More than a year ago, Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas launched a major campaign to improve abysmally low student attendance in the city school district. Now teachers are in the hot seat. Vargas has sent an email to teachers saying that 730 of them were absent last Friday, and he he’s concerned that teacher absenteeism […]
Adam Urbanski
Posted inNews & Opinion
Teachers may take over some schools in Rochester
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas has asked the Rochester Teachers Association to present plans for schools to be run by teachers instead of central office administration and principals. Any proposals for teacher-led schools would be part of the administration’s new contract negotiations, which have just started, RTA President Adam Urbanski told about 200 teachers […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Teacher evals revamped
The Rochester school district’s first attempt at a teacher evaluation plan for the 2012 to 2013 school year was rejected by the State Education Department. Revisions have been resubmitted, and Rochester Teachers Association President Adam Urbanski says he’s confident that this version will be approved. | The SED wanted to see greater clarification of the […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Urbanski will wait and see on Malgieri hire
Patricia Malgieri is no friend of public education, says Rochester Teachers Association President Adam Urbanski. Malgieri has been hired as chief of staff to Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas. Urbanski says his experiences with the former deputy mayor Malgieri have not always been pleasant. Malgieri has been a strong proponent of charter schools, privatization, and […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
EDUCATION: Urbanski will wait and see on Malgieri hire
One day after news of Patricia Malgieri’s hire by the Rochester school district leaked out, Rochester Teachers Association President said Malgieri is no friend of public education. Urbanski was reached by phone this afternoon. Malgieri has been hired as chief of staff to Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas. Urbanski said his experiences with the former […]
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Reader feedback 3.19.03
Pleas for peace On a recent trip to Laos, it was with great shame that I saw the results of the US bombing during the Vietnam War. US pilots indiscriminately dropped more than 250 million cluster bombs, hitting schools, hospitals, and temples, killing thousands of innocent people. Historic sites are filled with bomb craters; ancient […]
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Doing the math: the middle-school dilemma
When our son, proud alumnus of the Rochester school district, was a high-school senior in 1988, he and his classmates wore a T-shirt created especially for them. Its wording: “They saved the best till last.” The school was Monroe Junior-Senior High School, of which his (we thought) was the last graduating class. The next […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
‘We’re in big trouble’
Hundreds of people stood and cheered last Thursday when the School Board announced that Superintendent Clifford Janey will be leaving. Cheered? I just wanted to throw up. Should Janey leave? Probably. Is this the right time? I don’t know. One thing’s for sure, though: this isn’t the right way. It may have made some School […]
