001good evening everyone and welcome to the first public hearing regarding the monitor of the Rochester City School District this evening with you is myself Kevin McDonald district superintendent of the Genesee Valley educational partnership I am your moderator and host we have state monitor dr. Shelley Jallow we have Rochester City School District Superintendent dr. Leslie Meyer small and from the New York State Education Department we have Irish Schwartz this evening we would ask as Marisol said for everybody to please turn off your video if you are not speaking and a reminder to those that who may be in a waiting room that are planning to speak with us tonight that we are going to have a 30 to 40 minute presentation prior to the speakers who have signed up dr. jello is going to do a
002presentation on state law and regulations regarding school district governance and intervention and the opportunity for public comments will take place at the end we just pause for one second please yes sir I'm I'm a PowerPoint I don't have the notes apologize Tom can you take us to the title screen for one second please good evening everybody apologies for the technical difficulties we think we have it sorted out and we are ready to go this evening good evening welcome I am Kevin McDonald district superintendent of the Genesee Valley educational partnership and your moderator for today's virtual public hearing of the monitor for the Rochester City School District today's public hearing is on the subject of state authority pertaining to School District governance and interventions in my role as moderator I will explain for viewers and participants
003how this hearing will be conducted call upon speakers who wish to make comments or ask questions during this public hearing ensure that public comments have been received prior to the hearing are entered into the public record and if time permits give panelists an opportunity to answer questions that have been submitted I am joined this evening by dr. Shelley jellow the monitor for the Rochester City School District dr. Leslie Meyer small the superintendent of the district and mr. Iowa Schwartz who will be representing the New York State Education Department our agenda for today's meeting is as follows I will first explain how this virtual public hearing will be conducted and how persons may participate in the hearing next dr. jela will do a presentation on state law and regulations regarding school district governance and intervention so
004that we can all have some common information about this topic I will then provide an opportunity for persons who are participating in this public hearing to make comments regarding this topic this will be followed if time allows by my summarizing of public comments that we have received prior to this meeting then if time allows dr. giallo and mr. Schwartz will respond to questions that were submitted prior to the hearing we will end with a review of the next steps in the process which includes the conduct the conducting of two additional hearings on July 8th and July 22nd pertaining to the academic and fiscal status of the school district after dr. jell-o has finished her presentation we will open it up for questions from everyone who emailed us indicating that they would like to speak today
005when the time comes for public comments I will call upon each speaker in the that they signed up to speak when I call your name your microphone will be unmuted you will then be given three minutes to make your statement when you have 30 seconds remaining and your a lot of time I will inform you after three minutes I will thank you for your statement mute your microphone and we will then move on to our next speaker if anyone wants to submit a comment who did not email us you can still submit your comment to state monitor at our CSD k-12 org and your comment will be made part of the record of this hearing now I'll introduce dr. Shelly Jala thank you Kevin and welcome to all who are participating in tonight's virtual hearing
006i am shelly Jallow the monitor appointed by the Commissioner to the Rochester City School District I have decades of experience in school district improvement and have served as senior as a senior director of school improvement in the learning innovations program at quested prior to my time at West ed I supervised coached and mentored school and district leaders in school districts throughout New Jersey representing low performing elementary middle and high schools I'm very familiar with the academic and physical challenges faced by districts such as Manchester this hearing is being conducted to meet the requirements of a new state law that directs the Commissioner of Education to appoint a monitor to the Rochester School District the Rochester school district is not unique in this week on similar provisions of law also required the Commissioner to appoint monitors
007to the Hempstead and Ryan 10 school districts as the Rochester monitor I am charged with providing oversight guidance and technical assistance related to the educational and fiscal policies practices programs and decisions of the school district in its board of election and its Board of Education and superintendent excuse me during my time in office I will be a member of the Board of Education and will attend all the board meetings but I will not vote on any issues I will assist the board to adopt a revised conflict of interest policy based on a model policy provided by the state education department my core responsibilities are to provide a proposed academic improvement and a proposed financial plan for the district no later than the first November 2020 for the 2020 2021 school year and for the for
008subsequent school years then beginning with the 2122 school year budget I will review the district's budget each year to ensure that the budget is based on reasonable estimates of revenues and expenditures it's balanced and is consistent with district academic inclusion I will report several semi-annually to state officials on the academic fiscal and operational status of the district I will assist in resolving any disputes and conflicts between superintendent and the board and among members of the board I can disprove disapprove travel outside the state paid for by the district in addition I can recommend for both by the board was saving visions including but not limited to shared service the Queen's finally I can notify the board in writing avoiding violations of the academic or fiscal plan and if they are not satisfactorily resolved I can
009ask the Commissioner of Education to direct the board to cease any action not consistent with the academic improvement of this planet the public hearing we are conducting today is required by the state law that established the position of the manager we are doing the hearings this month and in July of course by law they must be conducted within 60 days of my appointment the first hearing is to take place is to take public comments and answer questions about state laws and regulations pertaining to education rule including the provision of Education law section 306 that specifies the conditions under which the Commissioner may remove board members or withhold funds from a district to additional hearings will be held in July avoiding the academic and fiscal performance of this before we discuss the state role of school
010governess it might be worth reminding ourselves that there are three key players in school governance local Boards of Education and the state and federal governments most of the key decisions about how schools operate are made by local Boards of Education and implemented by school superintendents the state and federal governments may also adopt laws and regulations that impact school governance often the federal government does this by requiring States and school districts to take certain actions in exchange for receiving federal funds for example the federal government may require that students be taught by certified teachers as a condition to sequence the state in turn may set the standards for certification of teachers the local school board then determines which persons to recruit and hire as teachers determines their assignments provides these teachers with professional development evaluates their
011performance and ultimately decides whether to issue ten entities teachers at this hearing who will focus on the state role in governments and intervention it should be noted that unlike most other school districts in New York and in the United States the authority of the State Education Department mission of Education in the Board of Regents to rise from state law section 101 of the state law is foundational to this Authority and charges the New York State Education Department with the general management and supervision of all public schools and educational work of the state since and the commissioner the power to adopt rules and regulations to carry out state education Wars and the functions and duties conferred on the department rules and regulations must go through an extensive public comment process before they have permanent Vietnam and
012once adopted again the force education law also provides the State Education Department with the authority to visit examine and inspect school districts and their schools all educational and cultural institutions in need in New York including public schools belong to something called the University of the state of New York which is not to be confused with the State University you indeed all of the colleges and universities in the State University of New York along with all other institutions of higher education are part of the University of the state of New York think of the University of the state of New York as all of the organizations and people who are subject to the authority of the State Board of Regents and the Commissioner of Education the Commissioner of Education is the president of the University of
013the state of the law and has much authority under the rule by the way there are 17 members of the Regents who are appointed by the members of the state legislature to 5a champs 12 members of the Board of Regents represent specific parts on state the region for Rochester is priced chairs Lentini anthem plan who was first appointed to the Board of Regents in the year 2012 in 2019 he was unanimously elected by his fellow agents as much chance me a second member of the Board of Regents Wade as normally represents the state at large but has deep rules in one system the Commission of Education is in turn appointed by the Board of Regents and serves as its pleasure Qi responsibilities of the Commissioner include enforcing laws related to the education system on the
014state and exit executing all educational policies determined on individuals having general supervision over all schools advising and guiding school offices of all districts and cities of the state in relations with their duties and the general management of schools under their control both federal and state education law as well as commissioners regulations give the Commissioner significant authority and responsibility to oversee is system by which districts and schools are held accountable for academic achievement of students at the federal level New York receives approximately 1.8 billion dollars annually under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to provide services to those groups of students who have traditionally faced the greatest educational challenges such as low income students English language learners and incarcerated youth in exchange for this funding New York is expected to differentiate school performance and identified low
015achieving schools for additional supports and interventions education law 211 a and the commissioners regulation 120 41 are the basis upon which the state meets these federal requirements in New York the Commissioner annually determines which districts should be targeted for additional support and interventions as well as most we should also be so tiny there are two designations for such schools comprehensive support and implement schools are designated because of the performance of all students in the school and targeted support and employment schools are designated because of the performance of specific school with groups students in a school these schools are required to develop and implement comprehensive small comprehensive education plans and receive funding from the State Education Department to assist in implementing these planets the majority of school that one cheston have been designated as either CSI
016schools comprehensive support in improving schools or CSI targeted support and improvement schools when school districts have schools that remain low-performing year of the year the Commissioner may assign a distinguished educator to the school district today distinguished educators have been appointed in Rochester Buffalo and ham steps in districts in 2018 then Commissioner Elian appointed dr. Hine yogini but has distinguished educator to Rochester School District I anticipate that much of my room will build upon the findings and recommendations made by dr. King in his world would section 211 a of the education law provides that a school board subject to the approval of the Commissioner is authorized to contract for periods of up to five years with an educational partnership organization also known as a EPR to intervene in a school designated body the lowest achieving school
017as a Pacific the lowest achievement school consistent with federal requirements or a school under registration review the Evo assumes the powers and duties of the Superintendent of Schools for the purposes of implementing the educational program of the school including making recommendations to the board on the budgetary decisions staffing population decisions student discipline decisions decisions our Rick ulam and determining the daily schedule and school calendar all of which must be consistent with the applicable collective bargaining units the contract with the EDR must include district performance expectations and or benchmarks for school operations and academic outcomes and failure to meet such expectations or benchmarks need the ground the termination of contract there are currently two schools in Rochester is upper and east lower for which the University of Rochester is serving a CBP another provision of state
018law pertains to schools that have been struggling with low academic achievement over a period of three years these schools can be placed under this leadership competition once a receivership the superintendent of the district is given special Authority that allows us to intend to take actions in some cases without the permission of the school board and to modify certain aspects of collective bargaining communities there are currently 40 schools in Michigan in 11 districts there are 14 schools in Rochester that were in receivership during the nine 2019-20 school year the following schools operated under receivership during the school year dr. walter cooper academy school 16 school 19 dr. charles team longsword school 2800 hudson school 33 Audubon Joseph C Wilson foundation Academy Edison Korea technology high school Vanguard collegiate high school integrated Arts and Technology High School
019Leadership Academy here then our heist excuse me James Monroe High School lost season one second last ones were northeast collegiate prep and I can't get the last one I apologize guilty one moment East lower high school there are two types of receivership superintendent receivership and independent resources today all schools would have been placed in receivership I've had the superintendent of the district serve as a receiver for the school schools remain on the superintendent receiver as long as the school makes demonstrable improvement or until the school needs the conditions for removal from procedure if the school failed to make them demonstrable improvement one of the two things can happen the school can have an indignant receive up the side or the district can submit a plan to close the school and if desired we place the
020school with a new school one school in receivership in Rochester School forty one for that part failed to make that improvement and was closed and replaced by the rise school an independent receiver has the authority to one manage and operate all aspects of the school to develop and implement a school intervention plan for the school that considers the recommendation of statutorily established moving Engagement Team and three supersede any decision policy or regulation of the superintendent she's officer school board another school officer or the building constable that in receivers sole judgment conflicts with school intervention plan provided however that the receiver may not seek receive decisions that are not directly linked to the school intervention plan the superintendent receive it is vested with all the powers of an independent receipt except that the superintendent is not
021allowed to override any decision of the Board of Education with respect to his or her including sports every public school in New York must be registered by the bullying regions in order to company beginning in 1989 the Board of Regents put in place a process by which those foods that were farthest from the state standards and most in need of inhaling he had their registration placed upon his view these schools received additional support and the interventions to help them implement improvement plans if these schools did not include the district was required to close the school or have the registration of the school to vote which would result in the commission of giving a district a plan for what it must do little students who were attending in the school a number of schools in Rochester
022were placed under registration review and a number have closed in bhimli place as a result of this process for example the old instanton high school or schools that closed as a result of the serve process after the Commissioner adopted these regulations section 211 B of the education law was enacted which made the requirement that the Commissioner identify a service to move as part of education law when the receivership were law was enacted the wish registration of the new process became largely subsumed by the receivership process that is schools that were placed in receivership will also identify his sermon schools that are removed from receivership or also removed from Sur and this action instead schools in the city receivership take meet the requirements will serve schools under very specific circumstances the Commissioner can identify schools that
023have conditions that threaten the health safety or educational welfare for students under registration rule one of the most powerful authorities that the Commissioner has is the ability to remove schools whomever willfully violated or neglected people it should be noted that the standard who removal is very high school board members are elected representatives of the people and therefore only in the most extraordinary cases would it be appropriate for the commissioner who is not electable to remove from official from office a school organ was elected for example to meet the standards it must be shown the person intentionally violated an education law with a wrongful movies indeed the standard is so high that even the middle client of the school is not in itself grounds for removal from office removal of school officers happens only rarely as
024Lord intends for the voters in a school district to decide who should I be there Levinson is the Commissioner made with all district funds in community the Commissioner also has a general power in duty to enforce education law the power is regularly used to require school districts to implement corrective action plans when districts are not carrying out their responsibilities to provide services to students these corrective action plans very frequently involve a provision of services to English language learners students with disabilities homeless you and other educational internal schools okay thank you dr. jello for that overview state law and regulation now that we have reviewed the key provisions of state law that address school governance and interventions we are going to begin to take public comment for those who have signed up to speed I'd like
025to remind everybody that each speaker we'll have three minutes to make their statement and ask their question we are going to call on you in the order in which we have received your request at that time you will be unmuted and have three minutes to speak during your time I will provide you a 30-second warning at the conclusion you will be muted and thanked for your comments we appreciate everybody's time and being here this evening I thank you in advance for your cooperation and following the procedure this should be a very productive public meeting so without further ado the very first person who signed up to speak tonight is precious Henderson as precious Henderson with us she is not so number two on our list is Jessica Norquist a parent in the school district Jessica
026the floor is yours for three minutes good evening I come to you as a parent in this district particularly concerned with social and emotional priorities as we review the governance of this district in a timely email from a district partner the MK Gandhi and super non-violence the iceberg model of understanding culture was included this helped to frame my thought to concerns around our district and its governance the devastation last year is still hard to swallow we lost teachers social workers leaders and inequity amongst districts repeatedly was thrown in our face how can we get below the surface of the events so I'm hoping you as our state monitor can assist with that I'm a strengths-based person and see so much beauty growth and change in Rochester so I want to share the iceberg with why
027my family remains committed to the rcs D in the hopes that all here can build on those assets together in the future so let's start with the event says this is the tip of the iceberg what we see we have a community of students teachers and parents wanting to be engaged in the work and my son's school is part of the protest when teachers were laid off and given a vehicle for his voice along with so many other scholars our Rock restorative youth lead restorative trainings with peers and adults across the district and in the community pushing leading and growing the work in ways we could never imagine in the last year response to the year's events layoffs black lives matter and activism and breaking the school-to-prison pipeline by removing SROs from school buildings the
028use are crying out to lead in this district and how can that be at the heart of our governance the next layer just below the surface our patterns are behavior so what do we do with youth voice when there is a revolving door of leadership we have leaders who have built strong community partnerships to empower youth not only in our schools but also our streets yet struggle to effectively do so when answering to a new leader every year we need unified leaders invested in our city and we need to keep them the leadership of past years in the chief of student support services as continually as hard questions advocated and led this work and the evidence lies in the drop and suspension rate and a growing thirst among adults and students to engage in anti-racism
029work currently this position will no longer exist next year so I'm asking how will we ensure that work will continue with the same efficacy just below patterns we come upon system structure the structures we have been left to work with our bare but some are doing amazing work despite that by systematically mobilizing on the community in past years centralizing leadership of Social Work school counseling alternative programs school health attendants trauma illness and grief team and restorative practices under the chief of students support services while infusing a trauma-informed and culturally responsive lens of instruction enabled anti racism and equity work to be done in all components of student support is imperative there is a structure of experienced leadership knowledgeable and connected to the city of Rochester mental models like the very bottom and is at the
030heart of what we need to think about today so what assumptions and beliefs are going to shape us here's my hope we need collaboration among teachers parents use and community members as we prioritize the social emotional well-being evolved as we transition from Kovan as we transition SROs out of our buildings as we build communities founded on racial justice and restorative practices we need leadership explicitly talking about this funding it at the district and the state level spending our money on the direct needs of our students social emotional support and lifting youth voice around this that is what I want for every single person in this district for my children for my fellow parents for my colleagues and for my city Thank You Jessica thank you for your comments much at this time our next speaker
031is with us our next speaker is Jennifer Bannister Jennifer Bannister joins us as a community member Jennifer the floor is yours no sorry can you hear me we're good and you have three minutes thank you welcome to dr. jello and to also superintendent Leslie's Meijer all I'm Jennifer banister I work with the Center for teen empowerment and I live in the Beachwood neighborhood near North Goodman and I'm looking really forward to working with both of you I want to highlight a highly successful initiative that has also been a highly effective community partnership that it really has been largely missed in fights over governance but that also has everything to do with good governance that is responsive and that benefits from the expertise that exists within the community among students parents teachers paraprofessionals administrators and practitioners
032and youth leadership development mental health juvenile justice non-violence and restorative practices this partnership through the community task force on school climate integrated these stakeholders with all levels of district leadership over six years since 2014 and true partnership we can talk more in your academics public hearing about how this initiative reduced suspensions and built supportive school climate and how that is improved graduation rates data has shown that by keeping students in school learning they are failing at least 28 percent fewer courses and thus attaining credits that they need to graduate as well in 2018 distinguished educator Aquino endorsed all of the school climate recommendations that came out of this partnership the following three areas are what this community needs from and with our governance they come directly from the experiences of both the process and the
033impact that's been realized by the district and community partners together in this community task force on school climate work including students and parents we need partnership first of all and that requires accessible accountable leaders who embrace the voice of an engaged community even when it is in chat when it is challenging and maybe especially when it is challenging because that's where you see and understand the fissures where we need to rebuild trust along with the gaps and the creative solutions to have such a partnership we need leaders inside the district you have deep embedded experience in their fields and in our community and who have demonstrated unceasing accountability to students and families second we need proven continuity we have carried this initiative through now to our seventh superintendent in six years we have met had
034to rebuild and restate the case that the community and the data have shown clearly over and over keep students in school and learning learning with racial equity and anti racism at the forefront every step we take and build the relationships and a culture that supports everyone's growth students all the way to central office and back we need the people in place who know this work inside and out and you have carried the work forward but named some of them specifically who have contained cohesiveness of vision on the ground and implement in implementation and never wavered throughout the transience of district leadership chief I don't owns who carried us through the new code of conduct that supports students learning and problem-solving rather than push out chief Keisha Morgan who has been overseeing the response to the
035Attorney General sanction against our CSD for over suspending and over classifying black and brown students as special needs and Chief Ruth Turner who absolutely essential and everything that our district has needed and needs now more than ever as we deal with the trauma of kovin 19 and the shift from SROs to more deeply read sources of safety Ruth Turner is the reason that Rock restorative exists and is seeing the results that it's seeing she is the best example of a district leader who builds relationships amongst staff and students and partners enthusiastically to receive the assets that run deep in our community to support our students she understands and childhood experience Jennifer thank you for your comments much appreciated well stated thank you so much okay our next public speaker is Stephanie Vargas Stephanie joins us
036this evening as a community member Stephanie as you join us the floor is yours sorry I was watching on Facebook so there's a bit of a delay my name is Stevie Vargas hi my name is Stevie Vargas I mean a community organizer but also a community member and in my role I oftentimes speak to parents students and teachers in regard to what's happening in our community and what they want to see as we enter this new year we are gonna be dealing with traumas in our students it related to co-ed this year we lost teachers we lost social workers I'm sorry can you guys hear me I got a notification pop-up I can hear you yes you can hear me you cannot see you good okay good thank you sorry about that this past year
037our students have lost their teachers they've lost social workers they lost counselors and to us those are our first responders for our students those are the people on the ground responding to traumas and social-emotional supports that our students need in the coming year our students are going to need that more than ever especially in regards to dealing with COBIT and the after-effects of co-ed it is essential that when we talk about governance and community building that we invest in those resources we have an amazing restorative practice program that has not been invested in an equitable way that really supports the emotional supports of our students so while we are reimagined what education and Community Safety for our students look like our CSD is reimagining what policing looks like for our students we need to be
038able to get on the same page and invest in emotional supports and we need people in those positions overseeing those programs who are experienced and have always put our students first and that would be Ruth Turner you've seen our students take time away from their education to fight for what they want they fought to get SROs out of schools they have fought for their teachers they have fought for their social workers it is imperative that the district listens to the students the parents and the teachers and works in their interest and it is imperative that we we work to uplift the programs that work such as the restorative practice program that has worked to decrease the amount of suspensions in our CSD when we talk about community safety and we talk about safety within our
039schools we need to also talk about what that looks like and it's the help zones it's the restorative coaches 30 seconds TV it's the people that work with our students social emotional supports it's not over policing and it's imperative that we work with the people who are experienced and knowledgeable about these programs and these systems that we needed to put in place and we need to invest in thank you thank you so much for your comments much appreciated okay our finals is a monster one Iman comes to us as a community member and Iman as we bring you a bork the floor is yours sorry just letting you hi here right good evening hello my name is Eamonn Scanlon I am the education policy manager at the children's agenda here in Rochester New York we
040welcome you and hope that your role is to monitor for our CSD will bring stability and ultimately benefit the students and families of this district the children's agenda advocates for effective policies and drives evidence-based solutions for the health education and success of children we are especially committed to children who are vulnerable because of poverty racism health disparities and trauma for the last three years we have reviewed the Rochester City School District budgets promote evidence-based policies and programs for students the issue of governance has been raised many times during the past three years the children's agendas position has been that the policies enacted by the district and the resources available to fully implement those policies are what matters most any change to the governance structure of our CSD that ignores institutional racism poverty adequate state funding
041and the shared struggle of dozens of other poor urban segregated school districts in New York State will not have a meaningful impact on the academic outcomes the financial health of our CSD when programs are well resourced and maintained for longer than the tenure of a single superintendent they have shown meaningful gains for students the most notable success in the past five years has been the work to improve school climate the children's agendas report in 2019 in partnership with the community Task Force on school climate showed the great successes of reforms to our CS D's code of conduct and the implementation of restorative practices reducing suspensions by 40% the drop in suspensions of 40% was associated with thousands of fewer courses failed by our CST students and aligns with the recent rise in graduation rates this
042is thanks to the great work of former chief of student support services returner key folks to neck woody doctor I don't owns the Rock restorative team and the student Rock restored at responders but a promoted a model of community building in place of exclusionary discipline despite the obvious success of restorative practices and the reformed Code of Conduct those games have been under constant attack by successive superintendents we're not present during the initial forms the constant Shawn and leadership is a great threat to the stability of our CSD and its progress as a district too often state interventions lead to more instability and turnover rather than providing targeted support to identify problems or cackling the larger systemic issues that create racially segregated school districts with near universal poverty please use your role as state monitor to
043solidify what is working at our CSD too many successful programs have come and gone because of changes in leadership or budget constraints thirty-seconds ensure that our CSD moves to become a restorative district and fully dismantles the school to Prison Pipeline thank you thank you so much Iman for your comments much appreciated thank you okay ladies and gentlemen those were the four speakers who were able to join us tonight who had previously asked to speak in addition to the speakers we had five individuals that submitted statements I'm on behalf of the school district and what we are going to do is first all of these statements will be admitted to the public record as part of this hearing in their completeness what we are going to do in an effort to represent them but enough the
044manner of fairness is we are going to I'm going to read up to three minutes the testimony that they have provided in some cases we have over 23 pages of testimony that have been provided so for each of these folks I will state their name and then I will read their comments again up to three minutes of total time so in order to get started our first person who submitted comments is Nicole Haynes she's a parent and Nicole's comments start as this block voting on resolutions must be banned by the RCS the policy revision resolution should be voted on separately to allow for the following each time an our CSD staff member is bringing forth solution I know that they are technically all brought to the board by the superintendent but they come to the
045superintendent from a variety of staff members which is clearly stated on the resolution there should be a required public explanation of the necessity of the resolution how it truly is a line did how it will be specifically help our CSD reach that goal how the work will be progress monitored and then evaluated for impact toward goal the monitor so appropriately questioned a recent resolution covering over a half a million dollars and the board members did not even flinch there were no specifics on how those being paid to provide credit recovery to support students were actually going to engage in the work and how students were going to be given the maximum amount of access to the support this allows for those hired to say they were available and get compensated even if no student actually
046receives the support will there be requirements of documentation of effort prior to being compensated whatever current mechanism gives the board president the authority to discuss and vote on resolutions by block needs to be stricken from policy and policy needs to be rewritten to ban such practice fewer resolutions can be discussed at each board meeting if needed academic performance status east EPO replication must be prioritized and articulated as specific steps toward replication Commissioner LeBron made an excellent point at the June 23rd board meeting the East EPO was originally approved because of the emphasis on replication throughout the Rochester City School District this point cannot be lost it must be given the highest priority there is considerable research on replication failure that we could learn from you of our being a research institution should be held responsible
047for ensuring that they pay attention to this research and have examination of replication as a component of everything that is done at East lower and upper schools this should be a condition of the extension of the EPO although the extension was just approved it should be amended some guiding questions for each intervention that works it could be in what contexts or contacts to this intervention work can the intervention be replicated in the our CSD with fidelity first in adaption second are there systemic barriers to replication in our CSD what is the action plan for replication and are there systems in place to study replication success and failure at East EPO to improve the rigor relevance and reproductive ility and the our CSD and that completes three minutes of those comments and again that was Nicole
048Haynes a parent in the district the second person who submitted comments is a Rafi Lee P Leah she is a parent and I will begin with her testimony I would like to voice my concern regarding distance learning and the rumors we have been hearing about the possibility of this continuing into a new school year as a parent I can attest to how difficult and sometimes impossible it has been to try to substitute the teachers we have seen our children numerous times unwilling to cooperate cry because they want to see their friends and miss the social interaction which is so essential to their mental health this cannot go on nor will any hybrid type of learning be productive our children need to go back to school and the parents need to go back to work I
049understand that some parents are afraid or unsure whether they want to send their children back to school however it would be more democratic if schools reopened with proper measures such as mandatory hand-washing or sanitizer use staying home when sick etc any parent who feels uncomfortable or has a child with pre-existing conditions should have the right to keep his child home but this should not be the norm for the vast majority of children please take this into consideration as I know I am one of the numerous parents who feel this way please do not underestimate the importance of our children's mental well-being as the damage will be irrevocable and that is the conclusion of her State our next community member who submitted public comment is howard eagle mr. Eagles comments are thorough and 23 pages and
050it is a response to dr. Aquino's report that he initially submitted back on December 29th of 2018 but he has submitted for the purpose of this hearing so again as I have I will begin his testimony and read for three minutes a critical essential question is are we ready to face necessary unavoidable confrontation in order to produce significant measurable fundamental change and improvement first as we had mentioned to dr. Aquino when representatives of our leadership team met with him at Central Church of Christ on September 5th 2018 and as we reiterated reiterated when he attended the community forum that we organized at fight village on September 20th 2018 in spite of his goodwill at his November 14 report would not reveal anything fundamentally new or different regarding issues and problems that have been spelled out
051via scores of previous reports holds true this is acknowledged in his report it is stated on page 13 quote the issues identified in this report have been described in numerous burglary reports and both we also mention this we also mentioned this to dr. Aquino Commissioner Elia and Chancellor Rosa during our meeting with them on the 14th of November 2018 and we asked what makes their report different than the countless others that have been issued through the decades their response was this is the first time that such a report has been issued by the state whether that will matter in terms of change and improvement in the near future as opposed to the distant abstract by and by is yet to be seen we also asked the three of them whether or not they would have
052the intestinal fortitude and political will to stand against forces such as the Rochester Teachers Association and possibly RTA's respective state and national affiliates New York State United Teachers and American Federation of Teachers they did not answer so we shall see of course time will tell it always does another underscored area our area of expertise concentration commitment and leadership we should state from the outset that take it down planning committee faith community alliance movement for anti-racist ministry an action Coalition is unequivocally convinced that one if not the most outstanding problem an issue with an RCS D is the triple headed problem an issue of individual institutional and structural racism which underlies not only historical and contemporary racist policies practices procedures rules regulation and laws but also widespread negative disrespectful attitudes belief systems and behaviors on the
053part of many RC SD employees visa vie the overwhelming majority of our CST students parents and families this is mentioned in numerous sections of the report and has to do with the specific manners in which many educators just like everyone else in u.s. society have been socialized that is the specific the specifics of what they have been taught in fact that which in many cases has been drilled into their psyches from the crib up about poor urban in City people of color under the latter of whom many are CSD teachers and administrators never have any level of deep or sustained interaction much less relationships with prior to accepting their urban positions again that is a statement provided by mr. Howard Eagle our next fourth of five statements submitted prior to our meeting this evening was
054submitted by Cathy Smith a community member hello let me welcome you dr. jello to our CSD your presence is welcome and long overdue I plan to use this time to communicate the continued deficit that I see and have directly experienced between a district goal to connect with families staff and community it is my sincere hope that you you will be able to guide the board and the our CSD leaders in the direction of timely informative authentic communication and genuine dialogue if I had not been on the meeting last night I would not have known that June 25th last minute awareness and not publicized anywhere other than the district website today and later to Facebook further complicating open communication is that the public hearing is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. instead of normal business meeting 6:30 I
055believe firmly that until we know better we could not do better as a teacher retired in the district and a Rochester resident I have always been concerned with too little too late communication style of the district when the claim is we want to hear from you and then the actions are same-old same-old the purpose of the meeting June 25th is to seek public comment on quote existing statutory and regulatory authority of the Commissioner the State Education Department and the Board of Regents regarding school district governance and intervention under applicable state law and regulations taken from the district website the public invite States comment to the monitor directly and/or speak at the public forum with the BOE one step in the right direction is that there are links to notices with four languages provided however this
056is a problem too since one would need to visit the site page in order to read the public notice nowhere on the district invite page is your name how impersonal what real efforts have been made to get the forum's dates times and purpose disseminated to the community I have asked parents and teachers and they report no robocalls no liaison communication and nor no informational letters either raising the question again how well is the district communicating and engaging the community it serves unless one visits board meetings or the our CSD webpage daily the information is not readily available why not everyone agrees students engagement participation is important and it is necessary to work together to collaborate what methods and practices of how children in the district will receive their education for instance I believe that the
057district is able to collect data about the board meetings as it relates to how many are watching I speak for myself that the meetings have been imperative for me to watch either live or later in order for me to make informed decisions and interpret or members commitments accountability and priorities to the children in the community that they serve I believe that every meeting reveals another important aspect to the board's commit the board's commissioners collective goals concerning their decision making process for items like budget policy importance of the distinguished educators reports and board resolutions in part from the live Board of Education regularly scheduled meetings which appear to be well attended I believe that the families I believe that the families in the district like me are awake it is time that district leaders come around
058to the fact that generations of children are lost to a continuum continuum with academic and fiscal irresponsible inequities again her complete statement will be filed in the public report on the district website that was not her complete statement okay our final comment that was submitted tonight comes from Renee Joyner Renee is a staff member and so I will begin to read her her comments what an honor to have you with us my email says employees but for 32 years I have been a parent and a grandparent under on June 17th my journey ended as a parent and my son graduated from James Monroe my concern is who to believe in this war on education my God has told me that dr. Myers and dr. jell-o is the leadership so many of us prayed and cried
059for forgive me for being long-winded I hope that this reaches you and not a delete button as so many I sent of concern have I put my livelihood on the line this morning but I am no longer afraid of the silos and the cliques that have diminished our educational system my question to you are as follows her the distinguished educators we per the distinguished educators report the abuse and intimidation in the human capital department the civil service laws that they are bounded by how did myself and my colleague file multiple retaliation and harassment cases against the director of office and parent engagement and they were allowed to throw it away by a phony inside investigation I know the answer because it was proven that my colleague who has been employed for 25 years application was
060discarded for that position by the HCI Department the interview process went against civil service regulation and requirement of five years in education and a bachelor's in education the previous deputy superintendent and chief of staff targeted us for an OCR complaint filed by a parent that a white teacher not only hit an african-american male african-american male student she called him a racial slur and we would not cover it up we began to get frivolous disciplinary write-ups I served at central office five years and given that I am a single mother it forced me to transfer out of a job I love with all my soul my body of work speaks for my character not the lies those in silos put forth continuously about myself and another colleague more so my analytic data does not lie on
061who saw the parents solved the conflict cases a colleague provisional and not even six months in and blocked me from my job duties and then asks of the parents I can speculate on relationship of Community Foundation being a grant provider being a grant provider or community organizations that influenced why an uncertified unqualified person would be put over such a vital piece of this community I am still weighing if I take this to the federal level given that I felt they have no choice but to leave a position that I that I not only worked behind behind that I worked my behind off I abandoned the parents I abandoned the parents who relied on me to fight for them so that concludes our public comment section we had five speakers that signed up for that were
062able to join us tonight and we had five people submit public comments that again we have read up to three minutes of their time as we wrap up tonight we would like to thank everyone who participated in today's virtual hearing your participation shows your commitment to improving education in the Rochester City School District personally I'd like to apologize to folks for the technical difficulties we had at the beginning Jade the folks from our CSD who worked behind the scenes to get it fixed they did a wonderful job a record of this public hearing will be made available on the district's website answers to any questions that were not addressed in this hearing that are relevant to the topic will also be available in the public record a second hearing on the academic performance of the
063district will be held on July 8th from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. a third hearing on the fiscal performance of the district will be held on July 22nd from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. information about those hearings will also be available on the district's website with that I thank you we shall conclude this public meeting be well stay safe good night all you