The last few weeks haven’t been good for Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas and the city schools; one troubling incident has followed another.
First, there was the vote of no confidence against Vargas by the Association of Supervisors and Administrators, the union that represents school administrators.
That was followed by a disturbing incident involving a mysterious envelope and school board president Van White. The envelope, which contained personal information about White’s legal and financial affairs, was sent to the Democrat and Chronicle in a clumsy attempt to discredit White. Though Patricia Malgieri, Vargas’s chief of staff, says that neither she nor her husband know anything about the envelope, her husband’s name was used to log-in and access the records on the Monroe County clerk’s website. The information was on the documents sent to the D&C.
And earlier this week, the state Education Department released a terrible assessment of the district’s career and technical education programs, which are housed mostly on the Edison campus. The department said that many of the programs have low participation and fail to prepare students for real careers.
Taken together, the incidents reinforce concerns about the management of city schools. But things got even worse: fights broke out on the Frederick Douglass campus on Tuesday. The facility houses Northeast and Northwest College Preparatory high schools.
Multiple fights occurred inside and outside the school building, police say, involving as many as 50 student. Rochester police officers had to use pepper spray to quell the violence. A student’s account of the fights is stunning: students out of control, standing on tables, fights breaking out everywhere, and adults too overwhelmed to stop it.
It’s not clear what started the fights, though there were reports that gang-related rivalry may have played a role.
School officials can conduct varying degrees of damage control on all of the other issues, except this one.
Of all the problems that Vargas and city school officials face, outbreaks of violence have to be taken the most seriously. The fights on the Douglass campus are not an isolated incident. Despite all the efforts under way and the millions of dollars being spent to try and turn around Rochester’s failing school system, nothing does more to undermine those efforts than the perception that city schools aren’t safe.
It’s a parent’s worst nightmare. If they have any doubts about whether they should remove their kids from city schools, events like this will erase them.
This article appears in Feb 12-18, 2014.
School culture is everything. Without it, learning will be mediocre at best. Culture starts with relationships, clarity and in the case of student behavior, very firm policies and enforcement. Hearing the superintendent talk about “lost instructional time” was very telling. he obviously does not understand that school culture must be developed before quality instruction can happen. The school environment must be respectful and honest but also firm and consistent enforcement. The district has not cultivated caring school cultures and in fact, the mandates have worked against stability. Add this the reality that suspensions are considered taboo and you can see why things are out of control.
Many people will not want to hear this but a get tough approach to student behavior is needed. This is one place where the district can learn from charters. Unfortunately, leadership seems to be in a reactive state. Seeing the future and planning for it look like impossibilities right now. It is hard to set the table when you are being swallowed.
Suspensions are not taboo at Northwest/Northeast – they are extremely common. The district uses “in-school suspension” because staying at home was not seen as a punishment by the kids. Charters are tough about kicking students out, but the district does not have this option legally.
In school suspensions and a joke and everyone knows it. The same parents whose kids are tearing up the classrooms love in school suspension. A free meal and intense baby-sitting instead of the trouble being at home for a parent to deal with. Come on.
As a former teacher (who was assigned to monitor an in-school suspension room in said location), I find the whole thing unsurprising. Don’t get me started…
I was assigned to “monitor” up to 25 suspended students. All in one room. All with nothing to do but make you miserable. Sound like the solution? If I hand any “problems” I was to contact a sentry via a intermittent 2way (more often no way) radio. Support was more intermittent than the radio. After 25 years of service, I got out.
The greater Rochester region has segregated the poor and institutional policies allow the concentration of impoverished children to attend a small number of schools. It denies access to an eduction burns out teachers and is shameful in 2014. Repeated focus and blaming of the poor or children of poverty or the teachers who struggle to provide an education is a distraction from larger systemic problems. Today cities like Richmond Virginia, Jacksonville Florida, Austin Texas have better educational realities for all.
I would like to know the real reason that kids who create violence in city schools are not sent home. I’m not buying the ” they miss instruction” scapegoat. If a child acts like this in fairport or penfield what happens? It doesn’t happen as frequently but when it does – they are sent home. Nobody cries about that student missing out on instruction. Does the district lose money when students are sent home? Should city students have to endure violent predators because ” they should be used to this?” – staff as well? Why not create an alternative program specifically for this rising problem? I wish one form of media would follow the money and find out what’s really going on. That melee that occurred at the college prep campus was wayyyyy worse than reported. Why is it that nobody is connecting the dots? I guess Vargas is too busy trying to oust president school board member Can White to really give a damn . Remember this guy urges the community not to get “distracted”. Funny how he doesn’t listen to his own advice. The recent display of RCSD obvious display of raw inept leadership, wretched politicking and blatant disregard of playing fair is very telling and should elicit fear for the future for all. Most media outlets are suspiciously silent. This too will get swept under a bulging, filthy rug. School board are you watching? Are you finally going to stand behind your president and our children? Or is it politics as usual? How many red flags will it take to completely destroy this district? And you’re one of the few school districts that have the nerve to pay yourselves? Almost 30k a year? My god, I can go on and on. Shameful.