Few people not directly employed by the Rochester school district are as nimble at navigating local policies, labor agreements, and state education law as Carrie Remis. In 2006, Remis co-founded the Rochester Fund for Educational Accountability, an all-volunteer organization that provided technical assistance and training to parent groups on federal education law (the group has […]
Tim Louis Macaluso
I was born and raised in the Rochester area, but I lived in California and Florida before returning home about 12 years ago. I'm a vegetarian and live with my husband and our three pugs. I cover education, health care, and local politics for City.
Posted inNews & Opinion
Committee to screen East High proposal tonight
Changing old habits wired into the psyche is difficult even for the most motivated individuals. And in some ways, that’s what an educational partnering organization will confront working with East High School: changing the old habits of the school’s current leaders. The Rochester school board has created an EPO Screening Committee to review the proposal […]
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Rensselaerville offers help for East High
Updated at 5:15 p.m. A statement from the the city school district says the proposal came from School Turnaround, an organization affiliated with Rensselaerville. The Rensselaerville Institute has responded to Superintendent Bolgen Vargas’s request for proposals for an educational partnering organization, or EPO, to turn around East High School. The Delmar, New York-based organization was formed […]
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Game rage
It’s not the video game per se that’s causing your rage; it’s the fact that you stink at it, says a new study from the University of Rochester. Intense feelings of anger after gaming are not unusual, the study says, but the content of the games is not to blame. The hostile behavior some gamers […]
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Elections and education
Two education initiatives are among the few issues in this partisan climate somehow crisscrossing ideological and political boundaries. Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has not backed away from his support of charter schools despite some tensions with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. The new mayor of the country’s largest school system has been […]
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East is a bellwether for a troubled district
East High School is increasingly looking like it may be a bellwether for dramatic changes in the city school district. The big questions on everyone’s mind are what will those changes be, and how much control will the community have over them? Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas and most city school board members listened for […]
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Big differences between many city and suburban schools
Commissioner John King’s support for the controversial Common Core curriculum and its emphasis on frequent testing to measure student leaning hasn’t wavered one iota. In fact, if King’s visit to Greece Odyssey Academy High School earlier this week is any example, the change is coming from the other end. Greece Superintendent Barbara Deane-Williams and most […]
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East High needs a buddy
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas is looking for a partner to run East High School. Working with an educational partner organization is one of the options the State Education Department gave the school district to rehabilitate the failing high school. The request for proposals went out two weeks ago. The deadline is April 16, Vargas […]
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A 21st century downtown
Disinvestment, deterioration, and conflicting visions have marred Rochester’s downtown for more than two decades. For years, Rochester’s main corridor has, for the most part, seemed vacant and lifeless. Major retailers folded up shop. Sibley’s and Midtown, once the epicenter of the city’s vibrancy, languished, doing relatively little to attract people downtown or to bring in […]
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East High is not alone, says Commissioner King
Other Rochester schools face intervention by the state, says education commissioner during local stop.
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Vargas calls for culture change in city schools
The State Education Department’s intervention at East High School is grabbing all the headlines, but Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas says turning around that failing school is not his biggest challenge (a reform plan is due by the end of the month). Changing the district’s inflexible culture is the boulder in the road to success, he […]
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Vargas looking for partner for East High School
This is a corrected version of this blog April 15, 2014 at 8:45 a.m. Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas is looking for a partner to run East High School. Working with an educational partner organization is one of the options the State Education Department gave the school district to rehabilitate the failing high school. The […]
