When people talk about Rochester’s schools, the conversation often involves sweeping generalizations, bad-mouthing teachers, and characterizing city children and parents in unfair ways. Some of the most challenging and effective work in education is being done in city schools; and many parents are elated with their children’s school and teachers.
But that work and the great performance of many city students is often overshadowed by the serious needs of other students. Often the gains that some students make are more significant than their test scores because they have so much learning to do and so many obstacles to navigate. In that context, these students are survivors and show unimaginable resilience — something that is frequently overlooked or minimized.
That’s why it makes the words of this parent so hard to read. Andrea Raethka’s “The Best Decision I Made in 2014″ is a heartfelt editorial in the Democrat and Chronicle that had to send chills through many Rochester City School District teachers and administrators.
The decision that Raethka made was to remove her children from city schools. Raethka’s decision was clearly not an easy one, but a combination of poor school management, indifference to parents, and a troubled and disruptive school environment.
“We’ve had a few good teachers over the years in the RCSD, but teachers alone can’t make a school worth it nor a child’s education great,” reads the editorial. “It takes all of the moving parts to make things work well, and the RCSD is only the sum of its weakest links.”
Any responsible parent understands what Raethka is saying and cannot fault her for her decision. Still, there are so many people, businesses, and organizations in the Rochester community trying their hardest to help the district with its myriad problems.
The question is, will it be enough? And how much longer can students and families be expected to wait and stay hopeful?
In a recent interview with Bob Duffy, the incoming president and CEO of the Rochester Business Alliance, it is clear that he has deep concerns about student performance in city schools. And they may have even hardened a little. Few people have looked at education from the perspective of a police chief, a mayor, and a lieutenant governor. He’s now responsible for championing local businesses.
Duffy says that businesses seeking to locate, stay, or expand here have a major concern: the schools. Business owners can’t attract the best employees to a community without good schools, regardless of how affordable the housing is.
Raethka’s message is more direct and less politically tempered:
“To new parents thinking about buying a home in the city, don’t, unless you can afford to send your kids elsewhere,” she says in the editorial.
This article appears in Dec 31, 2014 – Jan 6, 2015.
Clearly Ms. Raethka’s worst decision in 2015 was to write this opinion blog contributing to the negative media coverage of the RCSD. Personal decisions are one thing but sharing it with media and discouraging families from moving into the city? Shame on her.
RCSD has to face this “invisible elephants” in the room; namely, that 10% of the students are sucking 100% of teacher/administrative energy; that RCSD clerical staff do NOT make folks feel welcomed (not in schools or in Central Office); that many if not most employees are exhausted, demoralized, and uninspired due to the overwhelming challenges they face every day; and that the center of gravity for student performance is very low due to poor parental involvement and commitment to education. RCSD does teach values (honesty, integrity, kindness, etc.), but city streets do not. Kids are only in school 6 hours, 5 days a week; the rest of the time The Street is their teacher. I hope more time and space in City will be devoted to how this very sad and serious problem can be better addressed.
I respect Raethka’s opinion and more than this, I applaud the DC for publishing it. There are some good things happening in the RCSD but as a whole it is failing and this goes way beyond simple academics. Anyone who says that speaking honestly about how bad things are is making things worse is out of touch. The only way the district will be fix even in a small way is to make everyone aware of how pitiful things are. If school videos were shown (both good and bad) for a week, I guarantee there would be national attention. As bad as it appears to those on the outside, the situation inside the system is unimaginable. Only the kids, their parents, the teachers, school staff and in many cases the principals really understand. Everyone else in on the outside and this includes Board President White, Superintendent Vargas and all of the union leaders. No one with power locally cares including the Mayor but essays like Raethka’s might get Albany’s attention.
We all know about the poverty/behavior issues that bring RCSD down. But badly behaved staff? Are you kidding? No other business or service industry would survive a year with a prickly front office. There is NO excuse for that. Shameful.
Teacher here. I will keep this short and sweet. I found out that pretty soon our building won’t have paper to make copies on , and students and staff will NOT have toilet paper. The district didn’t have the decency to properly fund our schools. Look no further than the recent D&C article outlining the embarrassing, inept way our district budgets our schools. Shortchanging our students must stop. Again and again we see blatant examples like this. I applaud this parent. Why would I keep my child in a highly dysfunctional , unsafe environment that doesn’t hold its high ranking officials accountable? Why?