from WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made last week when the Rochester City School District announced the hiring of a new superintendent.

The board chose Eric J. Rosser, who comes to Rochester after spending five years as the superintendent in Poughkeepsie.

Rosser will be leaving Poughkeepsie City Schools to start in Rochester July 1st, exactly a year after interim Superintendent Demario Strickland stepped in.

And following the resignation of Carmine Peluso last year, who left Rochester to take the head job in Churchville.

Charlie Rosser has a PhD from Suny Buffalo.

He's also worked at Buffalo Public Schools, Atlanta Public Schools and the D.C. office of the State Superintendent of Education in D.C..

He's new to Rochester, and there is a bit of odd symmetry here.

Several years ago, Terri Dade pulled the ripcord and left Rochester after just a year, heading for the Cornwall School District in the eastern part of the state.

The Hudson Valley roster comes to Rochester from the district that was only about half an hour away from where date is serving.

The Rochester City School Board is hoping this hire will finally, at long last, bring stability to the position.

But the vote was not unanimous.

Rosser was elected by a vote of 4 to 2.

One board member, the former board president Cynthia Elliot, was not present and did not vote.

Two board members, former board vice president Beatrice LeBron, as well as Commissioner Isaiah Santiago, voted against the hire.

This hour, we'll ask them why and why their choice might have been someone already within the district.

Santiago made headlines when he was elected at the age of 19.

The youngest Rochester board member ever last week, San Diego was back in the headlines because his colleague on the board, James Patterson, has petitioned New York State for Santiago's removal.

Paterson says that Santiago has used racial slurs and heated confrontations.

Santiago is counter that Paterson has repeatedly called him boy and demeaned him because of his relative youth.

This hour, we're going to talk about these issues, but not just these issues.

Our guests want to talk about everything from project 2025 to the health of the district, and a lot more, and let me welcome them now.

Beatrice LeBron, Rochester City School Board Commissioner, welcome back to the program.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for having us.

Isaiah Santiago, welcome back to you.

Thanks for being with us.

Glad to be on.

And to be clear to listeners, you recently heard the president, the vice president of the board.

They'll be back soon, I'm sure, because now that there's the hire of a new superintendent, we've invited all board members to be here, as we always do.

We do this with the city council.

We did this with the county legislature school board.

It's an ongoing check in, and there happens to be a lot of news right now.

So I'm going to start with Beatrice Lebrun and ask you about this.

The big news from last week is the hiring of a new superintendent.

And you were one of the two no votes.

Can you explain that vote?

Yeah.

I just want to point out that, because our board president currently made some comments on record at a board meeting.

And, you know, I try to clarify some of those comments as well in regards to the fact that the board unanimously voted for a surge.

in part, that was also because the it's part of the state requirement with the state monitor, right?

We had to hire someone.

The state wanted to ensure that we hired a firm.

So it was part of, Homie's plan, if you will, for our Ccsd.

But that was in March of last year, and things have changed dramatically just even in the last two months.

And so I'll tell you that in November, right after the election, I, you know, I was in school last year and I didn't graduate till May.

And so it wasn't until after graduation that I myself sat down and read project 2025.

And then, sort of thought this couldn't happen.

I mean, I knew that legally, strategically, this looked like a plan that could take place in government.

I think I was in denial that, the election would go the way that it did.

But what I will say is that when November elections came, that I started to express interest in wanting to stop the surge and sort of start pushing on my colleagues and the state and other elected to Monroe County and in the state of New York, to also read project 2025 and have some some plans of action, some some something to counter, if you will.

and I will tell you and I said this in one of my own lives, that I felt like the Chicken Little of electeds because, you know, for some people, I've had people tell me, you sound like you're in history and it's not hysteria.

This is really happening in real time right now.

You're talking about project 25.

Details are being carried out now.

Yes.

Okay.

Right now we have 42% of the educational goals that project 2025 has laid out.

We haven't even started to and we haven't even experienced the impact that's coming way.

And some of that impact will impact students with special needs.

Right.

They're trying to remove 504 BS in classrooms, and IEPs are going to be impacted and affected.

And even funding for title one, all of these things are happening.

and will be taking place.

And Democrats are in the minority.

And, you know, there's not much that they're doing right now.

And I that's that's from my perspective as a Democrat or someone actively involved.

but for me, that is where we're stemming from.

And I will tell you that I not only vocally expressed these things.

I realized in January that the board was going to continue and they were not taking anything.

I was saying way it's like when you don't like someone, you're kind of like, yeah, let her talk.

And then what?

We're still going to do this.

And that was the attitude of the board majority.

And I'll say the board majority because president former President Elliott was not there.

But I do not think that she would have voted.

I cannot speak for her, but I have had lots of conversations with her, and I think she would have also been a no vote on this as well.

But so I wrote a letter in January.

That letter was to my board colleagues.

I had our board clerk send it out as a memo, so no one can say that they never received that letter.

And in that letter, I asked again for them to halt the search, for us to have plans.

This is particularly around refugee and immigrant students.

We have the largest number of that population in Monroe County.

That is us.

We are the only school that has a newcomer program in Monroe County that brings and welcomes families from different countries here.

and that program is we are the Rochester International Academy.

and so I wrote this letter to the board.

I did not make it public.

You know, again, the conversations for me at that point in time were to my colleagues, but unfortunately, they no one even responded to it.

I just want to point that out.

I'll absolutely make that that first letter public if folks would like, and so then I wrote a second letter to other elected officials.

And the big push for me is stability in this district.

I can tell you as a board member, seven years in, and I've seen people say that the board is stable.

The board hasn't been stable since I've been on the board.

There's always been someone new or two coming in, and that has contributed to some of that as well.

But we're never going to accomplish anything.

That's one if we don't have stability, but to not have stability when the country at the federal level is unstable right now and is actively being unstable, I you know, I think it puts us all in a really dangerous position.

And the fact that the fact remains is that we don't really have real plans for families who are refugees and immigrants.

We have things in place.

We've been advised by the AG's office.

We've been advised by now.

You said the Department of Education on protocols and policies and things that we can take in place now.

For example, Ice agents coming to the school have to have a signed warrant by a judge making sure that all front you know, direct staff are aware of what that, would look like, that warrant, what it looks like to be signed.

But if Ice had all of those things in place, they can still come into the school by law and grab these children and take them.

We also know that there are families already taken out of Rochester.

We have no idea where those families are at.

We have a pregnant mom right now who was denied access to a lawyer right at Rochester Regional Health.

These are not issues that the district is exempt from.

These are our families being impacted.

and so, yeah, for me, this is where that was coming from.

And one thing stability in the district.

I also think that no superintendent is going to come in knowing how to navigate what's happening with project 2025.

And so why have someone from outside who then has to.

And I wrote this in my letter and I just want to point out that we received an email from this new superintendent.

But I wrote this in my letter to go again to do a 100 day of listening.

We don't need 100 days of listening.

Right now is a critical time for us to be taking action and creating, contingency safety plans for families and understanding how our families are going to be impacted because our unfortunately, a lot of the families we served are going to be impacted in multiple ways.

Medicaid, Snap, HUD, which is, subsidized housing, all of these things are on the chopping block.

And all of these things interact and interface with our families.

And so for me, that is where it was coming from.

I still stand by my no vote.

I do not feel optimistic or hopeful that a new superintendent is going to come in and make a miraculously change for RC, ASD again, at a time when the federal government is unstable and actively being destabilized by our current president, are you rooting for this new superintendent to succeed?

I am not up for or against my focus right now, even in all actuality, is how do we keep families safe in this community beyond our CSD?

Again, the implications right now we have a budget up that expires this Friday.

You know, the administration is talking about that.

If the budget consolidations don't pass, that it's going to be on Dems.

They control right now that portion of it.

I'm going Friday to march at the Capitol with a number of vets and folks who receive Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security because all of those benefits are on the chopping block right now.

Well, and I'm going to turn to your colleague in a second.

I just wanna make sure I understand your position on a couple things here.

A year ago, when you were the vice president of the board and you came on this program with the president of the board, and you indicated pretty strongly that you felt that Carmine palooza was kind of pushed out.

Absolutely, by the actions of board members who acted inappropriately, 100% undermined the superintendent.

Yes.

Are you worried you're going to do the same to this new group?

No.

Absolutely not, because I'm not that type of person.

And I think, you know, what's unfortunate to an elected positions, people don't get to see behind the scenes or people's backgrounds and work.

I've never worked in a job where I had issues with my colleagues, except for the school board.

And I just have to say that, however, that cannot be said about the people I served with.

They have had issues at their jobs like this is a personality issue.

I also expressed that in my letter as well to other elected officials who say, hey, the dysfunction is not just only here.

It's gotten worse and that dysfunction will drive individuals out.

But no, I don't have anything personal against Doctor Rosner.

I do not know him.

and I'm going to give him the same respect and support that I have provided to Carmine, to Demario and any other superintendent, Terry date as well.

Okay.

and I want to make sure and also understand.

So 2024 plays out if Vice President Harris had won that election, and project 2025 was essentially not a workable strategy because of who would be in power, would you have approached the superintendent search differently?

Absolutely.

Would you have been open to an outside person?

Absolutely.

Because we would not be under the constraints that we're under right now at the federal level.

We you know, right now, $880 billion is wiped out of Medicaid.

And Medicaid also serves special needs students even outside of the classroom.

So these are ripple impacts and effects, right.

and then right now, housing is at risk.

Housing, insurance, education, all of these things, all of these things that you walk and chew gum at the same time, though, can you say we've got to deal with, as you say, project 2025, what's happening at the federal level?

I think your colleagues would say we absolutely have to deal with that.

And, and we said, and we have to, but they're not dealing with it.

We have yet to have a meeting as a board to have a direct conversation, as a board of what our responsibilities are going to be.

And I will tell you right now that, you know, I call the state almost every day, every day I'm asking about different things.

I'm calling the AG's office, having meetings with them to see what positions we can take legally, which ones we won't be able to fight.

You're alleging that your colleagues on the board are kind of derelict in duty.

I'm alleging that we have yet to have a conversation as a board and private or public, about project 2025 and the implications to our district if the federal government was to cut us off.

We're talking about $247 million at minimum.

We would not be able to survive and sustain that.

What would be the plans?

And I'm not in leadership, but I want to be clear.

I didn't run for leadership this year.

I did not want to be in leadership.

I've never had a desire to be board president.

you know, vice president was stretching it for me as it was.

I'm involved in other things.

And so my focus is oftentimes stretched out.

and I know that I can be just as effective as a regular board member.

and I was fine with that.

But that is what I'm alleging, that there yet to be and the public can see that the public can look back to board meetings and say, hey, when did they pinpoint and start having conversations about RC ISD's response to project 2025?

It has yet to happen.

Commissioner Santiago, you were the other no vote.

Can you talk about that decision?

Evan, I explained that, around the time that I voted no, I remember my experience as a student, around 2020, when it was already an unsettling time, nationally and also locally, and experiencing, the impacts of Superintendent changes during, unstable time.

And I remember many times, programs like not having no ideas when the programs were going to, continue new teachers every other week for, you know, classes that that we were focused on.

Like, I remember the instability that it caused, during a time that was that was already unstable.

and so I just couldn't make the vote with knowing how the switch in the superintendent could truly impact the stability, of the district.

And there are currently a lot of plans in place, not even, you know, going off of just the federal level stuff locally.

There's a lot of things that's going on with, the the $30 million gap in the budget at the moment.

this contract is one of the most expensive contracts that the board has, ever passed in the history of the district during a $30 million gap.

and so it's just, you know, seeing the plans as currently in place, you have the FNP that will finally be be in the process of being accomplished.

You know, that's been, a lot of work to, to get to that place.

You have reconstruction, you have a lot of different things that's going on.

and so I just believe right now, during this time, it wasn't the best decision to to create more instability during this time.

usually when you look at the historic problem of this district, it's usually execution.

you know, good plans are made.

You know, good initiatives are thought of, goals are made, but the issue is usually execution.

And it's hard for somebody to come into a district and learn the district during a time that the district is changing.

and that's just the reality.

The state has been putting pressure on the district to downsize for years.

and then there's also some places where we're kind of stuck where we have to downsize.

and so the district is changing.

And so it's kind of hard to bring somebody on to catch on the train while the train is moving extremely fast with the deaths, with the gaps that we have with the, with the changes that's going on in the district and to include the federal changes.

And so I just don't think the instability, would be beneficial to the students.

And so that's that's why I voted.

No, that was my personal advocacy.

I certainly don't know.

Doctor Rosser and look forward to having him on this program when he's here.

hopefully quite often.

you know, I, I've said many times I live in Rochester.

I think everybody roots for Rochester to succeed.

but my job is to examine, you know, what's going on at various government levels.

So for you, you know, you're in a position as a board member to say, okay, you agree with your colleague that right now you decided was not the moment to go outside the district.

It's too hard to train somebody up.

There's too much going on.

There's too much chaos.

Let's stay with a train that's moving really, really well, that's where you work.

Well, is that fair system?

Is consistency.

The problem with this district is we have a change in leadership every other year, and it's hard for anything to get completed.

And so when you find somebody who is loyal and find somebody who has committed to the work, and was part of creating the plans, you're talking about an interim superintendent.

Yes.

So so that would have been your preference to stay with for I think it was the wisest decision.

Okay.

to, to remain with the person who was part of creating the plans.

So now execute the plans instead of bringing outside.

I just saw I was, unstable decision.

And again, from my personal experience as a student, I couldn't vote in favor of it.

And so, you know, certainly I don't know any of the candidates or who was interviewed.

I can understand many arguments here.

I could understand an argument that says we would agree with you, except for this candidate was so far and above so skilled, so, you know, brought so much to the table that we couldn't say no, I, I, I don't know me personally, Evan, I have nothing wrong to say about the incoming superintendent.

I hope, and I do plan to work with him as he comes on the reality as a board passed him, and so he will be the superintendent.

and so then you have a decision to work with him or to not.

And I don't believe I voted no because I didn't want to support instability.

And so I don't want to be part of the problem to create more instability after him.

And so the plan is to work with him, you know, and I and I did meet him the night of the vote, and I explained to him that it wasn't personal.

It was about the students and stability of the students.

And the hope is, you know, as we sit down and meet together, we can collaborate, you know, of that conversation go between you.

And it went pretty well, you know, it was, very, very short.

It was after the vote.

So it was a short, you know, interaction.

It's not the only conversation you've had directly with so, so far.

Yes.

but, it was an agreement that we're going to do right by the students.

And so, you know, so, so we both, you know, shook hands and agreed on that.

And so the plan is to collaborate for my personal.

And I plan to work with the superintendent.

I wish him best.

It wasn't personal, but it would have been my best.

He said, email us his, to let us know that he is planning to do a 100 day listening tour.

Well, that's what a lot of new studios do.

It's I know, but this is for a good reason, right?

Do you think we have the time right now?

No, we do not have 100 days for our superintendent to be listening when we are in a crisis.

And I will tell you, Evan, there are so many people in this community sort of, you know, I'm saying people are either in shock or not fully understanding what's happening, but it's happening.

It's like it's really happening in real time right now.

And the implications of project 2025, and we are a community already that struggles with poverty and access to resources, and that is just going to get further compounded in this community.

Were you there to evaluate to to be part of the interview process?

No.

So in January, I wrote the letter asking them to to halt the process.

When they did, why not at least participate in the.

No, because I don't want to waste my time, Evan.

And I'll be honest.

Like again, I said this even in my remarks at that point, it felt like the board was making decisions for themselves out of ego and not at the best interests of students.

and again, the board does not have conversations about project.

If they're having them, they have not had them as a full board on record with the whole board, even in private, because we have not had those meetings.

but yeah, there is going to be a lot, unfortunately.

And to Commissioner Santiago's point about stability, right before the superintendent vote the week previously, we had to vote on a school closure, and I said, I'm not voting.

You know, I initially told the superintendent I would vote yes on that school closure.

And then I went to him that night and said, I'm not going to vote on a school closure for another team who's not going to be here to oversee the implementation, because in the past, what this district has done is we've had superintendents with plans to close schools, and then they make promises to staff and to families, and then they leave.

And no one's here to implement those promises that were made to them.

And then it's just further chaos that we're throwing families and students into.

So I ended up voting no.

And and put that on record that it would just be another vote like we did with school 44 when Terri Dade was here.

We closed school 44 with Terri Dade promising that it was going to be the Southwest Daycare Center pre-K, the same way that we have went downtown.

And that never came to to fruition.

You wanna jump in?

Yeah.

I just want to say, you know, I know that the contract is planned for June, you know, and so I think if the superintendent is going to come in because I am an advocate for, for for stability in this district because it's needed as one of the most important things in this district.

I do hope that he takes time to connect with the community to connect with leaders, you know, because the hope is that he does stick by his word, as he said in his press conference that he plans to stay in Rochester.

and so if he does plan to stay here, I think it is important to connect with the community, to connect with the students, to make relationships, you know, because I do hope success, because it's about the students.

You know, at the end of the day.

And so if he can come in and provide stability, I'm here to support him and figure out how that's done.

But I think, you know, it's important that he does go out into the community.

Does those hearing tours and make those relationships.

and before we we set this all aside because we're gonna spend a lot of our second half hour talking about specifically what the commissioners are concerned about.

they've talked about project 25.

They talk about the effects of what's happening at the federal level.

districts like Rochester.

We're going to get into that more in a moment here.

you know, you're a veteran of politics now, whether you like it or not.

We know, and you've been in politics.

You know how tough it can be.

And, you know, there's going to be times where you're on a side that has the votes and you're going to be times where you're not 100%.

And so in this situation, if you decide in January, I'm going to put I'm going to try to put my foot down.

And I may not be popular, but I'm going to make it clear to the board that I think we need to go in a different direction.

If the board decides that they don't agree, you know, and you're not, you know, the votes, why not at least participate in the interviews?

Why not at least say I'll still be in the room?

It's part of the job here.

Even if I don't think we should be doing this.

Yeah.

And I'll I'll also make the letter public if folks want to see it.

The first one that went out to them.

so again, Evan, to the point of again, not having plans.

And we also cannot tell families that, yes, the AG advised us that Ice is going to be stopped at the door because what the district can't do is stop Ice from taking a student off the bus and entering the district, leaving the district property.

We have no control over those things, and we have hundreds of families who right now are not sending their children to school and are afraid because of that, within reason, because we have had families already taken by Ice in this community.

Okay, now let's get this other matter.

By the way, if there's I'm sure if there's anything more they want to say on the incoming superintendent, they can.

But we're going to spend the rest of the hour on other matters here.

I think we've covered a lot of the ground there.

I want to ask the commissioner, Santiago, because it's now been well reported that your colleague James Patterson has petitioned the state to have you removed.

His allegations were that you've acted inappropriately towards him, you've been aggressive verbally.

You've used racial slurs.

And I want to understand your perspective.

I also want to say a couple of things here.

We're not going to spend the rest of the hour on this.

I want to give him the chance because this has been public Commissioner Santiago, as long as I've known you.

You've talked about putting focus on the students, and I know that you don't feel that this puts the focus on the students.

I also know that there may be legal things you can't or can't say.

Yes, but to the extent that there's allegations out there and we'll try to talk to Commissioner Patterson as well about this, I want to give you some space to talk about it now.

And I do have to be careful because this is a current open legal process.

but I do also want to say that that I put in, my best effort and the background to, to, to be the bigger person and create reconciliation through this issue.

and unfortunately, you know, the, the, the other commissioner has, fabricated the story as, as, as a victim with no contribution.

when since the beginning of my, my, my joined on the board, I've been suggested to you subjected to ageism and to intimidating factors.

Ageism?

In what way?

Explain a little bit.

calling me boy.

That's one of them.

And that's out.

That's already out there.

But he has done it.

He did it during that.

That conversation between me and him.

and this is not something that that he hasn't done before.

And so it's, it's stuff like that and many tactics to kind of intimidate and, you know, and so it's unfortunate that this is how it's going.

I do have and plants I have a legal council behind myself, to advocate and to fight against, this, this claim.

but there is a lot more to this story.

And, because the legal process, I can't share too much.

But, you know, there are, there's true evidence that you cannot deny if there's a video of you being aggressive and running up to somebody, you can't deny that.

And I did see the commissioner's interview on news ten, and he made it seem like we were just in close proximity.

No.

From the stairway up to my face, all the way across the hall.

And so, you know, I'm not going to share too much, but, there's a lot more to this story right now.

And the media is only his side, and I'm okay with that.

because there is a legal process to go through, and so I won't share much more.

But I do want to say that I become very I mean, you've known me since I was like 15 years old.

I think that's the first time I joined here.

And you've always heard me talk about young people and youth voice and bringing young people to the table and the importance of us during this time where young people are at the spotlight of our contemporary issues, both positively and negatively, that we listen to the young people and that we allow young people to come to the table.

And unfortunately, in my experience with certain commissioners, you know, it's just not like that.

And it makes me question, how can you serve students and be so intimidated and afraid of a young person who just advocates for young people and tells the truth while doing it?

And you've known me all this time.

I say it as it is, you know, and, and and because there's a truth to the experience.

And I left this district two years ago.

But in my, my experience, I've watched a 15 year old lose his life to do the programs and injustices through this education system.

One of my friends through middle school, I've saw the beginning of his trends through programs.

Through this district, I experienced many suspensions.

I experience a lot of stuff in this education system, and I come on this board to advocate and to say, hey, like, this is the status quo of this, this school that we have to stop and people get offended and people get get scared by my advocacy and being able to do it well.

And there's pride and there's ego and there's narcissistic tendencies and all of this.

And so there's a there's a fight here.

and the fight is, is is bigger than just this situation.

And again, I did my best to reconcile before anything I can this be healed going forward?

I hope so I still I still have people from from my side reaching out to his side, but they're not getting responses, so it doesn't sound like he's trying to reach reconciliation.

Are you concerned that the state might remove you?

you never know what can happen in these situations.

but concern.

But let me I can answer.

You don't think that's going to happen?

I think that the commissioner will remove Santiago for this.

I just have to also just say, even on technicality, there was a, you know, way to write a legal petition, and, it has to meet a certain standard.

I don't think that standard is there.

That's one.

two.

I will say, to Isaiah's point as a witness, you know, I it boils my blood as well, because we do want young people at the, at the table.

And when we say that, we also have to give them room to learn and grow and be authentically themselves as a young person.

You know, I have children older than Isaiah.

I tell them that all the time, like I have kids who are older than him, and I have kids who are younger than Isaiah.

and I do think some of this is generationally too, right?

That some, you know, I'm in the middle generation, if you will, between both of these commissioners, and I have a mother who's 83 years old who said you have to respect your elders no matter what.

Well, that's my generation.

That's not what I'm teaching my children, because that's not the time anymore.

And that's what I think upsets people so much in this day and age, because young people are having their voices heard.

Whether adults want to hear it or not, they're going to make sure that they are heard.

And I encourage that is this is their future, their generation.

and so this notion that just because of my age, I deserve respect.

I don't think that that's what you know.

Well, do you do you think I the commissioner was Santiago was disrespected because of his age.

I think he is constantly disrespected by more than one commissioner on the school board because of his age.

And I think it's wrong and it's inappropriate.

And it it is a constant battle.

And I, on more than one occasion, have heard Commissioner Patterson call him boy.

and the thing is that he himself may not recognize it in those moments in times that he's doing it.

I just don't understand how someone can victimize themselves either when they themselves can be aggressive.

So.

But what I was saying, while I was saying that is, you never know what these processes, how they end.

but, you know, my advocacy started before I joined this board, before I got elected.

And no matter where this goes, my advocacy doesn't end.

And if anything, you know, right now, being on this board, trying to be diplomatic, you know, and trying to be, you know, as, as collaborative as possible, you know, I've had to to hold back from truly advocating in ways that I know that I can that I've done before.

I joined the board.

And so, the removal, I don't think, you know, removal will really just ignite a lot more.

and I and my advocacy, about education, and certainly now that I have experience on, the school board and the systematic issues and I've been able to gain some knowledge, it will be a lot more organized and the advocacy will be a lot different.

And so no matter how this ends, my advocacy and what I do is not going to stop because it was there before I got elected.

My identity was there before I got elected, my character was there before I got elected, and it's still going to be here even when this term ends.

If I decide to run for reelection or if I don't, all school board members, including Commissioner Patterson, are invited on this program, and I'm sure we'll have a lot more to talk about closing the book on this and then what we're going to do, we'll take a break, and we're going to close on chapter.

I keep saying chapter 2025, project 2025.

It's a chapter.

you know, we have two commissioners on the Rochester City School board, Beatrice Lebrun and Isaiah Santiago, who acknowledge that their preference for how the district was going to handle the new superintendent did not go the way they wanted.

They're also describing some really fraught relations that, you know, for a board that has a history going back multiple generations now of I think everyone would agree dysfunction.

I don't know if it gives the public this idea that, well, we've turned a corner and I know that you and and Cynthia Elliott a year ago were hopeful that the board was moving in that direction.

Are you less hopeful now and what is it going to take for the board to be able to work together constructively?

Oh, I am less hopeful now.

and I don't know what it's going to take because you have people who are there with the not the best intentions for families.

And I just have to also point out, right, that urban education, it is very unique and different from other education systems.

And when you have commissioners who have no experience where urban education, they never went through it, they never lived it.

They were just thought of coming from an outside perspective, thinking that they are going to come in and save us in the urban communities.

We don't need saving.

What we need is our own people to wake up and save ourselves.

but when they have that mentality of it's almost like an elitist type of mentality that I'm here to save you, not serve you.

and so now I feel like, are you talking about your colleagues?

Yes, absolutely.

I'm talking about my colleagues that there are people on the school board who have never raised children in this district or any other urban school district.

There are people who currently don't have kids and can't be effective.

Can't they care?

They can care.

But you have to also understand urban school districts are vastly different from suburban school districts.

And if that is the only experience you have, then you have to understand that you're coming into our environment.

We didn't go to his environment.

You came into ours.

and so there are some things that occur in the urban school districts that are part of our norm that he, you know, he or she may not see as like Norm is going to leave, but unfortunately it is.

And some things are good and some things are bad.

It's part of life.

And for, you know, for us.

so I do think that as we move forward, you know, I know that from the outside looking in, it often does look like myself or even Commissioner Santiago.

And that's because you see us in our authentic selves, how we are on the board and public is how we are behind the scenes.

We're very.

So some commissioners who will be up there and are quiet or don't have much to say, but behind the scenes, they're causing havoc and and harassment of staff and families and all kinds of things.

And I just want to uplift and make this last point before we wrap up on this portion of it.

You know, because I've seen this about the cost of us paying for Commissioner Santiago to have representation.

And I would ask the public to start answering, how much has the school board paid for legal representation of these other commissioners who are currently in power?

Because we have had to pay for a number of them for all types of investigations and some of their direct behaviors that have been harmful to the entire district.

And I can promise you and assure you that it is way more money than we're paying for legal defense.

And, Commissioner Santiago, can Commissioner go ahead?

I think, in my opinion, I still remain optimistic, at least.

And the sense that there's an election year coming up.

My hope is that there are educated votes.

and there is a different loyalty or a different dedication from somebody who grew up in the district or somebody who has currently has children in the district, or somebody who has past experience in the district.

and there's a lot or grew up in this city.

There's a loyalty, you know, a different type of loyalty from from those people compared to, some people who may not have grown up in the district.

And many times, you see, you know, that their arguments is about positions, powers and politics.

And you don't hear much about students from them and from their from their advocacy.

And so that just shows their priorities and their priorities isn't as loyal to the people who may have grown up from this district or have current districts students here.

And so I just think as long as we can get people with values and who's willing to work together, even through disagreements, I think there are possibilities for this board to work together.

but I will take that.

But then you also have a decision.

During this time, the education system has been failing young people for years.

On decades, this system has been failing people.

And so we have to make a choice whether we're about to innovate and reform this district, or we're going to have to start from the jump and think about how is this board even contributing towards the direction of this district?

And if there's issues at the end of the day, Evan, and I'm gonna say this, I'm on this board for one term.

That's the only thing that's promised to me unless I get removed from this situation and there's no I don't have the size.

Other people may think I don't have all these political aspirations.

If there's a change that needs to happen, and I know that is going to change this district, I'm gonna stand behind it 100%.

And so we just have to look at the options as far as how this board is going to move, because it's beyond past time.

It's not like this is not the perfect time.

We should have been trying to change the system and figuring out how to reform and innovate the system to really, succeed our children for a generation of success and succeed our children and interests of what they want to learn.

And this is this is the problem.

When you have this drama on the board, this becomes the focus, but not how do we reform this education so we can start succeeding the children in this in this city, which will affect the city, which will affect our poverty rates, which will lead us to generational success.

But the focus is on drama.

And it can't be that no more.

We have to focus on reforming, and either there's going to be people on this board who's going to be good with reforming and innovating the education system during this time, or there's not.

And we're going to have to talk about how do we move forward?

Where does the community feel this education system has been because the community is upset right now?

Also, with how this education system has continued to fail.

So what does the community think is the best option if there's people on the board who's not willing to reform and to innovate, then the people is going to have to stand up because our education is the most important part.

This is the foundation of everything.

If we can get the education right, some of our other issues that we're trying to to soothe and temporarily satisfy could be actually resolved.

We're talking about.

And in these conversations, we have to talk about true and honest solutions.

Some of these solutions that people propose are not true and honest to what young people need.

And so if we're not talking about those truly honest solutions, I don't want part of the conversation.

I think that's why a lot of people don't like me.

Now.

I'm okay with that.

Let's take our only break when we come back with Commissioner Santiago and LeBron, we're going to talk about what some of those specific points would be if Commissioner Santiago had the keys to the castle of our Ccsd.

What are some of the immediate changes?

Commissioner LeBron is talking about wanting to be in position as a district to deal with what's going on federally, what is not happening, what has to happen now?

We'll talk about that on the other side of this on the break.

Coming up in our second hour, we're joined by Spencer McBride, a historian and author who has written a number of books on American history about the history of religion and culture in this country.

He's a guest of the Rochester Historical Society tonight for an event.

But first, he joins us to talk about how what we are seeing now relates to our history throughout the decades and even the centuries.

That's next.

Our.

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This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson one point of agreement.

There's no question there is agreement among the president, the vice president of the city school board around this program a few weeks ago, and the commissioners are on the program today, is that there are families in Rochester not sending their kids to school right now because of concerns about what's going on with Ice, and that there are kids who are scared and beyond that, or tied to that, Commissioner LeBron is saying what is happening at the federal level should cause this district to move into kind of a crisis mode.

And you haven't seen that.

So what does that look like right now?

If this board is going to do what you want it to do, what does it do?

Give me some steps.

So one of the things I actually mentioned right after the November between so between November and December, I was still VP.

I just want to point that out because even in that position, I was out doing some advocacy around putting us in a state of emergency to allow the administration to make very quick plans, especially around Ice, for example, you know, in the beginning, we we've never had to train our, all of our staff to say, hey, this is what a signed petition looks like here.

Who has here's who has authority and one of the executive orders, I just want to point out made it so that schools, hospitals and churches are no longer safe places.

So essentially Ice was not allowed before to go into those spaces.

Churches to detain.

Yes.

And that is a major change.

So churches are no longer a sanctuary place.

in the past, churches can bring folks in and say, this is a sanctuary space.

You're not allowed here.

You can't come in.

And it was always respected.

We no longer have that.

what we have is the ability to identify certain areas and market as private, and it has to be specifically mentioned.

And it's a big change for us.

But that is just a small change.

Again, we have families right here, right now who have already had contact with Ice, who have already been taken and separated, and we have no idea where those individuals are.

And the immigration and refugee community in Rochester is not as big as people think it is.

And the word spreads very fast that ice is out and about.

And so right now, all of those families, you know, I've had families contact me and say, well, the principal said that there's a protocol in place.

Yeah, there's a protocol to stop ice at the door to double check that the put the warrant that they have assigned and it's legal and it's good.

And if it is, then yes, they have to still let that Ice agent in.

And so making sure families understand that just because we have a protocol in place does not mean that we can stop ice.

We cannot stop.

So what should you do?

my advocacy is that the state allows us to go virtual for families who are unsure.

I want to point out that there were a number of refugee families that came under the mRAP classification, if you will, from Venezuela, and that one of the executive orders now makes all of those families who were here legally illegal in 30 more days, it was a 90 day, turnaround for those families to lose that status.

there are green card holders also.

It was like, what I would do right now is work on educating our staff and our employees on all of these things and having an understanding and assessing what statuses our families have, because immigration is very big and convoluted, but immigration is just one piece of this.

Coming up next is going to be a federal bill of rights, which sounds great, but it is in partnership with Moms of Liberty.

at the federal level, that's a very conservative group.

Absolutely.

And you know, some of the things that they want, roll out through the federal government do this, you know, National Bill of rights.

people should be concerned, right?

Because it doesn't align with a lot of our own beliefs or urban education.

the 504 right now, there are 17 states suing the federal government to eliminate $500.

But that is also part of project 2025.

They want to eliminate, IEPs and special services for children who have ADHD and autism and so forth.

and I don't think we're prepared, and I think we should be educating our families.

And let me just say this, that my criticism is to the entire Democratic Party, not just like the school board.

They are one portion of it.

You know, I have also internally argued with my colleagues to say I need them to step up.

I need, the county executive.

I will tell you, the only person that I have, I'm going to extra meetings myself to educate people and churches and groups and so forth, to have these conversations to highlight what they should be looking at, what everyone could be doing right now.

but I do believe that this is something that even above me, should be the party leading these conversations, and not just 1 or 2 elected officials out here in the community, interfacing with families and families are fearful as they should be.

They should be fearful, because, again, there's another executive order that if we intercede, we're going to be federally prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney general, like just for assisting a family that they are deemed as illegal.

and so understanding those things, instead of having there is a board member, I won't say who who put out a status on Facebook.

That said, an executive order is like a resolution.

It has to go through a no, it's not a resolution added please stop educating the public about what's happening in these processes.

and I do think that what we as a board could be doing right now is holding workshops and information sessions about what's happening, what's coming down the pipeline, how this can impact you.

And I will tell you, we don't have answers.

And that is my biggest frustration, is that we don't have answers.

And I'm frustrated that elected officials at the entire state level, at all levels of government, had the same opportunity as the rest of us to be project 2025, and they should have read it, and they should have had a contingency plan on how they were going to fight some of these things, but they didn't.

is there, some momentum toward allowing for virtual classes for students who are worried about, detention?

It's a conversation happening right now with the state.

Yes.

Okay.

We don't know what the state it could happen.

It really essentially falls on.

I said, and then there's some other things, because if we don't pivot into that way, families are going to just not send their children.

and I just want to point that out, that at the end of it will just be a child that does no longer has access to education and information, and that will be a tragedy and unfortunate.

Commissioner Santiago, do you agree with some of the points of your colleague here?

I think there's there's a lot going on, you know, with there's a lot going on currently, you know, with the country.

And I'm you know, and I'm of course, I'm watching, everything that's going on and always looking at what are the ways to, to kind of advocate, you know, and right now the, the, the real, you know, only field that we can go down is too long, you know, as far as how to challenge, the, the president as far as, threats for taking away funding and things of that sort.

But I think right now we're in a challenging time.

And so there's certain things that we have to be prepared for.

and we also have to be be ready for the impacts that we have after hand.

And I think it is important that we, we prepare, you know, for, for some of these things that, that we may be seeing coming, there's been warnings, you know, on all of those things.

And so we just have to be prepared and ready because I think all we could, could really do, you know, besides join lawsuits and, and challenge the president through to those allies is figure out how can we, you know, really lighten the blow as much as possible towards the district.

And there might be ways to do that, I know, for, for for funding for lunches, there's a state grant for, for farms to tables, like there's opportunities that we'll, we'll be able to take.

And we just have to be strategic as far as how do how we do that.

Because the reality is if it's going to happen, it's going to happen, but what are we going to do and response to that to make sure our students are covered.

So if you could get a chance to really move forward with a number of innovations that you've talked about that students desperately need that they're not getting from our Ccsd right now, what's at the top of the list?

Well, I think all together is I mean, of course, literacy is always important, but it's also making sure that our young people are prepared for the world after they leave you know, the district.

And I think that a lot of times that's not the thought, how are we graduating these children with certificates that they may be able to get a job to financially support themselves while they're in college?

How do we give, you know, our young people an opportunity to have lived experiences while in high school and obtain credit credits while doing that, whether that's through internships, whether that's through CTE, whether that's through, and how are we graduating our students with certificates?

Again, that's going to get them.

The how is that happening, I believe is not happening is and we're not being strategic with it neither.

I think we should be taking data on what are our young people interested in while they're joining high school.

How do we pique their interest?

That will solve a lot of issues in attendance.

That will allow our young, like when you give a young person a chance to express themselves a way that they have their own gifts, the way that they express what they've learned, the way that and every young person is different.

We have an opportunity to really push young people to the next level.

And so I just believe it's just the preparation for life.

And I'm telling you, after graduation, I've been talking to a lot of friends who's had to who, who's had to drop out, whether because they weren't prepared for college and the workload was too much for them or had to drop out because they couldn't financially support themselves.

Like, these are things that the district could really, give tools for our young people as, as they graduate to support themselves during this time.

But there's a lot of issues that we have to focus on culturally.

How are we engaging students?

How are we and how are we engaging parents and their students?

Education?

and then also, there are disparities that our young people in our community goes goes through that, that's important that our other, other municipal governments support in the job of the district is to educate and we have to be able to educate.

but we also need support from the outside on how are we supporting these young people during the disparities?

and getting them across the finish line successfully for generational success.

So part of the attendance challenge you think is just kids don't feel the district is there's a lot in your future?

No, there's a lot of things.

I think sometimes there are concerns that young people have that's not being met while they're in school, whether it's because they don't feel comfortable with a certain student in the classroom or they're or they're being bullied or they're getting like, I believe a lot of times those things aren't being met.

And there needs to really for a resolution and that issue aren't being met.

but then you also have some who are interested in what's going on in the school, and then you have.

So there's a lot of different things to it.

But I remember when I was in school, when I knew I had my photography program after school, I made sure I was in school, you know, when I knew I had this class that focused on public speaking.

I loved public speaking.

I was in school to get that class.

And I think we have to think outside of the box.

And this is English, this is science, this is math.

No.

How do we really start going into that?

And really, like, prepare our young people for college for and if they don't decide to go to college, they have, the tools for them, not only for the current contemporary job market, but also the future job market, so we can have our young people ahead, and making money and being successful in their future.

Well, as we get ready to wrap here, we're going to be certainly following what the district does in regards to as Commissioner LeBron has been saying, project 2025 and related issues.

let me squeeze in one question with 30s to go, Jenna says on the topic of Superintendent staying in Rochester.

Why are we not tying the compensation package of the superintendent to there having to stay long term?

It seems they are all able to leave premature Charlie with very generous severance packages.

Is that just my perception?

That's from Jenna.

No, that is correct.

And this superintendent negotiated a good severance package for himself also.

again, I you know, I want to uplift that our current interim did apply.

He did go through the process.

And I know you asked me, like, why not even participate in the January letter?

I was very clear.

The only vote I would have given to was for Demario Strickland, because Doctor Strickland is competent and capable, and someone that our fellow faculty and staff and our families really like the respected.

So have you met the incoming superintendent?

Yes, I met him the same day.

Okay.

That we voted.

Okay.

Short conversation.

I had very short conversation as well.

Longer conversations to come of.

Absolutely.

I want to thank our guests for being here.

this is part of an ongoing series of conversations with our elected leaders and, the school board always invited Beatrice LeBron, Rochester City school board commissioner.

Thank you for being here, Commissioner.

Thank you.

And Commissioner Isaiah Santiago, thank you for being here.

Thank you.

More connections coming up in a moment.

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