportunities and access to all of our children. Next slide, please. do want to also speak to our strive for five um campaign. Um is getting a lot of good traction out there and as we are um looking at the attendance data we are seeing that you know students are attending um but we are also very cognizant that typically the first few weeks of school attendance is always high and then

035as the school year goes on it drops. So we are most certainly working to not only articulate the importance of attendance but also to be able to provide supports so that if parents have concerns or issues or their obstacles that are not allowing students to come to school every day. We want parents to most certainly reach out to us because we have a whole lot of individuals in this school district who are prepared from social workers to school counselors to parent liaison to community school um individuals who are here attendance individuals who are here to address and identify the barriers that are present in our students lives that may be preventing them from attending school. Next slide please. I am very thrilled to announce that the Rochester City School District and its partner Vargas Associates

036have been selected to receive a 2025 Top Projects Award from the Rochester Business Journal. This project is a recognition that honors the best building and construction projects in Rochester over a 12-month span. We are being honored for our work with invest in tomorrow when we begin implementation of our comprehensive school reconfiguration plan. Congratulations to Chief Scott and his team on this accomplishment and I appreciate all that everyone does for students, staff, and more importantly our families and students throughout the district. Lastly, I want to also recognize the good work of Christian Swan and the special education parent advisory council. Um, we held our special education department um special education resource fair over at school 33. This was for all parents and caregivers of children who are enrolled in special education throughout the district. There were

037a whole slew of community partners that were available providing resources to our students. Um, and the goal of the resource fair was to create an inclusive space that celebrates diversity, embraces the unique abilities of students and promotes the varied special education programs and services that are offered in our district and within our community. Next, I want to share that on October 15th at 5:30 p.m. um here at central office, we will be celebrating Hispanic Hispanic Heritage Month. Students will be recognized for high academic achievement, community service, and leadership. A special award will also be given to honor individuals who have made great contributions throughout the Rochester community. We hope to see our school community as well as our external school community here at that event. We also have the H.B.CU CU Expo and Football Classic

038um where there will be 20 colleges admissions and scholarship information um provided um that HBC expo is happening right now. Um the football classic and the Battle of the Bands will happen this Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Rochester Community Sports Complex. There's also free PSAT and SAT opportunities for all of our students. Um on October 1st through the 17th, both exams are on a digital digital platform. Um students grades 9 through 12 will have the opportunity to take the exam at their school between um October 1st and Friday, October 17th. These exams will help open scholarship opportunities for our students and prepare them for their next steps towards college. together with all high school grades and SAT can show the students potential to succeed in college and or career. Last evening or two evenings

039ago, I held my first fireside chat. Um this is an opportunity um for us to engage in conversations with students, families, staff members um to hear directly from me and ask me questions about what's going on in the district and how we might be able to strengthen our impact on student learning. The date so the upcoming fireside chats are November 12th. That's going to be a special fireside chat with the BEC where we're looking for monilingual parents to be there. um and we will be providing translation services um there for our families as well. January 13th, March 18th, we have another um fireside chat with the BEC on April 8th and then our last fireside chat will be on June 9th, 2026. Today we had a wonderful um celebration of Dr. Iris J. Banister. Um,

040she is a 32-year or was a 32-year employee of the Rochester City School District. She was an elementary teacher, reading specialist, guidance counselor, translation facilitator, and house administrator. We were able to do the ribbon cutting over at the school 33 today. The entire family came out. It was a great event in which we are very appreciative of the legacy that Dr. Iris Banister um has here in the Rochester City School District and we're excited to be able to honor her um and to create a legacy in remembrance of her and all that she stood for. We have recruitment events happening. Oasis Literacy Zone Jot Fair will happen October 1st from 12:00 p.m. to 2 p.m. The Hall of Justice job fair will happen on October 15th, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. I will be providing

041um a presentation of my findings clearly outlining um a vision for how we're going to move forward as a school district. My presentation called The Future of the Rochester City School District: Vision, Journey, and Destination will take place on October 9th at East High School at 6 PM. We call upon the community to join in the critical work of elevating elevating student achievement across all schools. So, we're looking for the entire school community and our external community to be present so that we can really learn what I've learned over the past understand what I've learned over the past 100 days and also understand how might we be able to work together to strengthen our collective impact on student learning and success. That concludes my superintendent report. I welcome any questions that commissioners may have. Okay.

042Do we have any hands online at all? Clerk when >> I do see Commissioner Santiago's hand. >> Yeah. I just want to congratulate the Banister family on uh school 33 being renamed after Iris Banister. I am honored to be uh the board liaison for that school and was great to be at the uh ribbon cutting today uh to see the family. Uh Iris Banister is a body uh that shows us what community looks like, that shows us what a leader in our community looks like. And so it's great to see her honored. It's great to see her name on a school, but my hope to the superintendent and to, you know, our administration is that this school is not just named after her, but that every student in the school knows who she is. Um

043and it's important not to just name the school after a person and not teach the kids who this person is. So thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Santiago. Um, Commissioner Patterson. >> Yes. Uh, Superintendent, um, I just want to, uh, just to congratulate you and thank you. Um, you stepped into a very difficult role. Um, but I just appreciate, uh, the organization that you have, the detail that you have, the team that you put together, the thorough uh, reporting out that you do, the the knowledge that in intelligence that you obviously possess and present to us. So, I just want to thank you. Um, I just want to thank you. Give thanks. >> It's team effort. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner. >> Thank you and your team. Excuse me. >> Okay. So, I also wanted

044to echo um Commissioner Santiago Simmons. I've been asking I've been flagging I asked Commissioner Santiago to also flag you, but okay. >> So, I miss you and I'll come to you when I in a moment. Um, as I was stating, I want to take a moment to echo the sentiments expressed by Commissioner Santiago. Um, my family has known the Banister family personally for a number of years. Both mother Banister, Queen Mother Banister, as well as her husband Thomas Banister respectfully. Um, so my parents know them. My sister went to school with Simeon, and I had the opportunity over the years to sit at um, Queen Mother's feet. And so many of the things they expressed during the ribbon cutting and even her uh services previously um are just such reminders of the powerhouse of a

045woman she was. And even sitting at the ribbon cutting this particular evening um was such it brought a peace and an understanding and a redirection um that's necessary because anyone who knows her knows that she indeed was a woman of faith. Um so I do want to say that I love what you said. Same thing I said about 16 school and any schools that we rename that we recognize that the students need to be able to pick up the attributes and understand not only who the school is named after but what those individuals stood for, who they are, what they did, but also how to apply those skills to themsel because Mother Bannister was a woman of strength, courage, knowledge, and just class. And something to be said about a woman with class that knows

046how to carry herself with decor, that knows how to walk into a room and her posture and position without a bunch of rah rah can literally calm and bring some kind of direction to the room. And that's what she did. She exuded that. And so I hope that those attributes transfer to our students. I also want to recognize that some some of us were even instrumental in supporting the renaming of the school being Commissioner LeBron myself played a role um Commissioner Santiago being the school liaison and so um it is an honorable honorable thing and I wanted to take a moment to express that on this evening. So congratulations to the Banister family. With that being said, Commissioner Lebron. >> Yeah. I also um want to uplift Commissioner Santiago's um specific statements about ensuring that

047the school now has the proper supports. It is our largest elementary school as you know um or maybe now maybe you you're learning now. Um it's also my grandchildren's school, Commissioner Santiago siblings school. So it's a school that we um are physically at on a daily basis. um and clearly one that continues to need resources that this district has unfortunately over time not given them, especially when they had their leadership transition. So, I feel very hopeful with the not just the renaming, but I do want to also thank the Banner family um for donating $42,000 today. Um, and I want to uplift that like in part of naming this school with a family that has a legacy that who has children who are continuing family legacy. Um, that I have no doubt that the Banister

048family will continue to try to pour and give into 33 because they would like to see every child that goes to that school be successful. Um, and so I just want to uplift that because there's still obviously lots of work to do. Um, and I hope that we don't become a barrier to the partnership with the Banner family, not now, not ever, and that we'll continue to build those relationships out. And congratulations to the Banister family and to the school 33 community. Thank you all as well. >> Thank you, Commissioner Lebron. Miss Wen, do we have a hand at all anywhere? >> Okay, awesome. So, I want to move forward with the agenda. At this time, we're going to uh go on to the consent consent agenda, excuse me. I want to also take a

049moment to recognize that two resolutions being 170 and 174 were removed. So, the uh items may look a little out of place there. Um but some corrections were um necessary. So, that's why you see it that way. Um and those resolutions will appear. If you look at your agenda, you'll see those on uh section nine. So, I'm going to ask at this time to entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda items as you see them. >> Um >> motion by Commissioner Patterson, seconded by VP VP Malloy. Um >> all in favor? >> I Any opposed? >> I >> consent agenda carries. Moving down to uh the section nine. Um, and this is to entertain a motion for resolutions 170, as well as 177 through 204. >> So, moved by Vice President Ly, >> did

050you miss uh, excuse me, um, Madam President, did you miss 176? >> Um, thank you. Thank you for bringing that. It's right above me. I'm looking at at a highlight there. So, let me just go back down to section nine. We do want to look at um resolutions 176 uh 170 174 and 177 through 204. So I'd like to entertain a motion for those resolutions at this time. >> So moved. >> Second >> by BP Malloy, seconded by Commissioner Patterson. Um open for discussion at this time. Anything around those resolutions? >> With no discussion, all >> Excuse me. Excuse me. >> Yes. Um I'm I'm I just want to make sure um that's one of the ones I'm sure we spoke about relative to in executive session. Um just give me 10 seconds to make

051sure it's the one I think it is. >> Okay. >> If >> Okay, I'm up. Thank you. >> You're all set. So with no discussion >> or any questions, all in favor of resolutions 176, 170, 174, 177 through 204. >> I any opposed? >> Uh nay. >> Nay to the entire bundle or >> just that one >> to 176? You got an >> So um clerk, when do we need to redo that to pull that out? >> No, I just need to clarify what he's saying. N2. >> He's 176. I won't speak for you, Commissioner Patterson, just to provide clarity to Clerk Win. >> Give me a second, please. >> 176 is the one you had a question about, and that's what you're saying. A n too. >> Give me a second, please. >> Sure.

052>> It's the wrong. >> Yeah, it's a nay for me. >> Okay. Yeah, I I have a >> 176 just for clarity. >> That is for 176. That's a nay for me. For 176 only. Commissioner Griffin. >> Yes, I have a Nate as well. Um, hold on. Let me get to back to the screen so I can tell you which one. I think it was 194. Hold on one second. Give me a second here. It is uh 194. I need more clarification on that. That wasn't discussed. So I don't I don't know I don't I don't recall seeing that in our work session um with all the when the resolutions came through. So I have a question on these and uh and um yeah I have a question uh on uh um on one one

053or both of those of the of the U resolutions for 194. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And I'd like to change my vote. That's I had it mixed up with another case. So that's a yay for me for that, not a nay. >> So you're yes to 176 >> of the resolutions. >> That's a yes. >> Okay. >> 176. >> Any other resolutions? >> There is one. >> I have a question. >> Commissioner Griffin for one moment if you can allow me to just gain some clarity from Commissioner Patterson and then I will u certainly return to you on the screen. Give me one more moment. I just want to make sure. So 176 you're you're good on. Um and then the resolutions in the package that we're speaking for this evening were there

054>> there's the one we spoke about relative to um the damage to the school. >> Can you can you um provide the resolution number? Is it in in this bundle that we just >> went through? Okay. So in the bundle >> it's not in the bundle. >> It's not in this bundle. Okay. I just want to make sure it wasn't in this bundle. So the correction for 176. Thank you, Commissioner Griffin. >> Yes. Um the from my understanding I know that we were given resolutions at the work session and that we were to go through them and then they we would have no question about them. Um some of these were not on in that work session. I don't believe I don't remember seeing >> you're correct and I let me um provide a little

055clarity for that. So during the work session the resol can >> can I just can I see before you say something? Yes, please continue please. >> Yeses um I Never mind. Never mind. Because I just heard Jesus. I'm good. I I I just don't agree with I don't >> You got to call Lana sometimes. >> Yeah, I know. But I because I >> Please continue with your question. Do you have a question? I want >> my question is actually a statement. Okay. >> Because what I was told what I was told was that we would had many questions about the resolutions cuz we already went through them. Now I'm getting resolutions that are new. So I didn't know there were going to be new resolutions on this on the on the on the um >>

056in this meeting. So, I have a question and I have concerns and they are valid concerns. So, I don't agree with having resolutions come and then I'm thinking, oh, we're not going to have any additional new ones and we have the new ones here and I I was not privy to that. So, I have a question. I have a concern. >> Okay, Commissioner Griffin, I do appreciate that. And as I stated earlier at this time, I'm going to provide you with the clarity that you may need regarding this. If I just need you to hear me out. During the work session, what we pro are provided with are resolutions for consideration for the consent agenda. That is not all inclusive of all resolutions that we will see during the business meeting. Those are only consent

057agenda items. So, you would be correct in stating that maybe in this package or bundle that we're looking at right now, they were not part of the consent agenda. The consent agenda resolutions were the resolutions that we all just voted in favor for. And those would have been resolutions 170 um excuse me 153 through 175 minus 170 and 174. Those were the consent agenda resolutions with no questions. So if you um look on board docs you'll see consent agenda items. Those were the ones during the work um work session that we identified as we're moving them forward with no questions as we did this evening. where we are now are going into the additional resolutions that are presented during this particular business meeting. And it sounds as if you do have a concern regarding resolution

058194. And so you do have the option to vote nay on it um if you don't agree with it. And you can also put questions in the log or or reach out to administration on that one. But resolutions 170 uh through once all these other ones all through >> 204 that are bundled um those are on the table now which is okay if you have a question because they're regular resolutions >> president. >> Yeah. But but these are things that could have been addressed in executive session. I think it's unfair to me unfair to me to have to wait I have to wait when this this is I had issued questions on these resolutions and I'm seeing them and they're coming on there. Yes. Maybe I misunderstood the whole process and prior, but at the

059end of the day, there's protocols that are being broken and I'm not I'm just really tired of seeing broken protocols and policies that are outlined for this district. And we're going to have continue we're going to have continued downfall and I'm serious. Listen, this this is not this is not good. It's not good. And I'm tired of it. >> I appreciate that. And so let me >> I'm really tired of it. >> What I'm not going to do is go back and forth. What I do want to do is respect your your position. >> I respect you, but I'm tired. Commissioner Griffin, this is not a conversation. This is a statement I'm making. I'm not conversing any longer because there's nothing that has been broken. We are following protocol and I think you may need

060have some misinformation. Now, what I would like to do is move forward with the agenda as it is and respectfully we can reconvene off this mic and off the stage and have this conversation for some clarity. So, I do understand there's maybe a little confusion, but we are within the um expectations as outlined by uh our standards. And so at this time, and I got to try to read these resolutions again. Um, do we have a motion on the table? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, and the motion is for the resolutions. And so I think are we at the I part outside of this? >> Yes. But I have a comment on a resolution. I'm trying to >> Commissioner um LeBron, >> thank you. I just want to thank um Leah and congratulate her who

061is getting tenured tonight at Oasis, which is our adult education program. and she's getting tenured in the executive director position and I just want to congratulate her um and I would ask that everyone keep oasis um in thoughts and prayers as the year continues and we hit 26 and 27 school year with the federal changes um I think it's something we're going to end up having to fight to um keep funding and seek potentially even alternative ways of continuing oasis that may not be direct directly tied to federal dollars coming in. Um, but I just have to say I've watched Leah up close and personal in that role. I've sent clients over there to go and get educated and the work that her and her team does is incredible and I know that being tenured

062is a big really big deal. So, I just want to congratulate her tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, >> President Simmons, >> Commissioner Lebron, uh, Commissioner Santiago. >> Oh, I'm sorry. No, I have nothing to say. I just wanted to go back to the motion you asked about and where we were in the voting process. So, we did have the motion by Vice President Malloy, second in by Commissioner Patterson. Uh, we've established that he's a yes to all the resolutions. Commissioner Griffin said that she was a no to 194, and it sound like everyone else was voting yay to all resolutions. That's what I have documented. If that's not correct, please let me know. >> Okay, we got through it. Okay. And also, thank you, Commissioner LeBron, for bringing that out. I got a

063little distracted, but yes, Leah is is a gem. She also did great work at the inception of the East EPO. She's been around the district for a very long time. Uh leadership Rochester graduate. I you know I I got to shout it out. And um I I had the opportunity to work with her personally. So I do appreciate um lifting that. And so all in favor >> I Any opposed? Okay. Um I do want to bring our attention to resolution EE motion to wave the requirements of the 48 uh submission rule required by the board bylaws. And this would be in consideration of a walk-on resolution um >> 205 and '06. >> Moved by Vice President Malloy. >> Seconded by Commissioner Patterson. All in favor to wave the requirements of the 48 hour submission rule.

064>> I Any opposed? With no opposition, we are uh entertaining the motion for resolutions 205 and 06 at this time. >> So moved. >> Moved by Vice President Mallaloy. >> Seconded by Commissioner Patterson. All in favor of resolutions 205 and 06. >> I. Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries. Um okay. So I have it here. Uh so we are moving into unfinish unfinished business at this time. Am I missing anything? Thank god. Okay. So, uh, Dr. Rosa, we're in section 12, I believe, and we're going to go into, um, updates regarding Oracle, it looks like. >> Okay. Um, Mr. McDow, if you can go to the podium, please. >> So, as Mr. McDow makes his way to the podium, we do need to provide an update on Oracle Fusion Rock. um K through 12 implementation. As

065we all know and it's been very clear that we continue to have um transition issues that is resulting unfortunately in our employees um not receiving either a timely paycheck a paycheck at all or there being um deductions that are taken out of paychecks that that should not be um seen in the paycheck. So what we're going to provide is a summary of the challenges, current action steps as well as what we are doing uh moving forward. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. McDow and he and I are going to tag team on this presentation. Mr. McDow. >> Sure. Um we have had some challenges um w with with with the product and the program and and as of uh last Friday um through um some research and uh through some inquiry we realized

066that about 242 staff had indicated that they had not been paid. Um and um over the last four to five work days, we were able to determine that that number actually was about 46 individuals or so. Um of those 46, um 35 of them remain uh unpaid. Uh actually that number is 33 because we had we we issued a couple checks earlier today. Uh, and some of this is related to Mnt, some of it's related to time, um, time slips and entry, um, and a few other things. Um, the good thing is, um, for all of the board resolutions and all of the, um, summer pay concerns we've had, 94% of them have been resolved. Now, it's not 100%. Um, but it's higher than where we were two weeks ago. So uh which um which

067allows us to say that no we still have a couple hundred in progress um and we are diligently working towards resolving those as uh as soon as we possibly can. >> So if I can just jump in real quick. So on 919 um of course we all experienced um and many of our employees who bank at Mnt um experienced this as well. we got a lot of um self-reporting um that staff members did not receive their checks. So when we look at this 242 number, that 242 number encompasses um both individuals who there were oracle issues but also Mnt um issues as well. Once Mr. Mr. McDow and his team were able to really look at the numbers. They um were able to see that we had 46 um accurate claims of no pay and

068as he indicated just a few moments ago, that is currently down to 32. We're currently still providing paper checks um to individuals and his team is really working hard um each and every day to to investigate each case um indivi as individuals and then issue checks. once they're able to do the calculations and um determine that what the salary should be for individuals. >> Thank you. So to continue, why are we having some of these challenges? Um we still have some configuration defects uh with the system um which has caused delays and incorrect direct uh deductions to occur with some of our uh employees. We expect that uh these will be resolved next month. Um we've had concerns and issues with dual assignments and split compensation. Um and we're getting close to having a universal

069fix with this, not just oneoffs, but a universal fix. Um we actually had meetings about that uh earlier today and and um I'm excited that we may have some positive outcomes with that uh in the in the near future. Um and we do have a backlog at backlog at the health desk. Uh and we are looking to a resolution with that. We're going to bring on uh Nova Motus and uh we have um a plan in place, not in place yet, but that um we're going to bring to the superintendent. Um I'm figuring Monday that will help us with the backlog for our ticket resolution. some of our action steps. Um we're looking to um understand more about Oracle. Uh we have uh one of our leads uh um at uh uh out of town

070meeting with them uh or meeting with one of Oracle's partners to come up with a corrective action plan to help us fix some of these uh back pay issues. Um we're going to um continue our training. I know we've had five or six uh sessions, but uh we need more and we'll continue those and we won't stop those until we solve this issue. Um some of it uh again is just know our staff understanding you know uh how to submit their time and uh making sure that we give them as many opportunities as possible so that they can do that. Um and and we'll do that in office, we'll do that in teams, we'll do that wherever it's convenient to make that happen. Uh and then we're going to expand our our streamlining um to

071you know continue with the triage support um you know continue to to to work through vendors and if we need to ex enhance or expand our our temp a agency staffing we'll do that. Um you know as the superintendent says all hands on deck until we get this south. It's just that simple. Uh and then we're going to u maintain our our weekly communications with the union so that we can share as much information as possible uh because uh at the end of the day they're the ones who are getting the the phone calls. So we want to make sure that they know exactly what we're doing so that um they can uh share that with their their their perspective um individuals in their in their groups. And if I can add that this is,

072you know, the communication and the thought partnership um that we're engaging with the union is to really work to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. We've had an opportunity to meet with the collective bargaining units now twice to discuss ways in which we can most certainly work towards some sort of remedy to be able to address um those staff members who have been impacted um by the issues that we continue to encounter with Oracle. Um those conversations continue and and we we're working very closely with with um our unions because we want to make sure that as it relates to the district's employees who are members of um the various unions that we have here that we're working concertly to make sure that the employees are paid and the employees are paid on time

073the exact amount that they should be paid um without any deductions. than some of the things that we've been experiencing. >> And lastly, for current action steps, um I I know some of you uh in this room have received some some notifications from the New York State Retirement System. Um we have been on the phone with them every day to make sure that uh these are getting addressed and resolved. and and and the most important thing that I can say to this group and say to the public is uh any of you who have received any of these letters, please know that the state um is we we've we've tried to send the money to them and unfortunately it has not been received but has it has been deducted from your accounts. So, um be

074rest assured that uh you're not going to lose your tier. be rest assured that uh the um the state uh will not um uh consider you in default or uh do anything that will jeopardize your current standing with the New York State system. Um trust me, I'm part of that system also and I know what that means uh for the longevity of what I'm trying to do in my my lifetime and I'm very certain that's the same concerns that you have. So, we're working diligently to make sure of that and we've been we've been in conversation with the state for the last two weeks. Looking ahead, our next payroll is next Friday. Um, we actually are looking to uh have multiple payroll runs before um next Tuesday when it when it actually um you know

075is finalized so that we can try to determine and um you know uh see what concerns we have so we can fix them beforehand. Um we will continue to offer um paylips um before uh the Wednesday before so that individuals um can look at them and if they have any concerns whatsoever, we encourage them to use the help desk uh and get tickets in immediately so that we can address them. Our whole goal is to continue this process until we have no more concerns when it comes to health when it comes to payroll. Um, again, oversight with our our vendors. Uh, we're going to leverage know our solutions and challenges with uh Oracle to get to a better location or not better location but a better outcome. And we've also talked to other districts who

076are using this system so that we can understand their concerns uh their um struggles and some of their successes also. That concludes our update for um the Oracle Fusion Rock K12 um transition challenges that we've been having. >> Thank you. >> We entertain questions. >> Sure. Absolutely. The floor is open for questions at this time. We have a question from Commissioner Lebron. >> Yeah. Well, when yeah, somewhat of a Well, yeah, it is a question. Um I know I I made an ask officially. I know with myself, Commissioner Elliot and Santiago about getting some concrete data around the number impacted. I'm still going to ask again. Um because as you say, you just presented a small amount. Hold on, I'm trying to pull up the number you just presented. >> We 233 individuals still are

077impacted. >> And I was with the teachers yesterday and they're claiming over 800 individuals who have contacted. And I want to point out that some of that discrepancy is that the self-help I have have had emails from staff talking about the self-help. I know that from when that email came, there have been there was an additional person added downstairs to help answer phones, but I do think it's still important to not minimize that whether people were paid and whether they were paid accurate. That's two separate things as well. So my official request and I'm not asking for an answer right now on record but we still need some data points like it's the same repetitive conversation of I hear you but in government if it's not in writing and you're certifying to that then it

078doesn't exist. But I would like to see a breakdown of total impacted employees and that includes everything. if their deductions were wrong, if their New York State retirements weren't paid, um if it's incorrect pay, and and I want to highlight that I fully get the complications of braided funding for positions. I deal with the same issue, too. It's a pain. Um but you still have to have documentation in your books of who's getting paid from this grant, this grant, this title, and so forth, and this budget line. Um, so I I would like to see a more comprehensive presentation with actual numbers, not just something that says 242 had not been paid, 46 being accurate claims for no pay. Um, because we know, I think there are still people employed in this district that don't

079even know they are being impacted right now. And I was one of those and I want to point that out. I also I hear you that you're you guys are having verbal conversations, but unless I get an actual letter and maybe this is a request that you guys can go back to the New York State Retirement System to put it in writing to me because God forbid something happens and you two walk out of here tomorrow, I'm going to be stuck trying to figure out just like every other employee, who do we need to contact up the ladder at the New York State that, you know, Mr. Dao spoke to them. No, I want myself and every other impacted employee around the New York State retirement system to receive a letter saying that if their

080uh deductions have not gone up until this point, because apparently mines haven't been paid since we switched to the new system. So, I'm going to assume that there are many others as well in that same boat that we're not going to be impacted. We're not going to be kicked out of our tier, that we're not going to be impacted, and certainly that we won't be penalized and it won't fall back on us to financially fill that. Thank you. It's >> a reasonable request. Okay. >> Did you want to speak to any of the nuances and and um any areas regarding the the numbers? >> Well, we know that Yeah, we know that it's been over 3,500 um issues that we had through the summer resolution payments. Um 94% of those are now complete. So when

081we speak to, you know, hundreds of of individuals being impacted, we can confirm that yes, hundreds of individuals from the start of this beginning July 11th, you know, were impacted. Um, but the total number that we have as of today are little less than 250 individuals who are still impacted. That would be those who are um dealing with um absences of toileting. Some 6:30 pays which would be our school counselors, you know, our um social workers, our li not social workers, librarians, um some of our registars. Um, there are a couple individuals who are still impacted, when I say a couple, there are individuals who are still impacted, a small number, by not receiving summer PD um, compensation that that is grouped into that 233 individuals who are still impacted as well as hourly employees

082um, as well. And since last Friday, we have cut about 56 checks. I think that was the number that you had provided to me prior to walking into this meeting. And those checks are being cut every day until such time that we can make sure individuals are whole. But we will provide a greater detail in writing a comprehensive and what we'll work to do is to even provide that by pay period. >> Thank you, Dr. Roser. Um any other questions, Commissioner Patterson? Uh just a statement uh just for clarification purposes and um I hope I'm not divulging anything I can't from executive session but what I'd like to say for clarification in defense of the uh superintendent is that he already asked us permission to send a letter out to all employees that have been

083impacted. >> I think this might be executive session. >> Is that something different? >> I I can't say that. I think that right now what we what we are doing >> okay I retract it then >> yeah so yeah the and these are nuanced questions >> yeah sometimes people break executive session woefully willfully and ignorantly and then some people do it again ignorantly with with no um malice >> inadvertently but on record day >> um I think we're all at a state of frustration and wanting clarity and wanting resolve sooner than later um but I'm done with that show. Did you have any other questions or comments? >> No, thank you. >> Okay, thank you. At this time, um if there are no other questions, comments or statements, we will conclude. Uh thank you for

084the report and update regarding Oracle. You're welcome. >> Uh we're going to move on to the second readings at this time and uh let me see if we can get through these. Uh these second readings um are going to be the following policies. Policy 4205 pre-referral intervention strategies. 4206 response to intervention RTI process. Um policy 5000 student policy goals. 5153 parent preference manage choice policy. And then 6550 the vendor relations um policy. So those are the second readings that we're looking at. Um this at this time these uh are open for comments or questions or thoughts regarding the policies. Track changes are there as well as clean copies. >> Have a good evening, Commissioner LeBron. >> Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you. Uh I'm just noticing that for most of these they

085just seem to be like minor amended dates. um like on the first three that I'm looking at the student policy goals, the pre-referral intervention, response to intervention. So, I'm not opposed to any of those changes. >> Okay. Any any questions or thoughts on the track changes, things that we want to see different because as we know the um policies will be voted on in the October meeting. So, um, this is the opportunity to make any tweaks, changes, or address any concerns regarding the policies as presented with track changes. >> Um, Commissioner Santiago, >> question for legal. um in the policy about like vendor relations and I'm not sure if this is like and I see that it's specifically about >> I think so >> um discrimination specifically and so I was going to ask a

086question about process um definitely when it comes to vendors like the possibilities or how or if it's illegal for the board to say or for there to be written out in a policy that vendors who are also located in the city, you know, have, you know, I wouldn't say priority, but you you know what I mean? Like to give out those special um those special sites to people that say vendors who are in the city gets first priority compared to vendors who may be from New Jersey compared to Rochester. >> Um uh that's a a good question, Commissioner. Um no, not not necessarily. Right. So it depends on a process, right? So for example in our in our RFP processes we're allowed to um you know on scoring criteria right so for example you can

087say hey we want to work with somebody closer and and you could you know in your scoring criteria that could weigh more than than something else um you know so to speak. So um there there are some some some uh general municipal law and and and state law and federal law around around our procurement, but we do have um some level of discretion uh often with how we weigh certain criteria and for example like you know this talks about uh like MWBE um sometimes the the the funds that we get right uh have specific criteria that we have to kind of adhere to as it pertains to that. So, um, but that is a very good question. >> Yeah. And so, how does how does that look as far as board action? Does that look

088through rewarding, let's say, specifically this policy or possibly another policy when when we talk about prioritizing local vendors? Um, how does action from the board looks like for that? Because we don't get involved in RFP process. So, >> um, right and and and that that could potentially come through board action like through something in in in one of the policies for example. um you know in in one of the the vendor related like a policy like this or one of the other because we have several procurement policies. Um often that occurs on the level of the folks who are going to be interacting with the vendor um who have an understanding whether it is important for the vendor to be to be local. uh if there's a set firm criteria set by the board, it

089it could lead to complications in um variety and and who we're able to get and look at for the things that we need for the district sometimes. But again, if that is the that's the will of the board, it's definitely something that could be kind of looked into and and and further discussions um had. >> Well, then I I want to say individually as a commissioner, I think that I I think it's important for the clerk to hear this part because I do want to make a recommendation for changes on the policy. So, I'm um I think that to to prioritize um our local vendors. Um, and that's not saying um that it's only our local v vendors, but putting um language inside of the policy that's like unless it's it's um or pursuant to

090New York state law, federal law, you know, putting more favorability around local vendors, if you know what we're looking for, there's a local vendor possibly inside of that. Um >> so so commissioner may may um maybe what can happen is some information be brought back to the board. I I I think that does happen actually a lot organically. >> Um again because for for most people who live and work here in the community it makes sense uh to have people who are close by. So I think what you're saying already happens a lot organically but obviously I don't have that that information. So maybe that is information that can be brought back and then the then then the board can look at and make a determination whether board action is necessary. Yeah. And that and

091that will that will actually be my request. Um you know of course if if if the board agrees but I think um although you say it does happen like I don't think that from our budget it shows you know and a lot of times you see even end processes for curriculum or anything like that where you might have some uh teachers from east who created a curriculum but instead you know this major manufactured curriculum was chosen instead of that. And so, um, >> I will say it's happening in some areas, but I just think in in some other areas it could be better. It's also important during these times to make sure that our funds are local. Um, so there's also a resolution that was passed tonight of almost a million dollars going in Title

092One funding going out to uh some of our sub suburban school districts. I think it's important as we go uh further into um this current administration's um agenda and pushes that we start to ensure that our money is coming back into Rochester, coming back uh into the district um in a way that that is benefiting our city overall and our people. So >> Okay. Yep. So, so I don't want to speak for you, Commissioner, but did I did I hear like maybe a question log question to see like what's the percentage of that spend on like local vendors or something and um that information be given to you and and then you can decide whether to kind of raise it again with your colleagues. >> Thank Thank you, legal counsel. Appreciate it. >> Thank you.

093Um do we have any other questions? Vice President Malloy, >> thank you. This is just regarding the um parent preference managed choice policy 5153. Um, I forgot that this one was in here. Um, I think that we should pay close attention to the bilingual educational council feedback that was given. Um, you know, there were some concerns that they seem to have expressed here that we might just want to raise as board. Um, some of their feedback included, you know, in a school district with declining enrollment, we've got to give preference to prek families in the primary schools of their choice. um the school zone is receiving more weight than the parents decision to maybe remain in RCSD. So that was a concern that was brought up which I think we should consider. And then further

094down in the policy um currently in our policy in um number three section C um our current policy states that pre kindergarten preference uh where if a student attended a school for prek and is within their zone they would have a preference to a kindergarten seat. And it says in parentheses, "This preference does not apply in citywide schools and the 0.75 mile proximity preference for up to 60% of capacity." And I remember we changed this a few years ago, but according to the bilingual educational council feedback, they're asking some really pertinent questions. What about preks that have special programming? In other words, like bilingual programs like at school 12. Um, and I think those are some really valid things to continue uh to consider moving forward. Um, and you know, I I think a lot

095of families are having more and more of a preference for um staying within that same elementary school wherever their kids are going to pre-k. And they've got younger siblings that are coming up through the program as well. And ideally, I think most families probably want to have their kids all in one place so they don't have to go to separate schools. I know that now that my three of my four kids who remain in the district um now that they are at the same school um it's a game changer just as a mom um when they were at three separate schools that was a lot to handle um and I can't even imagine what families go through who are dependent upon public transportation um far less privileged than my my own um family um it

096was a lot to to handle and people with young kids and strollers and we talk about community involvement and wanting our parents to be more engaged. Um, having all kids in one school is really advantageous for most families and want to see that transition from prek right into the school program. So, whatever we can do to facilitate that, I would just implore my my fellow my colleagues to consider those types of things. And I think this was some valuable feedback from our bilingual education council. >> Thank you, Commissioner Mallaloy. And actually, you know, um I actually have this same policy pulled up and been mulling over it um this entire time with those same um comments that I wanted to make sure we highlighted. So, um no convincing here. I think we're on the same

097page regarding that. And so, um I would like to probably deeper explore those things. And I know just this week we had a family not necessarily connected to BEC or bilingual education. Um but just the matter of a family who had a couple of children going to one school and outside of the zone and some some strong barriers in the district was able to facilitate um and support and I know that in not in every single case are we going to be able to accommodate families but where we can and where it makes sense we do want to um take a look at at these pieces. So thank you for lifting that. I too uh policy number 5153 and the feedback recognized by the bilingual education council. Uh with that said, were there any other

098statements or questions, concerns regarding policies 4205 through 6750? >> Uh with none, those readings we can just forward. >> I believe uh Commissioner LeBron wants to make a comment. >> Oh, she's on the she's on she went on teams. Oh, she jumped on teams. Okay. Um, sure. Commissioner LeBron and then Commissioner. I just when we talk about the manage choice program um policy, I just want to point out that there are so many reports and again even previous commissioners like um Elizabeth when she was on she did um a committee where she had feedback on this. is the Southeast uh education group spent years also doing research on this and we as a board um about eight years ago and again six years ago um with different commissioners also held some listening sessions and some

099focus groups around the managed choice policy and I think that there's enough feedback from all of those groups to implement it but I also want to acknowledge the district's financial constraints to implementing all of that feedback. That's all. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions regarding these policies? With none, uh we're going to I think we don't need to necessarily vote on these. We just move these forward into the third uh readings where they'll be voted on at the October reading. Uh the same with the first readings. We'll take a look at those really quickly. Those are policies 4350, multicultural global education. 4360 teaching of controversial issues, uh 4,400 field trips and excursions, and 4513 library materials. Um any comments, questions, or concerns on those policies at this time? I'm just looking really quickly.

100Oh, you know the the day trips. Um I do there is a comment on um this is policy 4400 around um looking at opportunities to cut through procedural delays. I think there's a lot of things um we have to be mindful of and there's technical nuances that we want to dot our eyes and cross our tees as we should. Um but where we can streamline or make some efficiencies so that day trips and things of that nature don't become so cumbersome um without compromising safety that might be a good thing to look at. Um but I don't have a specific recommendation at this particular time. So, with no additional comments or statements on the first readings under new business, um we're going to move those forward to the second readings at this time. Um also

101on the agenda, uh we have the commissioner's professional development report. We do know that at the time state monitor Shelley Jallow, it's on the agenda um recommended um that you know we as commissioners often or have opportunities to go and um get some professional developments and so recently um myself and commissioner Santiago attended the um cube um and forgive me I'm working on team no sleep today. Um, patience is a virtue. And if we can extend some grace because I'mma tell you this a hard bunch sometimes. But off the soap box, what give you the urban school districts um they all come together across the nation and it's such wonderful um opportunity to learn and grow. Commissioner Santiago, I'm going to um allow for you to share some of your um thoughts and then I

102will share uh mine. Yeah. So, the Cube Conference was an insightful conference. It was amazing to be able to go to LA um and meet the people that that we've been able to meet. Um and I not only come back with feedback of the professional development, but I come back with uh possible action and ideas uh to enhance uh the Rochester City School District. Um, and we've seen uh in the recent years and in the past years um a high level of chronic absenteeism um a high and low level of our proficiency and literacy and math scores. Um and it's obvious that there's a possibility that the current instruction and the current material that our students are learning from isn't engaging them to in the way that we need them to be. I.e. 50% chronic

103ab absenteeism and our low uh proficiency in literacy and math rates. I believe that when we follow old procedures and follow old uh cultures of teaching and learning uh with a new generation of young people with new technologies with new opportunities that we miss giving our young people an opportunity for their future uh definitely as we see technology advance inside of our world. And so I believe that adding um and innovating our education is important for our students. And I believe that using uh AI as a tool inside of our education um will be beneficial to Rochester in many different ways. Um and part of the benefits is one uh creating spaces for personalized learning uh where AI can adjust lessons to each students pace, strength and weaknesses to also help uh struggling learners get

104extra practice while allowing advanced students to move ahead. It also allows accessible support providing 247 tutoring or homework help. This also helps with our our uh testing scores. Um, tutoring is important for our testing scores and when you have uh a 247 tutoring AI tool to support our children, it'll be beneficial. It also assists students with disabilities through tools like text to speak, speak to text or adaptive interfaces. It also engages and motivates our young people. There are different platforms that uh allow and make our learning more interactive and fun for our students. Um, and it also gives feedback to our students to keep them motivated and on track. Part of learning and part of being a self- advocate for yourself as a student is knowing where you are, knowing where you have to be

105and doing the work to get there. And it also bridges the learning gaps inside of our districts. It identify the gaps and knowledge early. Um, and it offers targeted practices and it supports language learners, which is big for the RCSD with translation, vocabulary building, um, and practices. Um, there are a lot of AI services, hundreds out there who are tools to help support uh, young people. So you have Gal's uh AI leveler which lets teacher teachers adjust uh reading level of instruction content uh to match each student's reading ability and it's a helpful support to reading comprehension. You have Brisk, which is a AI tool that helps with a um English language learners. Um and it helps them level um uh and and look at test text translate level at any text generate uh material

106and lesson plans. There are districts inside the United States who has AI integrated into into their district uh between policy and services. Um and AI is not and for RCSD it should not be a replacement for humans but a tool to enhance our learning outcomes. The um district in California in LA um includes teacher and student surveys. They are pilot uh piloting AI tools. Um and they are currently creating a AI committee. Um and you have the Douglas County School District who is exploring building their own AI platform um and is currently testing those platforms inside of their districts. And so I hope to see in Rochester um innovation to our education. Um integrating AI as a tool, not as something that's relied on, not replacing humans, but as a tool uh to help our

107students with their outcomes. NISBA has already recommended a AI policy for the RCSD because what is also important is regulation and ensuring that there is balance. Um, and so my ask is that the RCSD school board adopts uh what NISSBA has already um recommended to the RCSD for AI policy, but not only adopts, but looks at the policies, tailor it to the RCSD and see how we can educate um and innovate our education in Rochester, New York. Uh I'll continue to focus on that uh throughout my next two years and my term here on the RCSD board because I do believe that can advance our district and ways that we haven't seen before. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Pon uh Santiago for your report on the um cube conference in LA. As I stated,

108I had an opportunity I'll keep mine brief. Um there were several workshops that um really stood out and one of them being the state of urban education navigating the political landscape that was actually presented by some of our colleagues from Russia. They did a wonderful job and this was you know interesting because le leveraging um strategic planning to navigate the political tailwinds something that we see in our district. But to see the um unified approach that their board took um created less confusion, unity around messaging and really allowed for their district as a whole to move forward. And I think when we die to self and our own personal interests and understand collectively how we can either hurt or harm the district that we all I'm sure care for, um we can move much further

109together. Um, and moving together doesn't always mean that we're in agreement, but there's there's something to that. Um, so I truly enjoyed that presentation. We did get a chance to meet Colin Kaepernick. That was great. And he did a highlight on uh Lumi AI, which is his presentation. Um, it's a it it it's wonderful. And right here in Rochester at our Rochester Central Library, we do have a comic uh creation class. So those are things that we can look at. It's things um exist all over but they also exist right here in Rochester and we can be more methodical. Matter of fact, I think they're already working with the district and the district has been moving in that direction. So exciting to see that and you anyone who knows me knows literacy is my thing.

110And so just to see how those graphic comics and prompting and and um building that muscle for students builds that critical thinking um was very insightful to see. And so I have already engaged the library around um some of the AI activities they're having there and we'll be following up with them on on um learning more from myself. And lastly, going on the site visits is something I recommend all commissioners to do when you go on these um PE uh these conferences. You can sign up for additional site visits. So I did get to visit the new Compton High School in LA as well as the Benjamin O. Davis Junior Middle School and the things they are doing really mirror conversations that we've seen um brought to life and um so there's a lot of

111similarity similarities or things that are already happening but we saw students with drones, economics, cooking, arts, robotics and those things exist right here in the district. Um and so finding creative ways to align and maybe highlight them this u the way other districts do and bring them to life. I think we are have the ability to be such a competitive district and we have so much to offer here and once we turn our conversations towards our students and what this district can do and really lift these children that we serve and we're all important. Commissioners are important. Educators are we need we all need each other but these children need us the most. And so when we start to focus on them, um I think we'll start to see this district move forward and I'm

112I'm very excited for that to happen because it will. Um and with that said, um thank you for submitting your report, sir. Um I don't think we have anything else on the agenda, do we? No executive session. If you we can complete the survey. We may need to revisit if we're going to keep doing that. Um motion to exit our meeting this evening. >> Motion >> second. Patterson Mallaloy. All in favor? I I Good night.