001e e e and good evening to our W our public um this is the Rochester City School District today is March 6 2025 and it is our special meeting to discuss Personnel matters at this time the board will be um moving into executive session I'd like to entertain a uh to excuse me we'll be moving into uh executive session to recess um to discuss matters leading to the appointment employment status of specific individuals Andor to discuss matters of concern with the general counil um at this time I'd like to entertain a motion for executive session motion by commissioner Patterson seconded by commissioner Griffin all in favor of entering executive session I any opposed at this time we'll be entering into exec of session thank you e e e and thank you again to our viewing
002audience uh we have returned from executive session at this time I'd like to entertain a motion to uh vote on the superintendent appointment resolution 551 still moved by vice president Malloy seconded by commissioner Patterson all in favor I any opposed at this time I'm sorry I took called the vote and I needed to open for discussion so I'm going to back up and um ask that we deliberate over any comments um that Commissioners wish to make at this time I'll go ahead and start there thank you I will be voting notes tonight and I just want to put this on the record on March 6 2025 as we are continuously fighting the federal government and project 2025 and we have no idea what's to come we have no idea what's to come for Medicaid Insurance
003labor Medicare uh benefits for families and services but especially public education is under attack right now labor is under attack right now um and with the changing landscape I could not support the most lucrative contract yet um that rcsd is to give a superintendent I cannot support an outsider coming in at this time and I really hate to say like I told you so but this very much feels like a very budget vote that happened for me a few years ago um and you know at this point I definitely feel like this be this became Commissioners sort of voting out of Pride because they didn't like that they got called out for the decisions and how they're moving versus actually taking a step back to look at the bigger scope of what's happening so with
004that and this is not an attack to the new person I don't know this person I had previously and I do want to address that I had a com were made last Thursday and I just have to say that the comments made last Thursday that yes we did all vote to have a process that was almost a year ago and things have changed and after November 7th and after January 20th it's been two months and many many things have changed already in this country um including our Refugee and immigrant students who are living in fear right now right in this community so this again is nothing to the new person I don't know them I remove myself from the process and I hate to say I told you so but that is essentially what will
005happen thank you thank you commissioner LeBron I'm going to move down the de um commissioner Santiago would you like to have comments at this time uh yes uh to the Rochester Community uh today my vote will be a no regarding uh the superintendent contract that's being proposed to the board um this is also not anything against the candidate that will be joining the board but I also do understand that we're currently in a time where there's a lot of transition where there's a lot of change uh we're also in a time where there's a big gap in the budget and even with the contract that's currently being proposed um I believe it's an expensive cont contract one of the most expensive contracts that we've passed as a board in the history of this district and
006I just do not believe that right now is the time for us to be creating more instability I remember myself as a student in the district during a time where there were changes in our country during the pandemic I remember my time in the district as a student experiencing many Transitions and changes and in in our leadership and every time that there was a transition as a student in our leadership certainly during a time where there was already an unstable world and an unstable country it left the students education not 100% there and so as a board commissioner as a board member and someone who was elected to fight for the students elected as a graduate elect two years after uh graduating from this District I can't vote Yes in favor of something that I
007know will affect our districts and our students and not the best way during this time of change during this time of transition during the FMP during uh reconstruction and during many changes in this district and so my vote today will be a no for stability for the students and also being authentic to my experience as a student in this district with constant turnover and constant change it cannot continue to happen if we want to progress and want to move forward and Achieve our board goals um and so today under being fiscally responsible under being responsible for this district and the structure of this district and being responsible to the students who need stability in this District District my vote would be a no thank you thank you commissioner Santiago um at this time I'm going
008to ask vice president Malloy if she'd like to have any words yes thank you first and foremost um Welcome to our district um Dr Rosser um as an educator with over 24 years of experience as a teacher um I welcome you I welcome the stability that you will bring to our district I welcome your experience in districts that are much larger than ours I value your emphasis on literacy and your ability to bring a strong foundation for our students and so I welcome you today and um thank you thank you vice president Malloy I'm going to move to the other end of the dasas at this time and I'm going to ask commissioner Griffin to uh express any words well I would just like to say welcome I welcome you you I welcome your um
009experience your knowledge understanding that you have a job ahead of you and that I full in full support of you um and I know you will make a difference in the city of Rochester so I just welcome you thank you thank you commissioner Griffin commissioner Patterson well welcome and that's a kind welcome a loving welcome I welcome you and your wife and your family you know to the Rochester area and the Rochester City School District we look forward to a lot of great things you know from you um that search um committee and all those items that you had to produce um you shined above so many others um so we were very select and thoughtful in selecting you um I don't want you to think it was haphazard or you were you know a
010third fourth or fifth choice you were always in the top two and you just shined Above the Rest uh so I look forward to working with you I look forward to you giving you providing you the autonomy to do the job but more so supporting you you have 110% of my support so please know you can always reach out to me you know ask me questions and um you know hopefully we'll have a great working relationship but I hope that you don't allow some negative voices you know in the room to penetrate you I know you're a strong man I heard that you know during your interview process so please know that you have individuals supporting you and we will be there to Shield you we will be there to help plant that fence around
011you um so welcome to Rochester welcome welcome it is really a warm place and we're going to make sure that you and your wife I don't know if you have any kids but um that you're you feel welcomed here so thank you for coming thank you for accepting the position and um I'll I'll stop there thank you thank you commissioner Patterson we recognize Rochester sends to be when we look at National Trends and uh salary um that we have been on the lower end so what I I'm thinking it's time to um enter into something new and what I will say is this Dr Roser sir walk softly and carry a big stick those are my words those are my words and at this time I'm going to uh ask for a vote on uh
012the appointment of our superintendent Dr Eric Rosser um we will do a roll call vote and I'll start from the end of the day and I will start with uh commissioner LeBron commissioner Santiago use the microphone you said okay thank you I did use the microphone no thank you commissioner Santiago nay vice president mloy yes it is a yes for me commissioner Patterson yes absolutely yes Griffin absolutely yes uh the V carries and Dr roster Dr Eric Roser thank you and welcome to the Rochester City School [Applause] District at this time we're going to uh go into a brief recess um and then we will uh actually need to go into a second executive session after that recess the recess will be taken to speak to the the media of course um introduce Dr Rosser
013and uh then we will um enter into our second executive session and so I'd like to entertain a motion at this time to enter into our second executive session um I'm sorry we don't just a motion for the recess and then once the recess is over then you okay so entertaining a motion for the recess at this time motion by commissioner Griffin seconded by vice president Malloy all in favor of the recess okay thank you e e e and good evening everyone uh we are back from our brief recess and we will be moving back into as our second executive session for the evening at this time um I'd like to um the board May recess into executive session to discuss matters leading to the appointment um employment status of a specific individual or discuss
014matters of concern with general counsel um entertaining a motion to enter into executive session at this time so move vice president motion and Griffin all in favor I okay we are going back into executive session thank you e e e and thank you for your patience um we are back from executive session and at this time we will be uh voting on resolution 5 52 uh for indemnification uh at this time I'd like to entertain a motion uh for Resolutions second entertain a motion uh by commissioner Elliott seconded by Vi uh by commissioner LeBron Harris all in favor of okay opening for discussion for um resolution 552 and this is in reference to Legal defense indemnification yes you can have comments or you cannot have comments but I'm giving the opportunity I clearly want to
015comment on the fact that um based on my me being a public official uh we have uh we have a de of Duties and and we have values to uphold as a uh elected official and with everyone um there are laws um that are driven for us to follow and um we have a public to adhere to and we have a respect level E ethically and morally um and based on the information that I was able to obtain in reference to um what has happened with um with my fellow colleagues um I feel that as an obligation of um in my position and being of of of of of African-American and Latino descent um respectfully I would be doing a dis Justice to my to my to my to my culture for me to to
016to me to um agree to to these to these um to this but I'm going to read you guys for the public I'm just going to read you something so you can understand exactly how I'm coming to my conclusion we have um a matter here that came right from the the city of Rochester a matter of zaleski versus Board of Education 2020 and it says establish that school board members may be held individually accountable for actions outside the official duties and then we have Barker versus City School District District of Albany 2019 reinforc that the indemnification is not applicable for the intentional misconduct by an elected official then we have commissioner's decision number 17,8 129 and it's from 2021 and affirms that school districts cannot allocate public funds for board members facing personal legal challenges
017um and that's what I have to say in reference to any discussion in this matter um if it was in a line of duty um it it it Bears weight and this this event was not so I am finish at this point um thank you for your comments commissioner Griffin um so at this time um I'd like do you have a comment yes I do okay commissioner I just want the listening audience to know that you cannot Google the law and someone who actually holds a law degree that does not practice the law you cannot Google laws there are lots of things that happen within the legal system from the legislation putting a law down through the pro through the chambers to a judges making decisions to those decisions being challenged over and over and
018over again um so that's one but two I just want to to the listening audience also say that what um commissioner Santiago is being accused of is not a criminal matter so I want to uplift that and secondly that he is and was and I was not here so just to be clear so this is all here say until there this gets hashed out um that he was acting in His official capacity because he was at the district at work already um meeting was in session so just for clarity for the listening audience again um that that is not how the law works you can Google laws and that's how you can interpret them but unless you really know how to understand it and read it and go back and look at the courts and
019see what other decisions were made it's Fugal to site those things thank you thank you commissioner LeBron commissioner Santiago yeah I just want to uh say to the the listening public that um it's unfortunate that this has to be proposed um certainly for uh funding and and resources that is supposed to be educated to our students in which we are we are all here for um I joined this board uh the beginning of last year elected at 20 19 years old as the youngest elected official in Rochester and somebody who was coming on the board with an authentic experience to what this district is like truly on the inside and I saw firstand throughout my experience throughout this district from kindergarten all the way up to now many young people be failed many young people
020in this system lose their life not be educated correctly not given the opportunity to have generational success and so I came on this board to advocate for the young people for the students that I came from I was born in raised in this city born and raised I'm a child of this city and as a black man there is no possible way that I could say a racial slur or come with a racial slur unless I hate myself and I don't hate myself I love myself and so it's unfortunate this has to happen um I am still open and I have uh previously reached out to uh commissioner Patterson's support system uh I have had people from my corner Reach Out to people in in his uh on his corner to sit down and have
021a meeting of reconciliation I am still open to that um and I hope that we are able to to mend this together because this is about the students and we cannot let the focus be on these personal issues it has to be on the focus of the students and so uh My Hope Is that we can mend this um but also if I have to fight I'm ready to fight however that must be done thank you thank you commissioner Santiago uh commissioner Elliot did you have any words you want to express at this time not at this time thank you thank you um and I will say you know again if we Google the law if we just got the law um and even experts of the law these particular matters um do have gray
022areas I've talked to the state level and so on just to try to understand um what exactly the recourse would be but the recourse for me is always going to be on the side of children and that is what I want our conversations to focus on it is a prayer it is a wish it is a hope whatever you want to call it but um we can talk about it all day but they'll know us by our fruits and I don't think we do a lot of talking about our children and I think when we look at this District historically if we don't acknowledge that something needs to change and it starts with us the Board of Education we will Prof fulfill the prophecy that was spoken we'll continue to turn people over like we
023have 20 30 and 40 years just a year and a half ago we'll continue that as long as we continue to disrespect the office that we're here to respect people deserve respect they deserve to tune into board meetings and hear about about education so at this point I'm going to get off my soap box and I'm going to ask that we call the vote for resolution 552 I have something to say okay I'm sorry commissioner Patterson please I wasn't going to say anything I was going to just be quiet on the matter and let everything take its course but when I sit up here and statements are made like I'm not even here I have to respond to that um my colleague has not reached out to me to ask me to Mentor him or
024anything like that no can I just correct very quickly that's okay I reached out to my pastor I told my pastor no you said before that you said something relative to myself no I was saying I had people from my my support system reach out to commissioner harison support system okay all right so that being said I'm going to end this pretty quickly if commissioner Santiago wants to make a public apology relative to the statement that he used reference me with an nword public from this day apologizing for that vulgarity he wants to admit that he did use that word and that I have never harassed him that I have never called him boy you do it all the time excuse me excuse me we're going to allow commissioner Patterson to speak if he's willing
025to make admissions that he fabricated fabricated that's not fa his statements then I'm going to forgive him either way I'm going to forgive him but I'm not going to forget but if he wants me to drop my petition and I'll be speaking with Dr Rosa first to make sure that's what she wants me to do but from my heart if he's willing to make a public admission that he said those words which he has denied more than one I'll say then I'm willing to drop my um petition but he must make that admission yeah and he must clear my name unfortunately Comm commissioner Pon I can't lie um and the reality is um you've you've accused me of of using a racial slur and what I'm telling you is that I've never used a racial
026slur and I will also say that in order for me to apologize I will have to take an apology on the other end because this is not an issue that I started in this situation commissioner impass was the aggressor from the situation of me bringing up the fact that he was late to this meeting as we flew candidates in out of town four all the way to him saying that I better be careful and calling me an immature boy so I can't lie to the community I'll fight this no I'mma finish my statement I'm a stop but come I'll just say I'll just say I'll just say this finally I am not I am not I am not this fight is not just for me but this fight is for every student that's been suspended
027that's been in trouble for a lie from a teacher or some older person so I'll be fighting this fight cuz I can't lie I can't lie to the public I would love to to to to bring this together but I can't lie to the public thank you Comm Commissioners my my if you if you have a legal question um we can go back into executive session um outside of that my recommendation is to to limit your statements um at this time and I think there is a is there there's a motion before the board to to to act on but um I would recommend limiting your statements further this time all right thank you and I don't think yeah we're not GNA have the court case here but what I will say is um are
028we going to vote you ready to vote all in favor of resolution 552 I I any oppose i n nay can I have a uh roll call vote please roll call on everyone how they voted happily yes for commissioner LeBron yes I did uh vote in favor of the legal defense no okay the resolution carries at this time Elliot president Elliot I'm sorry commissioner Elliott yes okay thank you you have it rahima I hope we never have to continue these conversations um at this time I'd like to entertain a motion to uh leave the meeting second seconded all in favor meeting is adjourned thank you for