In his first 100 days on the job, Rochester schools Superintendent Eric Jay Rosser has put a focus on school attendance.
The district launched a school-based campaign this year involving students and parents alike. But Rosser also is hoping to enlist others outside the district, including those in the medical field.
“We've had conversations even with the medical field," Rosser said, speaking Wednesday as a guest on WXXI’s Connections with Evan Dawson.
“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,” he continued, or even start a mobile health unit, “so that parents needing to make appointments during the school day will be eliminated?”
Rosser is scheduled to mark his 100th day with a 6 p.m. Thursday address at East High School titled "The Future of the RCSD: Vision, Journey, Destination.”
Included in that speech he is likely to touch on some of the same issues he discussed on Connections, including how the district is developing a “college, career and military readiness framework” that he expects to implement starting next year. The goal is to help children understand at an early age the career options they have near- and long-term, and the pathways to get there.
And there is good news to share. Though state test scores are not yet able to be released, he said, “we do see in the preliminary data that there has been increases in student performance in (English) and math.”
But the attendance issue is central to everything.
“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,” he said, “not only in school, but also once they leave the school environment.”
On attendance, the district currently is “trending somewhere in the ballpark of 86%,” Rosser said. The goal is to get elementary schools to at least 95%, and secondary schools around 90% to 92%.
How long it might take is unclear. But Rosser, 55, reiterated that he plans to retire from the district. He would be eligible to do so in seven years.
“This is my last hurrah,” Rosser said. “I'm not looking for this to be a steppingstone.”
The reason to look at doctor’s appointments is that in a high-poverty district, transportation can be an issue, such that a child can either go see the doctor or to school, but not both. But also, he said, “many of our children, particularly those who are impacted by intergenerational poverty and health issues ... they tend to go to the doctor a lot more than a healthy child.”
“Every member of our community, there is a place at the table for them to be a part of the solution,” Rosser said. “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."
