A “community read” of education historian Diane Ravitch’s book “Reign of Error” and a virtual appearance by Ravitch on Wednesday, September 10, will kick off a series of public forums that will be held throughout the Rochester area through December. The name of the series is, “The Crisis In Our Schools: Is There a Future for Public Education?” 

Eight events will touch on controversial and sometimes highly politicized topics such as teacher tenure, the Common Core curriculum, US schools and student achievement compared to other countries, the future of teaching, and a metro school for Monroe County.

The forums will be comprised of speakers on both sides of each issue, says Joe Flaherty, executive director of Writers and Books.

“The idea is not to come out with a statement of what is good or bad, but to have a discussion so we can make better decisions about public education,” he says.

Flaherty says the hope is that the forums will spur further discussion and will eventually translate into action. 

Writers and Books, Center for Justice in Education, Nazareth College School of Education, University of Rochester Warner School, Roberts Wesleyan College Department of Teacher Education, Rochester Public Library, Rochester Teachers Association, Rochester School Board, and the Rochester Community Foundation are sponsoring the events.

The forums will be held in different locations throughout Monroe County to encourage widespread participation. Ravitch will be appearing via Skype at East High School at 7 p.m. 

This is a corrected version of this story.

This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2014.

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,...

2 replies on “Forums on public education kick off in September”

  1. It is promising to see that Writers and Books is committing its resources to a discussion of our region’s most pressing problem. Following the announcement of “education historian” Ravitch as the first speaker (hardly one to shy away from often conflicting statements about “what is good or bad”), I am especially curious to hear who the other presenters will be reflecting “both sides of the issue.” More importantly, our community has a history of struggling with the transition from discussion to action when it comes to improving our abysmal city school system.

  2. The Diane Ravitch forum is on September 10th, NOT Sept. 11th; 7:00 pm, @ East High School.

    Dan Drmacich

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