As expected, the Rochester school board has decided to work with the University of Rochester to improve East High School. The board made its decision at a meeting last night.
The UR proposal was chosen over that of a nonprofit and Superintendent Bolgen Vargas’s own plan. Vargas wanted to convert East into three smaller schools focused on career readiness.
City school officials originally had until Thursday, May 15, to submit their chosen proposal to State Education Commissioner John King. But the board voted last night to ask King for an extension to mid-summer.
The board also voted to approve Vargas’s 2014-2015 budget. The $788 million budget is close to what Vargas proposed several months ago. The final budget does reflect some additional state aid, and it cuts 15 teaching positions and 15 teaching assistant positions.
The budget now goes to City Council for review. That meeting is at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 22, at City Hall, 30 Church Street.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2014.
Sorry, this has to be repeated. The U of R did not submit a proposal as in an RFP, which is what every other group was told to do. Put simply, the board is playing favorites, bending the rules and certainly breaking ethic policies around this sort of thing.
It would also be interesting to know if any board members work for the U of R and/or work for organizations that have close relations with U of R. Again, the point is not that the U of R may not be a good fit, they might be. The issue has to do with having an open process that allows for review. This all came down way too fast and with too little discussion. It smells really unfair and politically motivated.
You’re right Gotta Say It; the UR has not submitted a propasl. They have written of a letter of intent to Comissioner King. You might say they’ve proposed submitting a proposal.
TLM
The fact that a school needs to be rescued pretty much points out the fact that those in charge do not know what they are doing. To me this is a signal that everyones has to go…Vargas, Urbanski, entire school board. It is time to shock the system. It is time to change everything. It is time to have people in charge that have not idea what the status quo has been.
Making an drastic effort with one school while leaving the failed structure in place is insane.
How can they fit the UR pretend proposal in the budget if the budget passed? So many holes here.