The Rochester school district will hold a public hearing on Superintendent Bolgen Vargas’s proposed $728 million spending plan for the 2013 to 2014 school year. The budget has been criticized by parents because it includes closing School 30. Parents are also concerned about implementation of the new core curriculum and its impact on rigorous programs […]
Superintendent Bolgen Vargas
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Budget hopes
In his proposed budget, Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas lays out a unique vision to tackle the district’s most persistent problems. | The roughly $728 million budget is the same as the current year’s amended budget, but includes expanded instruction time in core subjects at the elementary level. And Vargas would lengthen the school day […]
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Few layoffs in RCSD budget for next year
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas will present a final draft of his $728 million budget for next year to board members. The budget adds 10 new reading teachers specifically for students in grades K-3, according to a background document provided by the district. Vargas plans to move forward with longer school days in up to […]
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Vargas delivers final version of plan for schools overhaul
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas presented school board members with an updated version of his plan to renovate 38 schools over the next 11 years at a special meeting last night. Nine of the buildings are already in the first phase of construction of the $1.2 billion project, the largest of its kind in the […]
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School 16 will re-open, after all
Residents of the 19th Ward Community Association fighting to save School 16 in the Rochester school district scored a victory tonight as Superintendent Bolgen Vargas announced that the school would be renovated and re-opened. Numerous maintenance issues with the school forced its closure last year. Since that time, Vargas has insisted that the school is […]
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Clock ticking for RCSD?
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas’s warning in his recent State of our Schools speech that the community faces its “last chance” to turn around the city’s troubled district left many people wondering what, exactly, he meant. In an interview after the event, Vargas said he wasn’t trying to be provocative when he made the comment. […]
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Vargas: Success is still possible
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas told parents, teachers, and community leaders in his State of our Schools speech last night that the district can be turned around. But he simultaneously lowered expectations, saying that it will take years, and test scores and the district’s graduation rate could get worse before they improve. “I want you […]
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RCSD adopting ‘common core’ curriculum
While the New York City and Yonkers school districts have seen their graduation rates go up over the last few years, Rochester’s rate seems permanently stuck around 50 percent. And 27 of Rochester’s 60 city schools are among the lowest performing in the state. One reason for the gains in New York City and Yonkers, […]
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Superintendent’s eval reflects on board
Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas met with school board members last night to discuss his evaluation. The seven-member board’s chief responsibility is to hire and supervise the superintendent. But board members’ evaluation of Vargas is also a review of their own skills as a publicly elected body. And their participation in and influence on the […]
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Concerns about School 16’s future won’t go away
It’s been more than two months since Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas presented his draft proposal for modernizing city schools. And during that time, School 16 in the 19th Ward has become a symbol of resistance to parts of the plan. A group of neighborhood residents and parents are determined to keep the school open. […]
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Improvement plans due
The State Education Department issued a report last year that identified persistently low-performing schools and school districts. Priority schools are those with the lowest achievement, and focus schools are those at risk of becoming priority schools if preventive measures aren’t taken. The SED ranked Rochester’s schools among the worst of the worst. Out of the […]
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The bumpy path to a smaller RCSD
When Rochester schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas initially presented his proposal for the $675 million next phase of the schools modernization program, he said the district must eliminate unneeded space. But at a special board meeting last week, he took the conversation one step further. “I’m telling teachers, parents, and administrators to look at the district […]
