February 17th 2022
RCSD BOARD OF EDUCATION REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING: FEBRUARY 17, 2022Commissioner Adams and Superintendent Myers-Small were absent.
One community member spoke on Special Education concerns. Reports were given by the Student Leadership Congress, the Parent Leadership Council (PLAC) and the Bilingual Education Council (BEC). PLAC requested that the Board be aware of the importance of listening to the community and asked that each member call five parents for a conversation. The need for communication, accountability and equity was emphasized. The BEC report was given in Spanish and translated to English, an indication of valuing and the need for the district to hire and train more interpreters. BEC also asked for English Language Learning students from each high school to be added to the committee to include student voices.
The Board Reports are available at Board Docs* from the Equity in Student Achievement (Simmons), Board Governance and Development (Maloy), and Policy Development and Review (Powell) committees.
Commissioners summarized key points during the meeting. Policies will be further addressed under new business. The Community and Intergovernmental Relations Committee report was read into the record. The President’s Report (Elliot) highlighted the graduation rate for 2020-2021 which was recently accepted by NYSED. The RCSD overall rate was 71.4%. In addition, she noted that: Letters of support for legislation reducing the mileage to 0.5 for transportation were sent; a Community Engagement Session occurred; the RCSD Board was well represented at the Monroe County School Boards Association meeting with lawmakers in February; and Board members will be resuming school visits with an emphasis on high quality results. President Elliot also said she would soon be meeting with all district unions.
Chief of Operations, Michael Schmidt, presented the Superintendent’s report in Dr. Myers-Small’s absence. He emphasized the recent announcement of graduation rates, providing details about the overall increase. He also highlighted the Job Fair, his experience at the World Read Aloud Day at School #33, and RCSD sport teams’ successes including the addition of two girls Flag Football teams in the Spring 2022 statewide pilot.
VP LeBron asked Chief Schmidt for data tracking the School Choice program, requesting the number of parents participating in each of the last 4 years as well as a 5th year of data collected in the current year. East Superintendent Nelm’s report also dealt with the graduation rate at East Upper School which was 85% in 2021. [Note that later in the meeting VP LeBron also gave a shoutout to four other high schools with 90% graduation rates: SOTA, Early College, SWW and World of Inquiry.] Other highlights for East were the contributions of East students to the celebration of Black History Month, the Career Fair available to all RCSD students and graduates held in early April, and Senior week in the Sports program.
Nelms also pressed for approval of tonight’s resolutions for additional monies for supporting students in their preparation for end of year testing as Regents Exams are returning. Resolutions were brought forward and approved with minimal discussion. The process was more efficient and transparent with the new use of BoardDocs which allowed the resolutions to be viewed online. Several (424-433) were grouped as Concept Resolutions and voted on as a whole. They included the acceptance of four monetary gifts to individual schools totaling $18,000. Resolutions 434-458 were voted on individually with all motions approved with a 6-0 vote with a few exceptions. There was some discussion of the process for prioritizing renovations to schools as there were four contracts for new work. A ‘Building Condition Survey’, usually done every 5 years by a specialty company, is expected next year.
VP LeBron noted that elementary schools without playground fencing create a safety and equity issue. Chief Schmidt said that those issues can be part of the process through community input and asked LeBron to forward the specifics. Commissioner Powell presented the Policies available for second and third readings including District, Board, Facilities and Superintendent goals. She strongly requested the community read the policies and offer comments as none have been received. No direction as to how to provide comments was given.
RCSD BOARD OF EDUCATION 2022-23 BUDGET PROCESS:
A PowerPoint providing details of the process for developing and approving the 2022-2023 RCSD Budget was presented to the community on March 2 and remains available on BoardDocs® Plus under the agenda via the meetings tab for March 2. Next steps include presentation of draft proposals by Superintendents Myers-Small and Nelms, a response by State Monitor Jallow, and a PUBLIC BUDGET HEARING set for April 7th at 5:30. This will be followed by two deliberation meetings, with a Special Board Meeting for Budget Adoption on May 9 before moving to the City Council for review and adoption (expected June 14). * See BoardDocs® Plus on the RCSD website under the Board of Education tab– click on meetings and 2022. Relevant Policies of are available within the agenda.
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