The State Education Department’s intervention at East High School is grabbing all the headlines, but Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas says turning around that failing school is not his biggest challenge (a reform plan is due by the end of the month). Changing the district’s inflexible culture is the boulder in the road to success, he […]
Rochester students and parents
Posted inNews & Opinion
Comptroller DiNapoli’s audits nab two Rochester charters
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released the results of audits of eight charter schools today, including two schools in Rochester: Eugenio Maria de Hostos Charter School and True North Rochester Preparatory School. The audits for both schools are critical of some practices and recommends changes. At Eugenio Maria de Hostos, the audit was critical of […]
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ASAR proceeding with no-confidence vote against Vargas
Members of the Association of Supervisors and Administrators of Rochester, the union that represents city school district principals and administrators, will hold a vote of no confidence against Superintendent Bolgen Vargas. Union members voted to pursue the no-confidence vote yesterday afternoon. The ballots will be mailed early next week to ASAR’s nearly 400 members and […]
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Cynthia Elliott to help lead board she once wanted to abolish
This blog has been edited from an earlier version. One of the best science-fiction films of the 1970’s is the remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” starring Donald Sutherland. Sutherland’s character, a city health inspector, starts to notice personality changes in the people around him. When Sutherland drops in on a Chinese couple who […]
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Vargas warns board of $33 million to $46 million budget gap
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 […]
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Hodgins aims for city school board as a Republican
Mia Hodgins stood on Lake Avenue in front of Charlotte High School earlier this week to talk about running for one of three available seats on the Rochester school board. Hodgins is a Republican at a time when the city’s electoral history heavily favors Democrats — so much so that it’s often not feasible for […]
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RCSD budget launches the Vargas years
This is a corrected version of this story. In the budget he’s proposed for the coming school year, Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas lays out a longer-term vision that marks a clear shift from the past. While the goals and priorities are the same as many of his predecessors’, Vargas is trying a different approach […]
