While the District does not describe “the overall improvement mission or guiding principles at the core of the district comprehensive improvement plan . . . ” it begins the DCIP by addressing the major recommendations made by the State after their audit.

The first “Major Recommendation”, “Schools need an effective school leadership team with the experience and expertise to support high academic achievement for all students.”

The District’s response to this recommendation is, “The district will have vigorous recruitment strategies and structures that include partnerships with college institutions, and other agencies that lead to highly effective personnel in all schools.”

The District’s “Goal” does not properly, effectively, or efficiently address the recommendation for “an effective school leadership team” since this would mean members of the whole school community would be involved in the leadership of the school, not just teachers and administrators.

The solutions the District provides for addressing this recommendation concentrate on teacher evaluations which have nothing to do with building a “school leadership team.”

The second “Major Recommendation”, “The district needs to assess/define how resources are allocated to schools based on the adoption of the Regents Reform Agenda, State Mandates and particular school models.”

The “Goal”, “The District will develop a structure for assessing and deploying resources to buildings that are equitable and adequately allocate school funds around the following: A core instructional program at each grade level built on the CCSS, the DTSDE and the expressed needs of the school community.”

The District’s goal is not to assess and deploy resources effectively and efficiently, but to develop a structure for deploying resources equitably and adequately.

The “Target” for district goals reads, “The district will staff priority and focus schools on a yearly basis with 95% fidelity according to the following key elements: Recommendations found in the DTSDE review, strong instructional core programs built around CCSS, state mandates and those recommendations made by district and school leaders to ensure optimal instruction at all levels.”

What does this mean and what does it have to do with resource allocation?

Review of the DCIP will continue tomorrow.

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The Rochester City School District is a “Focus” district and must therefore have a District Comprehensive Improvement Plan.

The requirements of the DCIP state, “Each LEA should have a single District Leadership Team and a single district comprehensive Improvement plan. Plan development must include all constituencies in the community as required under the Shared Decision Making Plan (CR100.11). Participants who are regularly involved in your district and school improvement initiatives, such as community organizations or institutes of higher education should be included.”

Who are the members of the District Leadership Team?

Why is it they are not identified in the final document?

DCIP requirements also state, “the district must describe the overall improvement mission or guiding principles at the core of the district comprehensive improvement plan, strategy for executing the mission/guiding principles, the key design elements of the education improvement plan presented in the DCIP, and other unique characteristics of the plan (if any), and provide evidence of the district’s capacity to effectively oversee and manage the improvement plan as presented over a three year period of time.”

While there is supposed to be DCIP Overview with the above requirements completed, reviewing the twenty-six page document shows that there is not.

Either this part of the document was submitted to the State and omitted from the online posted version or the DCIP Overview was never a part of the original document. Either way, the DCIP is incomplete without the overview which is crucial in understanding the direction of the district which relates directly to the policies created, priorities set, and funds spent.

This document was signed by the Superintendent and the Board President in November 2012 and accepted by the New York State Education Commissioner’s office.

As a “Focus” district, there should be more accountability from the State Education Commissioner whose duty it is to make sure LEA’s are in compliance with state education law and policies.

When education leaders don’t hold districts accountable for their failure, how can we expect them to be accountable for insuring our children’s educational success?

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As stated in yesterday’s post, one cannot be held accountable for performing the duties of their position unless those duties are known.

The list of administrators, chiefs, directors, and other assistants to the Superintendent is long. And though the district divided its organizational charts into three parts, all administration falls under the purview of the Superintendent, the School Board, and ultimately, the community.

With advances in technology, it is not difficult to imbed a link within each position listed on the organizational chart that connects any interested party to the job description and list of duties for that position.

We are told that the majority of the district’s budget is spent on salaries and compensation, being led to believe that those salaries and compensations belong to classroom teachers who are failing our children.

What we are not told is what percentage of those salaries and benefits belong to administrators who never enter the classroom.

With the continuous controversy over teacher evaluations, the community tends to overlook the fact that administrative positions command six figure salaries with no evaluative process for their performance.

When there is a budget deficit we are told that teachers must be “let go” and when the community demands that personnel cuts take place at Central Office, we are told that the district cannot be run properly with a smaller staff.

The Rochester Teacher’s Association is constantly coming under fire for its negotiating practices however no one ever questions ASAR, the Association of Supervisors & Administrators of Rochester.

In fact, very few citizens even know that administrators and supervisors have a union since they are considered management and traditionally management is not unionized.

The School Board has certain duties and responsibilities for which they are not held accountable simply because very few people know and understand their roles and responsibility.

Requiring the district to make public the roles and responsibilities of its administrators is the first step in creating the transparency necessary to hold our leaders in education accountable for our children’s educational success or failure.

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It is important to know and understand who is responsible for what in order to know whether every individual employed by the Rochester City School District is doing their job effectively and efficiently.

In viewing the organizational charts for the district, one notices immediately that the Board of Education is not included in any of the organizational charts.

Listed under Executive Cabinet are, the Superintendent, with General Counsel and Chief of Staff reporting directly to the Superintendent. As well, the Chief Financial Officer, Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, Deputy
Superintendent for Administration, and the Chief Communications Officer report directly to the Superintendent, with the Chief of Human Capital Initiatives reporting to the Deputy Superintendent for Administration.

The Deputy Superintendent for Administration has an Executive Secretary and an Assistant to the Deputy Superintendent for Administration.

Reporting to the Deputy Superintendent for Administration are the Chief Technology Officer, Chief of Operations, Executive Director of School Operations, Senior Director of Youth and Family Services, and Safety and Security.

Reporting to the Executive Director of School Operations are the Director of School Operations, Director of Testing, and the Director of Internal School Operations.

The Chief Financial Officer has an Executive Assistant with the Budget Director, Principal Management Analyst, Director of Financial Management & Grants, Director of Accounting, Supervisor of Payroll, Supervisor of Accounts Payable, Director of Procurement & Supply, and the Medicaid Analyst. The Supervisor of Distribution Center and Mail Room Staff report to the Director of Procurement & Supply.

There are fifty-six positions that report to the individuals that report to the Chief financial Officer.

The Director of Benefits, Director of Risk Management, and the Senior Director of HCI as well as the Director of Labor Relations, report to the Chief of HCI. There are seventeen positions listed under the directors.

The organization of education has overgrown the profession of teaching which involves the relationships between and among parents, students, and teachers.

Our children deserve a system of education that places them at the head of the organization.

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It is evident by now, to everyone who considers themselves an education activist or advocate, that Common Core standardization is not working.

The information gathered, from the introduction to the institution to the implementation of these “cut and paste” standards, has been largely negative.

Though the Federal government will not commit to making an excellent education the Constitutional right of every child in America, it gives itself the right to create curriculum standards and enforce them across the country, while at the same time relinquishing responsibility for the fiscal management of federal entitlement money to States and LEA’s.

Everyone with a vested and active interest in the system of education knows that the Common Core Standards are wrong for early childhood and elementary age children. Even the Federal education agencies are easing away from RTTT and ESEA Re-authorization requirements, allowing states waivers for its implementation.

No more rhetoric on the Common Core Standards.

It is time we rid ourselves of the current system of education that embraces the standardization of our children and destroys their natural abilities to be successful in their environment.

It is time we stop trying to fix what is wrong and recognize that the entire system of education must be changed so that it focuses on the gifts and talents of ALL children.

It is time we create a system of education that encourages and supports positive relationships between and among all stakeholders in education.

It is time we create a system of education that encourages and supports community based businesses in order to rebuild the infrastructure of the towns and cities in which our children live.

It is time we recognize that an excellent education is the right of every child in America and on earth.

Spending time examining and talking about what is wrong is important. For years we have tried to fix what is wrong with the current system of education and have failed to achieve any real success.

It is time we provide our children the excellent, child centered, experiential education they deserve.

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Teaching is not a job or a profession, it is a dedication to the enlightenment of mankind.

Believing that all children learn in their own way and being able to discern the strengths and abilities of a child is not learned, it is a talent.

Understanding the value of the individual perspective of every human being is having the insight to acknowledge and respect the unique aspect of the spirit within everyone.

We have evolved beyond the point where children are considered extra farm hands, a means of carrying on the family business, or another worker in the family to help pay the bills.

The evolution of every culture shows us that once the basic needs of the tribe are met their culture moves towards exploring and expanding the artistic abilities of the members of the community.

The struggle to maintain the artificial notion of class-ism keeps us from evolving into an enlightened society that engages our children in discovering, developing, and directing the more spiritual aspects of human-kind, artistic expression.

Artistic expression opens the door to communication and critical thinking. It brings us together to discuss the finer points of a concept or idea.

Artistic expression defines and refines our ideas, building on what exists and eliminating what shouldn’t.

Our children are our future and our future must not have a monetary value but a human one.

We celebrate Labor Day to honor those who stood up for the rights of workers.

It is time we stand up for the right of every child to receive an excellent education.

It is time we evolve beyond the point of placing a monetary value on educating our children and focus on discovering, developing, and directing the talents of our children so that we can evolve into an enlightened society that values the integrity, respect, and love one human being has for another.

Teaching children to love and respect themselves and others is a labor of love. Once we accomplish that, they will happily learn whatever else is necessary to be successful in their environment.

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Last night V.O.T.E. held a school board candidates forum at the Frederick Douglass Center.

Only one incumbent, Cynthia Elliott, was there to support her position on the Board. In all, seven candidates answered questions posed by the moderator and the audience which consisted of parents, teachers, and community members.

The issues addressed ran the full gambit of problems with which our currents system of education is wrought.

There were many ideas on what the Board and the community can do to address poverty, racism, institutional and otherwise, culturally relevant curriculum, professional development, social promotion, top heavy administration, unions, unqualified teachers, uninvolved parents, undisciplined students, ineffective and inefficient leadership and stewardship, and even the protest of New York State Education Commissioner John B King.

We must recognize that all of these issues are extremely important indicators that the current system of education is failing our children and our society miserably. They are the symptoms of the disease Mis-education.

We cannot continue applying band aids and taking pain medication in the form of corporate funding since history has shown that this approach has not and will not benefit our children.

The only way to insure an effective and efficient system of education that provides every child with an excellent education is to wipe out the disease and create a healthy system of education that celebrates the gifts and talents of all children.

Concerned stakeholders in education must take the initiative to create a system of education that focuses on the abilities of children, showing them that they are valuable and have a great deal to offer their world.

The cancer of hate and self loathing that is destroying our children must be purged from education.

Providing and excellent education to ALL children will cure the disease and eliminate the symptoms of mis-education.

Ultimately, within two generations, the cancerous hate that is killing the body of education will be in remission and, within four generations, will be completely healed.

We must enact the cure now so that our children can become healthy, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

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Rochester’s advocates and activists filled buses and drove cars to lend their voice to the 50th Anniversary March on Washington.

It was a very different affair than the original, t-shirt salesmen and trinket hawkers lined the streets with the hopes of capitalizing on the multitude of participants from around the country and spectators from around the world.

Save Our Schools together with United Opt Out marched from Farragut Square to the Washington Monument spreading the word to participants and passerbys about the devastating role mis-education has played in the reality that 50 years after this country’s initial awakening to the truth of inequality, the struggle continues.

As educators, parents, students, and community members settled into their place on the monument grounds, they immediately began to educate those walking by to reject the common core and opt out of standardized testing.

Shouts of “Educate to Liberate!” and “No More Common Core!” resounded enticing participants to stop and listen to knowledgeable and impassioned witnesses tell their stories and relate the true information about the damaging effects of our current system of education.

Deeper conversations convinced rally goers that the entire system of education must change its focus from disabling children to discovering their gifts and talents, from enabling children to empowering them.

No one asked, “What can I do?” Everyone there understood that the only way to affect change is by raising our collective voice through the power of our individual vote.

Rochester voices were also heard speaking out against racial profiling and the injustice of our local, state, and federal justice systems.

There were many participants who attended the original March on Washington in 1963 who were disheartened by the fact that there needed to be a second and hopeful that a third would not be necessary.

The only way to insure that we will not revisit the Washington Monument to protest injustice in another 50 years is to change the system of education so that it concentrates on discovering, developing, and directing the gifts and talents of ALL children.

A strong America requires a strong people.

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