Superintendent Bolgen Vargas is right. The Rochester school district can’t solve all of the ills of the community.
Bolgen Vargas
Posted inNews & Opinion
WEEK AHEAD: Public forum on city schools’ budget gap; beyond the Inner Loop; food truck meeting
The Rochester City School District will hold an open house to discuss the current budget gap — estimated at more than $40 million for the 2015-2016 school year. The event is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28, at the Montessori Academy on the Freddie Thomas Campus, 625 Scio Street. The Friends and Foundation of […]
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Specialists for special education
If the Rochester City School District is to have any chance of significantly increasing its graduation rate, it must improve outcomes for special-education students. To that end, the district is expanding its use of consultant teaching, which provides specialized help for students when needed. Roughly 17.1 percent of city school students have some type of […]
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Administration problems add to Vargas’s challenges
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas says he’s making progress in improving city schools, and results are coming. But he faces some serious problems that he says could roll everything backward: open resistance from the administrators union and several changes among top administrators in central office. Vargas is at a key point in his tenure with […]
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East’s problems mirror an unstable district
It’s tempting to think that the pending shakeup at East High School is just the State Education Department doing its job: pushing for greater accountability. But the situation at East mirrors the serious problems permeating much of the Rochester school district. And a plan for improving the district as a whole instead of just focusing […]
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Superintendent Vargas needs union help, and more
It’s great that Rochester’s business community leaders are concerned about the academic performance of city school students. Sandy Parker, CEO of the Rochester Business Alliance, and Dutch Summers, chair of Jasco, said in last Sunday’s Democrat and Chronicle that they are disturbed by the Association of Supervisors and Administrators’ recent vote of “no confidence” in Superintendent Bolgen Vargas. […]
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The district’s ‘Who done it?’
City school officials and school board members say they’re taking seriously a package sent to the Democrat and Chronicle containing personal information about school board President Van White. Though the package’s contents were meant to discredit White, the situation has instead become a serious test of leadership for both Superintendent Bolgen Vargas and the board. […]
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Budget gap grows for Rochester schools
A little over a month ago, Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas cautioned school board members about a budget gap for the 2014-2015 school year that could top $30 million. But he revised that projected gap to $42 million at a recent board meeting. Vargas said the increase became apparent after hearing Governor Andrew Cuomo’s state […]
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Cuomo critical of Common Core rollout
Only minutes ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that’s he going to convene a panel of educators and legislators to review the rollout of the controversial Common Core curriculum. Cuomo made the announcement during his 2014-2015 budget presentation. Acknowledging that there have been complaints statewide about the Common Core from parents, teachers, and students, Cuomo said, […]
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Powering-up parents
Brenda Coleman says her son LaBronze, 10, is intelligent and has an impressive vocabulary. And there are times when he is extremely talkative, she says. But Coleman says she has to keep LaBronze on a tight, consistent schedule. Any unusual variations can trigger serious behavioral problems, she says. When that happens, she says, “this house […]
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Schools leadership
Rochester school board members will meet this week to elect a leadership team. | Van White, currently vice president of the board, says he wants the presidency. But White may face a challenge from board member Cynthia Elliott, if the rumors are to be trusted. | Malik Evans, the current president, is not seeking the […]
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Schools overhaul ready for phase two
Some Rochester school officials travelled to Albany recently to meet lawmakers on several pressing issues, including phase two of the massive project to overhaul city schools. School officials gave legislators a brief overview of the roughly $1.2 billion construction project — one of the largest projects in Rochester’s history. The second phase of the multi-phase […]
