A partnership between the University of Rochester and the Rochester city school district to oversee the operation of East Upper and Lower schools will end next school year.
The Rochester school board voted 4-3 on Thursday to end the contract, which expires in 2025.
How they voted:
Let the partnership end: Amy Maloy, Isaiah Santiago, board President Cynthia Elliott and Vice President Beatriz LeBron
Continue the partnership: Jacqueline Griffin, Camille Simmons and James Patterson
That means the university will no longer provide in-kind services and resources to the program, also known as an EPO, at East – including on-site health clinics, and a pathway to college credits at UR.
“I think that we have the ability to move this back under our supervision,” board member Amy Maloy said. “I make this decision, I hope, with the understanding that we are going to honor the model and continue the model under our leadership.”
As Maloy spoke, someone in the crowd called out: “the board is too dysfunctional.”
Recently-elected board member Jacqueline Griffin voted against ending the contract.
“We have a broken system,” Griffin said. “Now I don't see how we're going to be able to address the concerns of East right now when we have our own concerns. Right now? I think if it's not broke, don't fix it.”
The vote came two days after city schools SuperintendentCarmine Peluso announced his resignation, effective at the end of June.
It also comes at a time when the district undergoes significant changes in a school reconfiguration plan that will close 11 schools and shuffle around others as middle schools are formed and schools sharing one building are moved to separate buildings.
One of the newest school board members, Isaiah Santiago was among those in favor of ending the partnership, pointing to a lack of dollars coming from UR for the program.
“The investment has only been on the district,” Santiago said ahead of the vote.
East High Superintendent Marlene Blocker argued that was a misrepresentation of the kinds of investments the university has provided through the program.
“They're not investing money into this partnership. They're investing capital for our kids. They're investing time. They're investing resources,” Blocker said. “So you're asking me to give a dollar amount on the multitude of things that happen, but there isn’t a single dollar amount I can give for that.”
That investment that came from UR went directly into East, not passing through the district. And that was on purpose, according to former East High superintendent and current UR vice president for community partnerships Shaun Nelms.
“The U of R wanted to make sure every dollar benefited the students and their families,” Nelms said in a previous interview. “Most of our money came from donors and from graduates of the university, and those donors would much prefer to have their money be accounted for through the university.”
Nelms, a trustee of WXXI Public Media, has said the university is committed to partnering with the district to support East and other city schools. Maloy said she wants to see a different partnership with the university focused on early childhood literacy in the city school district going forward.
The University of Rochester issued a statement Friday accepting the board's decision and offering a willingness to collaborate on a transition plan in the next year.
"(The model at East) in many areas exceeded what many thought was possible nearly a decade ago when East High was on the brink of closure," the statement said. "Moving forward, (UR's Center for Urban Education Success) will continue ... to support urban schools and the challenges they face."
Many community members had spoken against ending the agreement.
Mary Coffey, co-chairperson of the North Winton Village Association, spoke at a public hearing on the partnership in January in a packed multi-purpose room, and she was back in front of the school board on Thursday ahead of the vote.
“You hold the future of our children — and you've not done a good job, I'm sorry,” Coffey said Thursday. “Our children have failed because you have failed.”
