One day after news of Patricia Malgieri’s hire by the Rochester school district leaked out, Rochester Teachers Association President said Malgieri is no friend of public education. Urbanski was reached by phone this afternoon. Malgieri has been hired as chief of staff to Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas. Urbanski said his experiences with the former […]
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
NEWS BLOG: Son of a litter bug
As I was driving my mother south toward the Pennsylvania border last week to visit her brother, she did something that stunned me. She reached down and grabbed a handful of trash – a paper cup, used tissues, and some candy wrappers – that had gathered at her feet. Then she rolled down the passenger […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
The Mt. Morris miracle
Mt. Morris is no stranger to hard times. The “Best Town by a Dam Site” was once a thriving community with retail shops, restaurants, and its own movie theater. But by the 1990’s, Mt. Morris, like many small towns in Western New York, was gripped by a slow, steady decline. Main Street had so many […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
EDUCATION: [UPDATED] Rochester students slip in math and English
UPDATE: Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas says several factors are to blame for the flat trajectory of student performance on state tests over the last three years. The state tests have become more difficult, he said at a press conference this afternoon, but Rochester students are not getting the extra instruction time they need to […]
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NEWS BLOG: Dukakis on Obama
Do principles matter in the often unprincipled world of politics? That question was recently put to former Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West. Dukakis was a guest on their PRI show, “Smiley and West,” where he discussed the recent Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act […]
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RCSD submits new evaluation plan
The latest evolution in teacher evaluations ironed out between the Rochester Teachers Association and the city school district is extremely complex. And it’s hard to tell if it will provide much clarity about teacher performance. “It makes a bad system less bad,” says RTA President Adam Urbanski. But failure to reach agreement to implement the […]
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NEWS BLOG: CPAC whiz kid Jonathan Krohn outgrows conservatism
We’ve all known super-brainy kids. We’re awed by the purity of their intelligence and their ease at processing so much information despite their age. But they can be a little annoying, too. That’s what I thought when I heard then-13-year-old Jonathan Krohn, the prodigious Right Winger who spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference several […]
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New life for Seneca language
The Seneca Indians have lived in the Western New York region for thousands of years. They were one of the most important nations of the Iroquois League and created a highly developed society, says Jason Younker, a professor of anthropology at the Rochester Institute of Technology. But few of the Seneca people living today are […]
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NEWS BLOG: Health care ruling causes GOP messege scramble
One of the most interesting outcomes of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act is how unusually off message the GOP has been. Their talking points have been like marbles rolling in all directions. While talking about Governor Mitt Romney’s promise to repeal the ACA, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal referred to the law […]
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NEWS BLOG: Vargas’s contract asks for less
Few things in business are as deadly as overplaying it. Overplaying a sales pitch is for the clumsy amateur, the unconfident, and the unprepared. Underplaying it, however, is entirely different. Underplaying takes skill. And there’s some risk involved. You’re essentially asking for less, and promising little. But you have to deliver more than what’s expected. […]
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NEWS BLOG: Fast and furious theatrics
The day before Congress voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, an article published by Katherine Eban in Fortune Magazine essentially gutted the rationale for the move. Fortune is hardly a left-leaning pub, so it’s certainly worth the read in light of what is happening. Republicans went after Holder because he refused to […]
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EDUCATION: Vargas gets $195,000 contract
The Rochester school board, by a vote of 6 to 1, has agreed to enter a four-year contract with Bolgen Vargas to lead the school district. The vote was held at this evening’s school board meeting. Vargas will be paid $195,000 annually, about a $20,000 bump from his current salary. The contract begins on July […]
