What is going on with Rome City School District?
Correction -- that should be 6-8 middle school, not 5-8 (6 hrs ago | post #218)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
RNFU, thank you for your interest. First of all, we need to implore the board to start holding meetings in more comfortable settings. Secondly, I think you spell out the current situation quite well: o State aid in the range of 90-95 cents on the dollar o Additional Excel aid that can be used to pay local share (5-10 cents on the dollar) o Crumbling buildings In addition, I think Jeff Simons has done a good job of spelling out the goals of any redistricting/cons truction project (my paraphrasing): o provide more academic programs to more students o provide socio-economic balance among schools o provide greater flexibility to respond to changing needs I believe to provide greatly improved infrastructure and achieve the academic goals we need to operate fewer buildings than we currently do. My vision for a optimum solution would be: 1 9-12 high school (current RFA) w/admin offices 1 6-8 middle school 4 pre-K-5 elementary schools, ~550 students each In a perfect world, all 4 elementary and the middle school would be new construction, tearing down Staley, Strough and all the others. With our current restrictions, I believe Staley and Stokes need to be retained because the state has recently aided major construction in both. A more realistic approach might look like this: o 9-12 high school w/admin offices (current RFA w renovation) o 5-8 middle school (at Staley with additions) 550-student elementary schools would be: o Strough with renovations o Stokes with additions o Denti with renovations o either John Joy, Clough or Bellamy with additions and renovation (I selected these buildings because their sites have sufficient acreage to maximize state aid. Ridge Mills might fit too.) What neighborhoods go to which schools would be determined by a new redistricting plan. With a community consensus and unanimous board support (and leadership), we could pass the bond referendum necessary to get as much state aid as possible to implement such a plan. Please, remember, this is just brainstorming. I stand ready to be persuaded another approach may be better than mine. And you should know by now, you can't hurt my feelings by pointing out errors or omissions. Please let me know where you think we should be going? (6 hrs ago | post #217)
Oh good. There can never be enough character assassination in this world. (6 hrs ago | post #9)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
Yes, it has been a practice for many years to hold the work sessions in the board room on Thomas Street and public meetings in various schools throughout the district. During July and August, public meetings are also held in the board room. However, it is also common practice to change the meeting place when it is evident that a larger than normal attendence is expected because of certain issues to be discussed. I can recall at least two times when the board held its annual organizational meetings at RFA. The current practice of packing dozens of people into a hot stuffy room has to end now. (Wednesday | post #215)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
RNFU, your thoughts about meeting in the board offices are right on track! We have at least two buildings with air-conditioned rooms and yet the Dream Team still prefers to hold meeting in a room that is too small to hold more that 10 visitors comfortably. Please use some of your influence to convince them to at least act like public attendance at their meetings is a priority? (Monday Aug 4 | post #211)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
You should look at the data a little more carefully. Either that or give me pointers to where you have read about districts doing what you say to save money. Every case that I can find (Boston, Minnesota, Michigan), they are talking about going back to neighborhood schools, not as a way to avoid busing, but rather, to avoid complying with Brown v. Board of Education. The plans are a thinly veiled attempts of going back to segregated schools. I don't think you should go there. (Monday Aug 4 | post #210)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
Amazed, I'd rather see a town hall meeting but with a more structured format to make sure that everyone's idea's are brought forth. Signing cards forces people who have an idea to sit for perhaps quite a long time waiting for their chance to speak. Rather than listening to other speakers, they often are more focused on thinking about what they're going to say when they finally get called up. A better format is for one or two skilled facilitators with microphones walking among the crowd and reacting to what is being said, and who are attuned to what the audience's reaction is to what is being said. That way they can steer the conversation in the most productive directions. Facilitators need to be skilled and trained and have no stake in the outcome so that their personal preference doesn't affect the way they steer. Instead, they focus only on the flow of the meeting with the intent of uncovering a consensus if there is one. (Monday Aug 4 | post #208)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
Amazed, I never completed my thought above completely. The overturned plan didn't include additions at Stokes for 5th grade they way I typed above, but did have additions for an expanded attendance zone. If the board determines a consensus within the district for a K-5 configuration, plans would have to be developed to do that. I believe the process should involve the following steps. First, determine if there is a consensus for K-5, 6-8, 9-12 school configuration (or at least a strong majority). I wish we could do this by non-binding referendum. For some reason, the state hated the idea when I suggested it around 15 years ago. Next, determine how many elementary and middle schools would best achieve that configuration. -- I propose 4 elementary and 1 middle school. -- The worst (most expensive and most academically restrictive) case I can imagine would be to continue with 8 elementary schools and 2 middle schools). Perhaps a non-binding referendum could determine if either of those two options or one in between could attract a significant majority of support. Various redistricting scenarios would have to be developed to go along with the various numbers of buildings to consider. Fortunately, the district now possesses excellent tools to do many "what ifs" with little time or cost. Third, develop a plan to achieve the vision determined by the above steps and put it to the voters for a bond referendum. A combination of renovation, addition and new construction would be smartest. My SWAG is that it will come in at around $120 million and will require a tax increase because it should include new construction. I base that on the scale between Utica and Rome and knowing that Utica cheaped out by ignoring their high school problem and reopening a decrepit elementary building. Their bond should have been for over $200 million to do the job right. Finally, build it, get buildings behind us and THEN we can start talking about why Johnny can't read. At that point, I might even be willing to run for the school board again so I could work on the stuff that really matters. You know, stuff like achieving excellence? (Friday Aug 1 | post #205)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
Amazed, it's clear that Stokes will require additions to accomodate a K-5 configuration. The overturned plan included those classrooms as well as more space for an enlarged attendance zone (redistricting students from Ridge to Stokes). RNFU, it's hard to tell but are you assuming I want to keep Ft. Stanwix open? I supported the plan to close it. I think we can call a school a neighborhood school even though it had 2 or more neighborhoods within its attendance zone. I think it's more important to not split neighborhoods they way we have been doing South Rome or the Lake Delta area ever since we closed their neighborhood schools. The Dream Team's plan continues that abuse to those two neighborhoods. Am I to believe they only care about certain neighborhoods? I think Johnny would be safer rowing his boat across Lake Delta than riding his bike down Rt. 46 to see his buddy near Ridge Mills. And please turn off your caps lock key. It looks like you're shouting, it's hard on these old eyes and it does nothing to strengthen your position. (Friday Aug 1 | post #204)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
Amazed, although RNFU has already accepted your apology to me, let me say no apology was needed. I have argued to keep it as it is in the past because it was part of the budget approved by the voters. People are arguing to disrupt things now to use as an excuse for keeping more elementary buildings open than is necessary. I interpret Ms. Riedel's comments last night to mean we may have to close a neighborhood school now in light of the state's financial position, just as long as it's somebody else's neighborhood. (Thursday Jul 31 | post #201)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
RNFU, I need to ask another favor of you -- your list of changes was very impressive and almost overwhelming. I don't think I'm up to the task. Can you do it again for me to count how many changes it would be if the plan the current board has chosen goes forward? I'm willing to bet it's going to be close to 28. Are you saying that when an autistic child enters Kindergarten at Ridge Mills, they are introduced to what, 20 teachers? Wouldn't that be a bit intimidating, even for a 5-year old without autism? And is it realistic to expect the entire staff to stay current on the status of every kid in the school? What makes the teachers at Ridge Mills so special? Why do you think the teachers at any school couldn't handle the training that's been give to the Ridge teachers? It's been pointed out to me by current and former staff members and a parent who, for obvious reasons, choose not to enter the fray here on topix.com, that you have yet to provide any evidence that children are harmed by changing teachers, changing classmates or changing classrooms and would be harmed then, by changing schools. They also point out to me that the autistic children are not a homogeneous group and that there are varying degrees of impact. Changes are going to affect each child differently but that no child will be damaged by change. But feel free to recalculate the number of changes that will happen now that the Dream Team is in charge. (Thursday Jul 31 | post #200)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
Bingo! It's called leadership. Now we're on a roll in agreement. There really is hope for a consensus. (Wednesday Jul 30 | post #196)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
remembering, thanks for your kind words. RNFU, if you call that humiliation, I observe your stance to be hyper-sensitive. If you don't agree, then how was your insistence that Gansevoort kids would be harmed by moving them to Denti or Ridge Mills kids moved to John Joy not humiliating the staffs at Denti and John Joy? And tell me, are autistic children harmed each year when they move to a new classroom and new teacher? How much worse would moving to a new room and a new teacher in a new school be? You have yet to demonstrate kids would have been harmed by the redistricting plan that would have saved us $1.2 million but was overturned by the Dream Team. What a nightmare. You sit close enough to me to hear me snoring but you still won't introduce yourself to me? That's kinda rude, doncha think? (Wednesday Jul 30 | post #195)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
Amazed, I have no stake in Staley -- my vision would include tearing it down, along with Strough, and replace them with one larger middle school. The problem with Staley is that the state has poured at least $12 million dollars in construction aid into the structure and if we close it, they're going to want their money back. I believe the optimum configuration for Rome would be: 4 K-5 elementary buildings (~500 students each) 1 6-8 middle school 1 9-12 high school Depending on what pre-K program we go with (economic-qualifie d or open to all) the pre-K could either be in its own building or spread throughout the elementary schools. The board office should be co-located at one of the other buildings. As population declines, it could probably fit at RFA. You're right, it will take a lot of leadership to bring the community to a consensus. I don't see the current board of education as providing that kind of leadership. People who stand "against " something aren't usually those who can shape a vision of where we should be going. But their power will be gone after this year. The sleeping giant is waking up and it's not in a good mood (Wednesday Jul 30 | post #189)
What is going on with Rome City School District?
RNFU, again with the name calling? Are you incapable of discussing issues and only able to make things personal? I usually avoid discussing intent of someone because it's impossible to ever know for sure. In the case of the Dream Team, it's easy to question their intent. They caused harm to each and every student, taxpayer and parent in the school district to keep two school buildings open and they did it without demonstrating that closing the buildings would have harmed one child. How can you say they have the best interests of the entire district in mind? This isn't about me but you keep trying to make it that way:: "I think we have all seen why he is not a member of the current boe as well." No, I don't think you do see, despite the fact that I've told you the reasons I'm not on the board. Would you care to share why you think I'm not on the board? You never finished your train of thought. You said of other former board members: "they lost because of their own self satisfaction they would have gained if the previous school closings would have occurred." Do you really believe someone could find satisfaction in closing a school? I'd love to see you prove that one. You said: "The current boe made their agenda prior to being nominated and they have thus far stuck to their plan." Yeah, and don't try to confuse them with the facts. You said: "Davis, Hagerty and Anderson continue to humiliate Gansevoort staff and children, as well as Bellemy staff and students," Please name one specific example of how they have humiliated someone? And finally: "1 more thing about frank Corradino... he falls asleep at EVERY BOARD MEETING HE IS AT." I'm listening, not sleeping. How is that an issue even if I did fall asleep? I know I've asked you a lot of questions here and in the past. Surprise me, please. Answer one of them, maybe? (Wednesday Jul 30 | post #188)
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