In a preview of his proposed budget for the 2014-2015 school year, Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas told board members last night that the district faces a $33.2 million budget gap. But that figure doesn’t include fully funding some of what Vargas called academic priorities, such as increasing reading support to meet third grade proficiency […]
Bolgen Vargas
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Vargas’s plea to higher ed
Bolgen Vargas may be remembered as the superhero who figured out a way to reverse 30 years of declining student performance in the Rochester City School District. Or he could be remembered as another name on a long list of well-meaning superintendents ultimately bested by an ossified bureaucracy. After two years leading the school district, […]
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Vargas’s bold plan for the school district
Want to read something that will break your heart? Sitting on my desk at work is a hefty group of reports collected over the years, including numerous ones produced by the Rochester school district. Among them is a survey of initiatives designed to provide a better education for the district’s poorest, African American children: a […]
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Student behavior: Vargas dares to go there
When Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas presented his proposal for college-run schools last week, it was just one piece of a larger package of steps needed, he said, to improve student achievement. The full pac kage includes improving financial management to reduce the hand-wringing over budget gaps; working with BOCES to revive a technical careers program […]
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School puzzles
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas says that managing ambiguity has become one of his biggest challenges. For example, Vargas says that he supports teacher-led schools, where teachers and schools operate with as much autonomy as possible. But with greater autonomy with operations and programs comes greater accountability, he says. | “Teacher-led schools, in my definition, […]
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RCSD Superintendent Vargas won’t concede to charters
If the Rochester school district doesn’t start improving soon, charter schools will become the dominant force in the district, city schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas said in a recent interview.
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RCSD redux
In his effort to save city schools, Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas is turning to three former high-level district administrators: Ray Giamartino, Ralph Spezio, and Suzanne Johnston. | Giamartino will serve as chief of school transformation, where his primary task will be to move some of the lowest performing schools in the state to schools […]
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This Week: Brockport elections, Mounted Patrol vote, Supremes rulings, chat with Vargas
Brockport residents will hold elections to choose a mayor and two trustees. Mayor Maria Castañeda is seeking a second term, running against Margaret Blackman, a current village trustee and retired professor of anthropology at SUNY Brockport. Blackman is joined by newcomer Valerie Ciciotti, and incumbent trustee Carol Hannan on the Revitalize Brockport party. Castañeda’s running […]
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Running out of time
Significant cuts to All City High’s teaching and non-teaching staff have set off alarms about that school’s survival, but there’s much more to it. The cuts have also ignited a much larger concern about the future of the Rochester school district and the role that charter schools will play in that future. All City High’s […]
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Reductions at All City High may signal trend
Cuts to All City High’s teaching and non-teaching staff amount to a self-inflicted wound for the Rochester school district, says Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association. All City High’s instructional staff of about 120 teachers will be cut next school year to about 64, according to current plans, Urbanski says. That doesn’t include […]
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More busing?
Officials at the Rochester school district have asked the State Education Department for permission to change the district’s transportation policy guidelines. Superintendent Bolgen Vargas says he wants to provide elementary students who live a half-mile or more from their school with bus transportation. The current policy limits transportation to students who live a mile-and-a-half or […]
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Rochester report
Rochester is in need of fundamental transformation, said Mayor Tom Richards in his State of the City address on Monday night. Refusal to acknowledge that fact or to insist that nips and tucks will do the trick is to condemn the city to failure, he said. | Richards’ speech touched on public safety, education, housing […]
