The Chicago teachers’ union is on strike and, as a result, parents are trying to figure out what they should be doing with their children. The Chicago Tribune is keeping a running tab of strike news here. This type of disruption is alien to New York parents. Like it or not, the state’s public school […]
Rochester school district
Posted inNews & Opinion
Test anxiety
Rochester could join a number of schools around the country that forgo high-stakes standardized testing if the Rochester school board approves a policy proposed by board member Mary Adams. | The resolution will be voted on this month. | High stakes testing was a main feature of the No Child Left Behind law, and it […]
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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 […]
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NEWS BLOG: Rochester district’s website gets a new look
The Rochester school district has an unenviable communications challenge The Rochester school district has an unenviable communications challenge. School officials have a slew of audiences, many with different needs and interests. And the district’s website hasn’t been a particularly helpful communications tool. But the website has been given a much needed makeover. The site isn’t […]
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Metro ink – 1-17-07
SCHOOL JOBS STILL DISPUTED The Rochester school district’s review of employee complaints, which was greeted with applause a month ago, has dissolved into anger, with some employees and clergy vowing to take their fight further. Superintendent Manuel Rivera had reviewed the cases of 27 former and current employees who said the district treated them unfairly […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Metro ink -12-27-06
THE IMPERIAL MARCH While you ring in the New Year, Darren Blum will be prepping for his first Imperial March. Blum, a Rochester native, will be marching in the 118th Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, as one of 200 Imperial Stormtroopers, the infamous white-helmeted baddies from the “Star Wars” movies. Led by “Star Wars”creator and […]
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No racism, says Rivera
Education District, critics disagree on racism review A review of employee complaints did not find evidence of racial discrimination in hiring and promotions, as some employees have charged, School Superintendent Manuel Rivera said at a press conference last week. Instead, Rivera said, the problems related to those particular employees stemmed from poor communication by the […]
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Metro ink – 11-22-06
WATER PLANT HEARINGS SET The state Department of Environmental Conservation will hold two public hearings on November 30 on the Monroe County Water Authority’s controversial plan for a new plant in Webster. Technically, the principal issues have to do with the water the plant would suck in from LakeOntario: an average of 35 million gallons […]
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Metro ink – 08.16.06
FARMING INDOORS Dirk Biemans is one of the few Rochester-area farmers growing tomatoes almost year-round. That’s because Biemans owns Intergrow Greenhouses in Albion, a 30-acre covered facility that operates from about late February to early December. He says he’d love to operate during the coldest winter months, but Rochester doesn’t get quite enough sun. (No […]
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It’s not just ‘politics’
Washington’s little firestorm around same-sex marriage has died down. But it shouldn’t recede from the public’s consciousness before we acknowledge its most dangerous aspect. Critics have said that the proposal by the president and Congressional Republicans for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage was a blatant political move, designed to placate the Religious Right. No […]
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Arms and the classroom
To its supporters, JROTC — the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps — is a valuable elective, teaching students discipline and responsibility. To its critics, it is a marketing opportunity for the Pentagon, designed to entice urban, principally minority high-school students into signing up for the military. And, they say, it teaches violence as a problem […]
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What’s your solution?
In a large urban school district, things are seldom as simple as they seem. That’s the case, in Rochester, with the school drop-out rate. As Tim Macaluso’s article on page 12 relates, the true drop-out rate isn’t nearly as high as many of us have assumed. But that’s not the full story. Each year, hundreds […]
