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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