When children leave school for the summer, research shows that many lose a significant percentage of the knowledge and skills they developed during the school year. It varies from child to child, but some studies show that children can lose as much as half of the academic gains they’ve made. Some educators refer to it […]
Bolgen Vargas
Posted inNews & Opinion
A surge of charters to Rochester?
A new company created by Joe Klein, chair of Klein Steel and former board member of True North Rochester Preparatory Charter School, is recruiting specialized organizations to open and manage charter schools in Rochester. By recruiting well-known and tested charter management organizations, E3 Rochester could potentially change the education landscape in the city by adding […]
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[UPDATED] Week Ahead: College Town grocer wants tax breaks; learn about the Common Core; RCSD budget meeting
Update, Tuesday, April 16: According to a spokesperson for Monroe County, Meliora Provision Co. pulled its application from this month’s COMIDA agenda because they are still working out details with College Town’s developer. The company looking to build a grocery store in the future College Town project on Mount Hope wants sales and mortgage tax […]
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Week Ahead: Mayor’s Ball, RCSD budget hearing, RPO court battle continues
The State Supreme Court will hear arguments in a lawsuit against the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Attorney Eileen Buholtz is suing to invalidate the RPO board’s annual meeting, which was held on January 23, including the results of board member elections. Buholtz ran for a board seat as a write-in candidate, and in her lawsuit she […]
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City schools and the Rochester mayor’s race
The mayoral race is officially under way and if past elections are any indication, be prepared for plenty of heated debate about the city school district. Though the situation is far from perfect, the district and the city have been working more collaboratively over the past two years than at any other time in recent […]
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Week Ahead: Prop 8 and DOMA Supreme Court hearings, RCSD budget, city budget forum, keeping an eye on pawn shops
The US Supreme Court will hear a legal challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act beginning on March 27. In anticipation, a local collaborative group that includes representatives of the LGBT, religious, and labor communities will hold a couple of events this week. Under DOMA, marriage is limited to one man and one woman […]
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RCSD Superintendent Vargas prepares final budget
This has been the quietest budget season in recent memory for the Rochester school district. There’s been no talk about cutting teachers, but there are some worries. Superintendent Bolgen Vargas is banking on Governor Cuomo’s “pension smoothing” proposal to help reduce the district’s $52 million budget gap for the 2013 to 2014 school year. He’s […]
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WEEK AHEAD: Gun group to speak at Lej meeting, RCSD meetings, Skate Park design event
Rochester Personal Defense, a local company that conducts firearms and self-defense training, set up a Facebook event encouraging people to attend this week’s Monroe County Legislature meeting to speak out against new state gun-control laws. As of Monday morning, 86 people have indicated they will attend. The Legislature meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March […]
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WEEK AHEAD: Proposed gun ban, RCSD budget hearing, downtown safety meeting
A County Legislature committee will vote tonight on a Democratic proposal to ban guns from county buildings. The measure will be considered by the Agenda/Charter Committee, which meets at 6 p.m. today at the County Office Building, 39 West Main Street. Under current county policy, members of the public cannot bring guns into buildings owned […]
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WEEK AHEAD: White announcement; RCSD budget; State of the Union party; MCC decision day
Rochester businessman Alex White will make an announcement this afternoon regarding the 2013 elections. White, a member of the Green Party, has waged unsuccessful bids for Rochester mayor and City Council in the recent past. “There has been speculation as to my intentions for the local races this year,” White said in a press release. […]
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Vargas lobbies Albany for education spending
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas was in Albany yesterday responding to Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget and urging lawmakers to increase funding for the Rochester school district, the lowest performing of the state’s Big Five school systems. Vargas wants more funding to meet a district goal of getting 90 percent of city third-graders to read at […]
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The neighborhood schools tightrope
City school officials are grappling with a long-simmering problem: satisfying many parents’ desire for neighborhood schools, while not locking students into schools that are performing poorly. The Rochester school district currently operates under a school choice model in which schools are divided into three zones: northeast, northwest, and south. Parents select from the schools in […]
