>> From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour will be made tomorrow night, October 9th, when the new superintendent of Rochester City Schools marks his 100th day on the job.

Dr.

Eric Jay Rosser is planning a community event that will focus on his vision and the future for the Rochester City School District.

On his 99th day, he sits down with us to answer my questions.

And yours?

Dr.

Rosser is no stranger to the challenges that this district faces.

He knows the history.

He knows the revolving door of superintendents that have preceded him.

He knows the reputation in the district or the board, or the crisis of child poverty in our city.

This is our first opportunity to talk with Dr.

Rosser and just about everyone I have spoken with who has met him has said the new superintendent is optimistic and realistic.

He's determined, but he is not without a plan and a vision.

The Connections audience has heard me say this before.

I'm a resident of the city of Rochester.

I want the district to succeed as a journalist.

I have a task and a series of questions.

As a parent and a resident, I've hoped that maybe someone will stay for a while.

And maybe it's my guest this our superintendent, Dr.

Eric Jay Rosser of the Rochester City School District.

Lovely to have you.

Thank you for making time for the program today.

>> It's a pleasure to be here this day.

>> And now let me start with this.

You've got a big event tomorrow night.

It's at 6 p.m.

at East High School.

The public is invited tomorrow.

>> Yes they are.

>> And what are they going to be hearing.

>> From you?

So we would most certainly appreciate our community coming out to hear about my findings.

For the first 100 days that I've been here, as well as the future of Rochester and us developing a shared vision to be able to address the evolving and the varying needs of our children here in the city of Rochester.

>> I want to just start by getting to know you and let our listeners get to know you a little bit.

So it starts with a question that every superintendent kind of gets now, which is, why did you take this job?

Why did you want.

>> Question.

Good question.

I have always looked for opportunities to be able to lead organizations, particularly organizations that are struggling to meet the needs of children.

And when the opportunity was presented to me that Rochester was looking for a new superintendent, I must admit that I did think a couple times as to whether or not I wanted to enter into the process of being potentially named the next superintendent.

and after consultation, prayer and conversation with my wife, I most certainly decided to move in this direction.

And one of the things that led me to move in this direction were a few things.

Understanding that the community of Rochester is very much eager and well positioned to address the needs of our children.

That that attracted me, because not every community that you find yourself in the there are multiple entities within that community that are interested and invested interest in meeting the needs of our children.

So for me, having that as a part of the ingredients here in Rochester really provided me with an understanding that I have a community of individuals who are very much interested in the success of Rochester City School District students.

>> Does it help that the mayor has been on the board, that those.

>> Most certainly, most certainly.

So, as I was doing my research prior to making application for the position, you know, I saw that there's a number of community based organizations who have been really working hard, not necessarily in an aligned approach, but really working hard to meet the needs of our children that the mayor of Rochester, you know, was a former board member and vested member of our community and seeking our children's interest to be elevated.

and also understanding that there are a number of, of individuals outside of our school community that are very much interested in supporting Rochester City School District students.

>> So when you're doing this research and trying to understand, is this the right fit, is there a chance for success?

Are the elements there to to succeed?

You also see that a lot of your predecessors didn't stay right.

And I don't know if I've ever talked to a superintendent.

I've been hosting the show since 2014.

We've had a lot of superintendents in the last 11 years, 12 years almost, and they all say, I'm here to stay and everybody wants them to be here to stay.

And they haven't stayed.

Did that worry you?

Did that make you go, wait a second, something's wrong here.

>> Well, Rochester, as widely known I used to live in Buffalo, New York.

In fact, I spent 21 years of my life in Buffalo, New York.

and I'm very familiar with many of the superintendents who have who have come through Rochester and some of the issues surrounding, you know, why they left for me, it was really a an opportunity for me to make myself available, to be able to then engage in things that I know that have been proven success points for superintendents.

for quite some time in dealing with challenging situations.

So for me, I wasn't necessarily concerned about what has taken place with former superintendents.

But I look forward to the opportunities that I might be able to create in collaboration with our community here for our children.

>> Did you call any previous superintendents?

I'm curious.

>> I did not, I did not, I did not, I you know, the media has done a really good job with covering the various issues that have existed, but I didn't reach out to any of the superintendents prior to applying.

You know, I just simply, as I mentioned on prayer, faith and an understanding as to what I can bring to the table made application.

And, you know, through God's will, I most certainly was selected to be the superintendent of Rochester.

>> So now that you've had 100 days and you came in with an expectation that this is a job, that with the right kind of partnerships and maybe changes in place, that the district could succeed, that you could succeed 100 days in what has surprised you the most?

>> I would say what surprised me the most is how our community continues to rally around the interests of our children.

This past.

Earlier this week, I had an opportunity to meet with community based organizations and we had conversations around our collective vision on what we would like to see for all Rochester City School District students, and how might we begin the process of having conversations on how we might align our approach to addressing their needs, as well as their family needs?

So for me, you know, in looking at this as an opportunity, what has surprised me is, is.

Regardless of how many superintendents have been in place, you still have a community that is rallying for the best interests of our children, that there is hope that's out there and that that hope is very strong and that, you know, people call me every day.

I get emails every day where individuals who are either part of organizations or just vested community members who are wanting to be a part of the solution.

And that encourages me and gives me the fuel and the firepower I need to continue to serve as the school district's chief ambassador for children.

>> Now, you mentioned some of the years you spent in Buffalo.

Can you tell our audience a little bit more about where you grew up, and then maybe some of your career path before Rochester?

>> Oh, yeah, most certainly.

So.

I'm originally from Cincinnati, Ohio.

I was fortunate enough to to be able to participate in the college going process by way of, of my athletic ability.

And for those who may not have seen me yet, I'm very tall.

I'm six eight.

so I had the opportunity, unlike my parents and my grandparents, to participate in the collegiate process.

I received a scholarship to University of New York at Buffalo to play basketball.

I took that opportunity, of course, to not only play basketball, but also to receive a high quality education.

once I graduated from undergrad I wanted to to get into education.

And the only way I can get into education was to be a teacher aide.

So I was a teacher aide for about three months, and then I transitioned to a long term substitute teacher.

I did that for a number of years, but at a very early age, I think I was only 28 when I was recruited to serve in a central office capacity.

and I've been in Central Office administration since 1999. that has provided me with an understanding of what school districts, particularly district leadership.

>> That might be.

You.

Is that me?

That's somebody I'm hearing an emergency services line there.

Sorry about that.

That's not me.

>> That's okay.

>> Okay.

>> Sorry about that.

So it's given me an opportunity really to understand the multiple strategies and how to navigate very complex situations.

to take school districts that have been challenged and take those challenges and turn them into opportunities for our children.

>> And so most previous to Rochester, where did you come from?

>> So I was superintendent for almost six years in Poughkeepsie.

prior to those six years I was in Buffalo, actually two times.

I was in Buffalo as the associate superintendent from 2015 to 2019.

Prior to that, I spent time in Washington, D.C., working in the educational realm.

And also prior to that, I was in Atlanta Public schools for five years.

As I mentioned, I started my career in 1994, in the Buffalo Public Schools.

I was there from 1994 to 2007.

>> I don't know what we're hearing.

Yeah, I guess we're going to yeah.

Dr.

Rosser okay.

Yeah, it might be something on your I don't know.

>> No.

>> Not me, not your phone.

Okay.

All right.

Anyway, listen listeners, if you want to weigh in as we talk to Dr.

Eric Jay Rosser, superintendent of the Rochester City schools, you can email the program Connections at wxxi.org.

You can call the program toll free.

844295 talk.

It's 8442958255263 WXXI you call from Rochester.

2639994.

Now, very important question.

If you and I were playing one on one right now, playing to 11 ones and twos, how many points could I get off.

>> You?

>> I would be gracious and I would provide you the opportunity to score all the points you need before you would win the game.

And then I would take control.

And so I would, I would, I would provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your skill in the basketball court.

And then I would, you know, make sure that I execute it and win the game.

>> You can still play a little pickup ball.

How are your knees these days?

>> Oh, I got a very bad knee need.

And in fact, my my orthopedic surgeon is shared with me that I will be a candidate for knee replacement at some point in time.

I'm hoping that there's some type of medical technology that is created between now and then, so that I don't have to undergo, you know what?

So many people have claimed to be life altering.

>> Well, after we take our only break of the hour here, what we're going to do is this we're going to talk about how Dr.

Rosser sees Rochester in comparison to a district like Poughkeepsie, what you've learned from previous experience, how that compares here.

We're going to talk about some of the work they do on programs like strive for five.

You might have heard about strive for five.

We're going to talk about issues like attendance, truancy, the struggle of a district, frankly, dealing with child poverty rates that are that should be viewed as a crisis or a tragedy.

And we're going to talk about that.

we'll address issues that have been in the news and a lot more with the superintendent.

So let's take this break.

And its superintendent, Dr.

Eric Jay Rosser of the Rochester City School District, on Connections.

Coming up in our second hour, a conversation about the problem of ticks and Lyme disease.

Ontario County says it's an emergency and all counties are dealing with it in the northeast right now.

We're going to talk about the effects of tick bites of Lyme disease, of what you ought to know about prevention, even what we're seeing in our pets.

That's coming up next hour.

>> Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Mary Cariola, center, proud supporter of Connections with Evan Dawson, believing an informed and engaged community is a connected one.

Mary Cariola and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra hosting the Beethoven Festival with two weekends of celebration.

Music director Andreas Delfs leads the orchestra with performances by RPO principals Juliana Athayde, Aram Kim and Xiaowen Chang.

October 23rd through November 1st, RPO.

>> This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson tomorrow night, 6 p.m.

at East High School.

The public is invited the superintendent of Rochester City Schools, doctor Eric Jay Rosser is marking 100 days on the job.

And he's talking about the vision and the future of the Rochester City School District.

Again, the public is invited.

No registration required.

6 p.m.

tomorrow night at East High School.

Now, in your six years prior at Poughkeepsie as a superintendent, how similar how different is Poughkeepsie to Rochester?

>> So Poughkeepsie is very similar to Rochester.

It's most certainly smaller in size.

However, when we talk about intergenerational poverty and the the implications that poverty brings to students who are seeking a high quality educational experience, a lot of similarities.

We would always say that Poughkeepsie is a small city school district with with big Five city school district challenges, without the resources.

So in Poughkeepsie, you know, similar to to the Rochester decision that I made, I made a decision to go to Poughkeepsie.

And Poughkeepsie was one of those school districts that was seen as a school district that was failing children, very difficult to to be there.

as a leader, I made the decision because once again, you know, I always look to see in what ways might I be able to give back, particularly being blessed to be in the capacity of an educator that has generated a lot of not generated but has experienced a lot that that, you know, I then have the ability to then share within the communities that I've been in to help them with the issues that they're dealing with.

So in Poughkeepsie, you know, we dealt with all sorts of different issues from financial deficits structural, financial deficits outdated contract teacher contracts, administrators contracts employee contracts in general.

We dealt with poor performance from literacy and mathematics.

We dealt with challenges with graduation rates.

And during the time that I was there, we were able to change the trajectory of the Poughkeepsie City School District, where it was no longer it's no longer seen as a failing school district, but a school district of great promise.

And the work that we engaged in, and I purposely use we because it wasn't by myself, it was most certainly through a school, home and community approach.

The work that we engaged in really set and established a foundation by which, regardless of who is the leader, who is on the board for the school district to continue to excel in meeting the needs of students and families.

>> And so obviously, a lot of the same kind of issues here attendance, graduation rates, achievement in Ela and math.

I mean, those are all numbers.

Now that you're, I'm sure, familiar with.

so let me kind of work through some of them.

And when we talk about issues like attendance, I want you to talk about strive for five.

But I want to start by asking in a district that has as much child poverty and extreme child poverty to say nothing of the fact that there's hundreds.

If not, I think a couple thousand kids technically homeless.

Some are literally living on the streets, but some are couch surfing with family who've maybe been evicted or have issues with guardians and parents.

So what's a realistic approach to truancy and attendance, and how do you see that challenge in Rochester?

>> Okay, well, the first.

True in in most impactful approach to addressing any needs that our children have is what I call a school, home and community approach.

There's Harvard data that speaks to the amount of time students are in school, and the amount of time students are not in school.

So the data specifically states that between students waking hours from kindergarten to 12th grade, they spend 80% of their time in the community, whereas only 20% is spent in the school environment.

Understanding that dynamic, it is imperative that we as a community embrace the fact that school, home and community must come together to be able to identify what the challenges are and be able to move concertedly in a manner where we all are contributing to the success of our children.

And this is very important as I as I share it with the community based organizations.

Earlier this week that the investments we make today as a community in our children will most certainly yield the outcomes we expect for the future, not only for the lives of those children who will be our future citizens and leaders, but also for our community as well.

>> When it gets to getting them in the building.

I certainly take the point that, as much time as kids can spend in school, they're still in the community, in their homes a lot more, and you need partnerships.

I understand that we've seen previous superintendents literally go door to door at times, talk to families.

I think everyone cares.

I would never accuse any of your predecessors or anyone currently working in the district of not caring about this.

What do you think maybe hasn't worked, and how does that start to change now?

>> Well, I can't speak to what has been done in the past.

As much as I can speak to what will happen in the future, okay.

The work that we're engaged in right now is really engaging.

All community members that would be members of our school community, our teachers, our paraprofessionals, our administrators, our board commissioners in the conversations that are focused on students making sure that our conversations, the funding that we appropriate and every decision that we make is a student centered approach that extends, of course, to those outside of our school community.

So for community based organizations, to parents, to vested community members who might be empty nesters but who still have a vested interest in the success of children in the Rochester City School District.

And it's about applying an approach that everyone can agree to, making sure that when it comes to us marching on behalf of children, that we're marching in sync with one another and that we're leveraging our thought partnership, we're leveraging the resources that we might bring to the table as members of the community, focusing on how might we be able to, while we're in these positions of great influence, be able to impact in a much greater way the success of our children?

>> Are you able to move the needle on this in Poughkeepsie?

>> Almost certainly.

Most certainly.

We were able to do a number of great things.

And, you know, without me being there, superintendent, these great things are still happening.

through the work that that I engaged in with our mayor, we created what we call the Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet, the Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet is a non for organization in which I served as co-chair along with the mayor on, you know, leading the Executive Leadership committee.

We were able to bring together a number of entities cross-sector, be it philanthropic, religious, elected officials, members of the school community, parents, just general members, community based organizations to the table, to identify what we call a North Star and how we're going to then meet the needs of children.

So the Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet, which is very similar to Rock the Future Alliance here in Rochester is really focused on addressing the needs of children, prenatal all the way to college and career and making sure that the systems that we operate in as organizations, that systems are aligned, that we're leveraging our resources and we're leveraging our human capacity, which is most powerful to be able to affect change on behalf of our children.

>> So I don't want to I'm not asking for any specific family names, et cetera.

I want to if you could paint a scenario where there is a child who is not attending school regularly and an intervention leads to that child being in class more regularly because something has changed in the support around that child.

What's a scenario that stands out in your mind that might tell that story and say, this could happen in Rochester?

This is the kind of support that's necessary.

>> So let me give some thought to that real quick.

and while I'm doing that, let me also speak to some of the, the, the work that we're engaged in here in Rochester.

So for instance, we've had conversations even with the medical field in making sure that they have an understanding of the importance of school attendance and where possible, while we do know that many of our children, particularly those who are impacted by intergenerational poverty and health issues, that they tend to go to the doctor a lot more than a healthy child.

We're having conversations at the level with with the medical field to simply say, understanding that a high quality education is key for any student being able to, number one, understand what their potential is and then being able to have a pathway toward maximizing that potential.

Let's have conversations around how might the medical profession look at how they can support our strive for five initiative?

One of the things that we've discussed is how might we be able to expand our health clinics in our schools?

How might we be able to bring in dental resources and vision resources so that parents needing to make appointments during the school day will be eliminated?

We've talked, and this is very preliminary.

We talked about how might we be able to identify a way in which we can have a mobile health unit.

We created that in Buffalo, where we noticed that many of our families were being scheduled for appointments, pediatric appointments during the school day.

While many of our doctors might think, oh, you know, similar to when I went to school that Eric's mother is going to take him out of school, bring him over to the doctor's office, and then transport him back to school.

Unfortunately, that's not happening on all levels because many of our families have transportation insecurity.

So therefore it's very difficult for them to get to one place for another if they don't own a vehicle.

>> So you do one or the other, right?

You either go to school and you don't go to the doctor, you go to the doctor, you don't go to school.

>> Exactly, exactly.

So we're having that level of conversations here because once again, there are members of our community, every member of our community.

There is a place at the table for them to be a part of the solution.

And right now what we're looking at is how might we be able to get some very quick and easy wins while we continue to develop this movement?

>> Now someone will correct me, maybe the superintendent or our team.

I think over the years, as we've talked to the team at at East, there have been I think they had they had a barber brought in.

I think they brought I don't know about dental and vision they might have.

I mean, there was a talk about doing some of that work on that small scale and seeing if that can level up.

What have you seen at East, by the way?

That's been an interesting partnership over the years.

And, you know, with some controversy, but a lot of discussion about whether what is happening at East can scale up to the community.

What have you seen there?

>> Yeah, from what I understand of East and, you know, still doing my my deep dive into everything that has been in place here in Rochester.

But what I've seen at East is that they developed some very good systems and supports for children.

and that's been recognized and evidenced by increased graduation rates, increased attendance rates, increased success rates, and also increased parent participation and student engagement rates as well.

So we're always looking at how might we be able to replicate things that have worked in other schools here in the district, as well as things that have worked in my journeys in the Atlanta Public Schools, the Buffalo Public Schools, Poughkeepsie and in D.C.

and how might we be able to replicate and make sure that those effective practices in addressing the needs of our children can then impact those communities or those schools where those effective practices are not as visible?

>> By the way, when you hear strive for five going forward, what is strive for five mean doctor.

>> So strive for five.

Really right now is a is a awareness campaign in which we are moving beyond just simply awareness.

strive for five.

If I can break it down real quick, strive for five is that we're wanting our children to be in school five days a week, every day of the school year.

We recognize that in order, as I mentioned earlier, for students to be able to have access to a high quality educational experience, they need to be in school every day.

In addition to that, we also recognize, because the data is very clear, that those students who are in school every day, who are receiving a high quality education, have greater success rates, not only in school, but also once they leave the school environment.

So right now we are really engaged in campaign mode, you know, talking about the importance of school attendance, making sure that our families, our community members, our elevating it, many of our schools have taken this as a charge and they're doing their own strive for five initiatives in their schools to bring greater awareness.

We have parents who have, you know, been video recorded along with their children, speaking about the importance of of attendance.

and we're looking to then transition the campaign.

The campaign will be year long.

It will be not only year long, it will be in place until such time that we know the vast majority of our children are attending school.

So the campaign will move from being much more than the campaign to being more of a mobilization around how might we be able to evaluate our systems and structures as a school district?

How might we be able to evaluate our system structures and protocols as a community?

As I mentioned earlier, using the medical field, how might we be able to then communicate with the medical professions?

When you're scheduling a pediatric appointment, please make sure that you're scheduling it for after school hours so that it does not impact the ability for a parent or student to be in attendance every day.

How might we be able to develop communication, be it print communication, be it visual communication on how our pediatric offices can communicate the importance of school attendance.

We started this initiative just a few months ago.

You know, a in the midst of of a number of different major challenges that I walked in.

And I would say that it has received great response.

It has received a lot of proactive, engagement of our community.

we have been posting things on our social media accounts, and those posts have then been shared on other community based organizations and members of our communities accounts as well, really promoting the importance of attendance.

>> When you look at every challenge that you're inheriting is getting kids in school, is that the the top of the list?

>> Yes, yes.

It's it's there's parallel.

They're parallel challenges.

and we are operating to address things in a parallel fashion.

So attendance is not the only thing that we're focused on.

We're focused on a whole bunch of different things.

But most certainly we do recognize that if students are not in school every day, they do not have access to the high quality educational experience that all of our Rochester City School District teachers are providing our children.

>> Are you checking like every day?

Like, what's the attendance rate today?

Yeah.

What's the attendance rate right now in Rochester?

>> I didn't get.

>> The okay.

>> Yeah.

I haven't.

>> Gotten, you know, roughly what the latest.

>> yeah.

We're trending somewhere in the ballpark of 86%.

>> Okay.

80, 86%.

I know you want to be at 100, but what's what's a realistic goal for the next 12 to 24 months?

>> So the way we measure attendance is we always look to make sure that at every elementary school, that every elementary school has at least 95% attendance, whereas each of the secondary schools, in the case of Rochester, that would be inclusive of the middle school that they're trending around 90 to 92% attendance.

>> Okay, so you think you can close that gap.

>> Over time?

Yes.

>> Is that is a realistic goal one year, five years?

>> It's a good question.

That's a good question.

We're monitoring the data and seeing how we're trending.

>> Okay.

I mean cause five years would indicate you're going to be here in five years, and people would probably be happy to hear that.

>> Oh, yeah.

I'm let me say this too, because one of the things I didn't say as it relates to, to my.

>> Longevity.

>> Yeah, my longevity here is that I've purchased a home here.

I'm not, you know, I'm not one of those superintendents that come in and, you know, find an apartment somewhere and just simply, you know, rent.

I've actually purchased a home here.

My wife and, you know, my dogs are here here in the city.

We live in the city.

and that I plan to be here.

This is my last hurrah.

I'm not.

You know, this is.

I'm not looking for this to be a stepping stone.

I'm not looking for this to be, you know, a a a way for me to to sort of.

position myself to, to do anything other than what I'm doing right now.

So I plan to retire from, from the Rochester City School District as the superintendent.

>> How many years?

>> You're gonna, you know, make me give my age.

So I have seven years in order to in order to to reach the age of 62.

>> When's the last time we had seven years for a superintendent?

I mean, it could have been a generation ago.

Maybe it'd be a long.

It's a long time here.

>> Yeah.

Just turned 55 in August.

So if I were to retire at 62, it'd be seven years.

>> And that's the intention.

>> Yep.

>> Okay.

All right.

We're talking to Dr.

Eric Jay Rosser, who's the superintendent of the Rochester City School District.

so a couple of quick questions here.

from listeners.

Where was this?

Jack wanted to know if in your previous stops there have been police in schools for safety and how you feel about officers in schools?

>> Well, that's a conversation more so for the community to take up.

One of my roles as superintendent is to execute against the vision that our community has for its schools.

As I always share with individuals that while I am superintendent, I do not wear a s behind, you know, on my chest, behind my button up shirt that it is my role and responsibility to execute against the vision that the school excuse me, that the community has for school.

I am the chief executor, the CEO that takes that vision and then execute it.

It's not the Rochester City School District is not Eric Jay Rosser School District.

It is the school district that belongs to the community.

>> So it sounds to me, correct me if I'm wrong, like what you're telling Jack, is a policy regarding whether it's officers in schools or any other safety measures doesn't just flow from what you would want.

>> Correct?

>> Okay.

>> Correct.

>> Is it reasonable to I mean, how do you feel about current levels of school safety, and is it reasonable to talk about officers in schools?

>> Well, I think that it is reasonable to talk about safety in schools, whether or not they be armed officers or they be what we have here in Rochester, security, safety personnel.

I've been in in school districts where there's been school safety resource officers.

In fact, in Poughkeepsie, we had one at the high school.

We had one at the middle school in Buffalo.

There was a very good partnership between the Buffalo Police Department and the school district, and we had armed officers in the schools.

some will say that, you know, it it doesn't bode well for our children, you know, feeling as if they're not being policed.

but I know that the intention of every community in developing the relationships with the police department is one to make sure that our children are protected and our staff members are protected.

Unfortunately.

And we can see and I knock on wood, we can see that through the history, the most recent history of our country, that there's been too many acts of violence that have taken place on school property.

And being responsive to that and making sure that we're protecting the interests of our children, our staff members, that some communities are, you know, moving down the pathway of making sure that there are armed, officers in schools.

>> let me get some more feedback here, says Evan.

I appreciate a long form interview with the superintendent.

I've lived in Rochester for almost 40 years now.

I've experienced all of the past superintendents, and I truly hope he stays more than two years, hopefully more than five years, to truly make a difference for Rochester youth.

We really need help in making our Rochester students more competitive, both locally and nationally, and I wish them all the luck in the world.

That's from Randall.

>> Thank you.

>> so you said earlier, one of the things that surprised you pleasantly is the way the community rallies around students at the same time, we are a pretty segregated region.

We're a pretty segregated school set of districts.

and we're pretty segregated country, of course.

But, you know, it's it is segregated to the point where a lot of families still talk like, well, when you've got school age children, are you moving out of Rochester?

And that's not we're not the only community where that that conversation happens.

Does that conversation offend you as the superintendent, what would you say to families who are saying, well, you know, the kids are going to be school aged and maybe it's time to move to the suburbs?

>> Well, it doesn't offend me because, you know, as being a parent myself and, you know, every parent who is listening to this call, we all recognize that we want the best for our children.

As the superintendent of the Rochester City School District, it is my charge to then make sure that all of our schools are offering a high quality educational experience for our children that is preparing them for life after their K through 12 experience.

That's part of the work that we're going to be engaging in, and we're going to be discussing a lot more tomorrow during the event that takes place at 6 p.m.

at East High School.

but it's important that that we recognize that parents have options.

And, you know, the public schools might not be an option for them at this point in time, but it's my responsibility as superintendent to lead the charge to make sure that our programing is exceptional in every building that we have, so that we can then meet the needs of all of our children in a manner that not only our children find success in school, but they find success beyond school.

So one of the things that we're working on right now is developing what we call a college career and military readiness framework, by which we are looking to implement starting next year.

and making sure that there are multiple opportunities for our children at a very early age to be able to understand the college going culture, understand what career options are going to be available to them in the near future and the distant future.

And also for those who want to support and serve our country.

What pathways are available for them as well?

So what we're looking to do is to make sure that all of our children not only receive the standards based, high level curriculum that the state obligates school districts to to implement, but also, how might they be able to use what they're learning in school as a pathway for them to then be able to gain access and opportunity beyond the school environment?

>> David, watching on YouTube says, I'd like to know if we see a major slide in performance.

Following the end of the partnership between East and the U of R, Will RCSD and the school board seek to renew that partnership?

>> Yeah, I can't speak to what the school district will do moving forward.

as it relates to the East EPO partnership, I will say that in my conversations with Shaun Nelms from the University of Rochester, where he is you know, now a, an employee that the willingness and the desire to for the U of R to continue to support the school district is there and I thank the leadership of U of R for all that they've invested.

in the EPO and looking forward to how we might continue to strengthen the partnership so that more students are impacted positively as it relates to the question around performance we've received preliminary data that speaks to the performance of our students, particularly in Ela and math.

And what I can say, I can't release the data right now because it's still embargoed.

But what I can say is that we do see in the preliminary data that there has been increases in student performance in Ela and math.

>> Well, speaking of increase in academic performance, Dallas turns our attention to Mississippi, which I've seen these headlines.

I've not dug into it.

I'm really, really curious, but it looks like Mississippi.

I think, in Ela and maybe producer Megan Mack can correct me on this, or I don't know if it's just Ela or if it's across the board, but they've gone from near the bottom of the country to rising really fast, and I think they've made some changes with regards to how literacy is taught and things like that.

But I'm speaking out of school.

I don't really know the answer.

Dallas wants to know.

have you seen that?

And what are some changes in the overall curriculum?

RCSD might look to replicate Mississippi's results.

>> Yeah.

And when he speaks about Mississippi, I'm curious to know whether or not he's referencing the entire state, because I'm not familiar with the entire state's data.

But I will say that there is a school district and if I'm not mistaken, Jackson Public Schools in Mississippi, they've seen some some very great gains in literacy.

And I've been in communication with that superintendent, as I mentioned, you know, learning what they're doing.

best practices that, that they're employing to see whether or not we can replicate some of those best practices here in Rochester.

>> Just reading.

It's got to be careful with what you find on Google.

Dr.

Rosser, I'm doing this on the fly here, but Mississippi has made dramatic literacy gains by implementing the literacy Based Promotion Act 12 years ago, which shifted instruction from balanced literacy to a science of reading approach.

Are you a science of reading fan?

>> I'm a science of reading fan, and we're implementing science of reading here in Rochester.

>> Okay.

>> So something that Governor Hochul actually has endorsed maybe a year and a half ago, maybe two years ago, she endorsed the science reading.

>> And listeners may remember, we've talked to the board president about this issue, among other board members as well.

That's probably a whole other conversation that we'll have soon to talk about how that's going.

Maybe talk to some parents and community stakeholders, too.

a couple emails, no surprise.

People want to know about what's going on with the payroll and the superintendent arrives in July.

Right.

When I think that's right.

When the new Oracle system goes in is.

>> That I arrived July 1st.

The Oracle implementation started July 2nd.

>> Okay.

And so if you're not following this listeners, it's a problem that's been a widespread issue with payroll issues for the city.

With this transition into Oracle Payroll and human resources software.

I'm not trying to laugh.

I know it's serious.

I'm absolutely no it's serious.

I'm sort of laughing at the absurdity of a new superintendent coming in one day, and then the next day the system comes in.

And from the outsider's perspective, it looks like a mess.

That's not only been a mess here, Oracle has had issues elsewhere.

in brief, what would you want people to understand about where things are with that?

>> Yeah, things are still in a state where we have great concern.

However, I will share with you that the work that the team has been engaged in for the last several months has really been focused, and we've been seeing some success around improving the system.

There's still some bugs in the system.

If I can can use that, that word.

There's still some bugs in the system that create these scenarios that are very new and eyebrow raising for all of us.

And, you know, with the internal team, with the team that's working very closely with our Oracle partners, you know, they are developing strategies to quickly address those issues.

However, I do need to note that and I had an opportunity to meet with a lot of our employees yesterday evening as I will be again this evening to discuss, you know, where we're currently at.

I do have to acknowledge that the issues that we have faced as an organization, that the implications of that on our employees has been tremendously severe, in my opinion.

no employee should ever have to be concerned as to whether or not they're going to be paid their full salary.

Absolutely.

Or they're going to be paid on time.

And that level of anxiety that has been created through this implementation, is is unacceptable.

It's unacceptable.

And as you mentioned, you know, this is not, you know, something that that Eric Rosser brought to the table, you know, as a, as a signature, initiative of my own.

This is something that I inherited.

And while I have inherited it, I know that my responsibility or better yet, my obligation is to make sure that I'm working earnestly to correct this situation because our employees, who come to work every day to meet the needs of our children, we need to make sure that just as we are students, centered in every decision that we make, we also need to be centered on taking care of those employees who are student centered each and every day when they are engaging our children.

>> One of my colleagues, WXXI.

Noel Evans, this morning spoke to the president of the Rochester Teachers Association.

She's going to have a report later today, I think, on this issue.

But to be fair, I want to give you a chance to just hear a little small snippet of what the president of the RTA said about the latest situation with Oracle.

Let's listen to that.

>> Last Thursday, apparently, somebody decided to see if they could actually access not only their own payroll, but somebody else's.

And indeed they could.

And the word got out through social media, and people even looked up the superintendents payroll information and the payroll information for all others at Central Office.

And that's an invasion of privacy that is real serious negligence, because if someone has your Social Security number, God knows what they could do with it.

So it is part of what we are trying to negotiate with the district to actually have the district fund the cost of credit monitoring for, for a full year, for everyone in the district.

Certainly our members.

So problems are getting worse and not better at a time when the district is underreporting information and spending most of their time picking up the corpses instead of preventing the slaughter.

>> That's Adam Urbanski, the president of the Rochester Teachers Association.

What would you say to that?

>> we had a conversation yesterday.

I met with the union leaders yesterday, and we all agreed that it's important that we remain focused on addressing the issue at hand and better guaranteeing that all employees and, of course, you know, the union leadership or the union representation they represent the Rochester City School District employees.

We all agree that that this is something that that most certainly requires a great deal of attention.

It also requires a great deal of collaboration, communication to make sure that we're all sort of rowing in the same direction when it comes to seeking the resolution for the situation.

>> Was his criticism there fair?

Are you aware of the issue he raised there?

>> Yeah.

So there was a situation that took place this past Thursday that that unfortunately opened.

there was some maintenance being done on the Oracle product.

we were providing and we were looking at access and accessibility to various things.

And one of our team leads was in the system doing some things removing authorization to, to some other high level individuals that didn't need it.

And somehow the system interpreted that as everyone should have access.

Once we it came to our attention that more individuals had access than they should have at that point in time.

We shut the system down, removed access from everyone, and, you know, began rebuilding who should have access to what?

So we recognize that that that's been an issue or that was an issue.

It's no longer an issue.

individuals external to the organization did not have access to the information.

And I will share with you that in order for someone to gain access to, let's say, you know, my information, it would have been a multi-step process by which they would then need to gain access.

It wasn't someone was able to right click and then you see, you know, the whole world before you that it was a multi-step.

So therefore we believe that the number of individuals who had access to it were, were not as great.

we also have a report that gives us an understanding of everyone who accessed the system between the time that it was made available to the time that we discontinued it.

so that we have an understanding as to who was all in the system.

And we're also trying to track down whether or not individuals then access, you know, let's say my personal information, which is not necessarily my personal information, because you can go to New York, see through and see, you know, what my salary is.

And all public employees.

>> All right.

20s are there any pending legal challenges regarding payroll issues right now?

>> there's been a lot of conversations.

lodged by by a course the, the collective bargaining units around grievances and legal action.

We do have a couple grievances that that have been brought to the table and, you know, are waiting.

You know, any such legal action that may be coming forward as I've shared in communication that I've given previously that I support, I stand in solidarity with the actions of our unions because they are advocating for the school district's employees.

And I'm a strong advocate of school district employees.

So we're really rowing in the same direction and the same boat together.

>> Let me close with this.

Here's an email from Isaiah Santiago, board member says, want to congratulate Eric Rosser on completing 100 days and excited to see the effects of his initiative in the near future.

Hope to see him in this position for seven years with positive change.

Stability is important in the RCSD and I hope that this is the opportunity for that.

>> So that's.

>> Definitely from board member Santiago and Charlie, who taught for decades and is now retired, says he's right.

Attendance is everything.

Get those kids in school.

So Charlie, Charlie says, do it.

And I know you're working on doing it.

>> Yes, definitely.

>> So come back and talk anytime.

I want to tell you that this is an open invitation for you.

I'm grateful to have this opportunity.

I know how busy you are.

This community would love to hear when it's convenient for you to come back on this program.

So I.

>> Appreciate the invitation, and we'll most certainly take you up on that.

>> Thank you very much.

And tomorrow night to the community is invited.

6 p.m.

East High School.

The public invited, no registration required.

As doctor Eric Jay Rosser marks 100 days and talks about a vision for the future of the RCSD.

More Connections coming up.

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