WHEREAS, mandates from the Federal and State level call for parent and community involvement in the operation of the District; and

WHEREAS, the City of Rochester is currently creating and maintaining a Neighborhood Association Model within the city; and

WHEREAS, the City of Rochester is currently creating and maintaining a Neighborhood Coalition Model within the city; and

WHEREAS, combining specific general services to the Rochester community is a more efficient and effective means of providing community services; and

WHEREAS, connecting the Rochester City School District to the City of Rochester is an efficient and effective means of rebuilding the infrastructure of the city:

RESOLVED, the Board of Education Commissioners will align the Rochester City School District zones with the City of Rochester Quadrants, Neighborhoods , and Sectors, creating and/or maintaining an appropriate number of educational environments necessary to serve the neighborhood population based on five year projected data; and

RESOLVED, the Board of Education Commissioners will operate in conjunction with the City of Rochester to provide a voice to its community; and

RESOLVED, the Board of Education Commissioners will work with the city’s Neighborhood Associations to provide an avenue for its citizens to have input into their school community; and

RESOLVED, the Board of Education Commissioners will work with the city’s Neighborhood Coalition to address concerns and/or problems the larger community may have with the school community; and

RESOLVED, the Board of Education Commissioners will work with the Mayor and City Council to rebuild the infrastructure of the city by utilizing inter-governmental relations in combining services to create and maintain the most efficient and effective city government possible.

Resolution 2014-15:2

WHEREAS, the New York State Department of Education Law 3003 states: “The commissioner, at the request of a board of education or board of cooperative educational services, may provide for the issuance of a certificate as superintendent of schools to exceptionally qualified persons who do not meet all of the graduate course or teaching requirements of subdivision one of this section, but whose exceptional training and experience are the substantial equivalent of such requirements and qualify such persons for the duties of a superintendent of schools.”; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Bolgen Vargas has not demonstrated “exceptional training and experience” that would qualify him for the issuance of a certificate as superintendent of schools; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Bolgen Vargas, being less than qualified for the position of Superintendent, has made plans, recommendations, and decisions as Superintendent of Schools for the Rochester City School District; and

WHEREAS, those  plans, recommendations, and decisions have not proven to increase the graduation rate, attendance rate, or educational success of the students or schools in the district; and

WHEREAS, a letter from Commissioner King dated January 3, 2012 to Superintendent Vargas states, “Because your district has not provided us with sufficient evidence that these commitments have been fulfilled, we are taking immediate action to suspend all future SIG payments with respect to funds allocated to schools implementing the Transformation model. Please be advised that federal Teacher Incentive Funds and Race to the Top funding could also be in jeopardy; we are reviewing federal guidelines to determine the impact of this situation on those funds” is evidence of the inability of the current administration to efficiently and effectively perform certain duties of the Superintendent’s position:


RESOLVED, the Board of Education Commissioners place a moratorium on all Superintendent Vargus’ plans, recommendations, and decisions until such time as they can be efficiently and effectively vetted by the Board as to their relevance to the RCSD population, reliance on data, and reference and alignment to current research on  childhood development, learning, and strategies that promote educational success; and

RESOLVED, the Board of Education Commissioners meet individually with their liaison school communities to create a Comprehensive Educational Plan; and

RESOLVED, the Board of Education Commissioners will, from the CEP’s created from individual school communities, create and maintain a “living” document as the District Comprehensive Educational Plan.

Resolution 2014-15:1

WHEREAS, there is no New York State Education Law or policy requiring that a district or Local Education Agency must engage/hire a Superintendent; and

WHEREAS, our current Superintendent, Dr. Bolgen Vargas is, according to New York State Education Law, not qualified to hold the position of Superintendent; and

WHEREAS, there have been no significant increase in either the graduation rate or educational success of our district by any of the former Superintendents engaged/hired by the sitting Board Commissioners; and

WHEREAS,  the Rochester City School District is under special State classification as a member of the “Big Five” and is therefore obligated to remit Board Commissioners an annual salary; and

WHEREAS, according to Policy 2100 - School Board Legal Status, “Board members are responsible for school district management and policy-making”; and

WHEREAS,  the duties of the Superintendent are primarily to implement the policies of the Board with all other duties carried out by members of the Superintendent’s administrative staff; and

WHEREAS, each Board member Chairs a Committee to which the administrative staff is responsible for reporting:

RESOLVED, that the Board of Education Commissioners will, through the use of technology, assume the duties and responsibilities of the Superintendent by communicating directly with Central Office Administration, eliminating the redundancy and inefficiency of the office of Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, and Assistant Superintendent; and

RESOLVED, that the Board of Education Commissioners will use the subsequent savings from the elimination of the office of Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, and Assistant Superintendent, to increase the number of teachers, paraprofessionals, and other positions that are most closely connected to the child’s educational environment; and

RESOLVED, that the Board of Education Commissioners will, with all due diligence, create and maintain meaningful and positive connections with and to their liaison schools through the use of technology and interpersonal communications with all interested stakeholders; and

RESOLVED,  that the Board of Education Commissioners will use current technology to create and maintain complete transparency of District operations by reporting to their individual liaison schools as well as the general community any and all information pertinent to interested stakeholder concerns that they are legally responsible to report.