Rochester
school board members have been sent back into “search” mode after negotiations
with its choice for superintendent broke down.

The board
had selected Ithaca Superintendent Luvelle Brown, to
fill the position vacated by Bolgen Vargas at the end
of last year. But in a statement released earlier today, the board said that it
had been unable to reach an agreement with the finalist it had selected.

The board
doesn’t have to start all over in its search, though; it had already vetted
several other candidates. And while Interim Superintendent Linda Cimusz had originally planned to leave at the end of June,
the board’s statement says she has agreed to stay with the district through
July 2016. The statement doesn’t give a timeline for the selection process.

In an interview
with an Ithaca radio station yesterday, Brown said that he would not be leaving
his current position.

“I’ll stay
in Ithaca as long as the board of education and community wants me to,” Brown
said during an interview Tuesday with WHCU radio. Brown cited his children’s
enrollment in ICSD as a factor in his decision.

The board
has conducted a closed search process, which has drawn some criticism. But
board President Van White has defended the process, saying that it has resulted
in a pool of stronger candidates to choose from.

This article appears in Jun 22-28, 2016.

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,...

5 replies on “Superintendent search continues”

  1. This is not the first time that Rochester thought it had found someone to fill an opening that later changed their mind. If I remember correctly, the police chief search a few years ago had the same problem. The problems in filing these positions with high quality candidates are both professional and personal.

    On the professional side, RCSD is broken, and the recent history of supers is that it is a few years and out. That means another relocation and perhaps difficulty in finding suitable unemployment. The school board interferes with decision making, the students do not receive an adequate education, parents are totally disengaged, and there is no money to spend in spite of per student spending being the highest in the area.

    On the personal side, both a police chief and school super would be expected to live in the city and send their children to city schools. The number of suitable neighborhoods is very limited, and the schools are crap. Why punish your children by putting them behind the eight ball? In Ithaca, he is able to live in a nice home and has his kids in a good school system.

    The real question is why someone would want the Rochester job.

  2. “The real question is why someone would want the Rochester job.” I agree with Luxembourg, below.

    It may be that Dr. Brown realized that the super salary at Ithaca is about the same as it is in Rochester. So, why would he take the Rochester job with 5 times as many students and many times as many problems? He says he is staying in Ithaca for the benefit of his children. But kids can adjust. The question may be, could he adjust to the stress of RCSD?

    I think RCSD should try to figure out how to make the superintendent’s job EASIER. I gave an EASY button to Dr. Vargas for this reason, but I don’t think he took my advice.

    I still say, ” EASY DOES IT, at RCSD.”

    http://www.SavingSchools.org

  3. I wondered why Rochester believed that Dr. Brown’s experience would make him the best candidate for superintendent, given that he comes from a relatively small, predominantly well off and non-minority school district.

  5. School board president van white has egg on his face again stating we will have a contract with this person by the end of the week the guy I heard changed his mind because he did not what to be co superintendent with van white he heard how white trying to run the district him self so I hope that wont hurt us with getting that right person it should about the kids instead of van white some one once sad there is a reporter or camera he wont pass up I said they were wrong but guss what I was wrong.

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