Rochester schools
Superintendent Bolgen Vargas used his State of the Schools speech last week to
assure parents, students, and community leaders that the district is on a path
to improvement.
But creating a
culture that’s firmly focused on the basics — literacy, attendance, budgeting,
and basic management — will take more time, he said.
Vargas gave examples
of some of the district’s challenges to explain why change seems to be taking
so long. The district had six different English language arts curriculums in 12
years, he said, and a 22 percent decline in enrollment over 15 years.
Vargas also touted
changes he’s made since he came on board in 2011, including the addition of
music and art teachers, social workers, librarians, and sports programs. And he
revisited a familiar theme — increasing instruction time.
Vargas said he’s
done all of this while also rolling out the new Common Core curriculum and
state-required teacher evaluations. He also expanded pre-kindergarten and is
overseeing much of the modernization of Rochester’s old school buildings.
But it was the
confrontational stance that Vargas took with the bargaining unit for principals
and administrators that resulted in the evening’s most
provocative moment. He said that the contracts he inherited, tenure laws, and
administrators’ inflexibility are hindering improvement.
This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2014.
