Rochester teachers are preparing to hold a no confidence vote on Superintendent Eric Rosser over what the union leader calls a pattern of "reckless mismanagement" in the City School District.
This comes as contract talks between the administration and Rochester Teachers Association have reached an impasse, with a median session scheduled for Tuesday.
"Teachers are clamoring for a vote of no confidence," RTA President Adam Urbanski said. "And I'm saying, 'Okay, give it a little time,' because we want to see if mediation helps. We want to see if (Rosser) joins at the bargaining table in mediation.
"And if he doesn't, then we'll have no recourse but to do something like a vote of no confidence."
Concerns go beyond contract negotiations and a labor agreement that expired in June. Rosser's administration also has not adequately addressed teachers' concerns over student support needs and school safety, Urbanski said. School safety also was at the core of the union’s last no confidence vote back in 2021 involving then-Superintendent Lesli Myers-Small.
When the union surveyed its members in June, hundreds of teachers responded that they do not feel supported by the district and don’t think Central Office understands what is happening in classrooms, according to survey results Urbanski shared.
"If that's not an indictment, I don't know what it would be," Urbanski said. "This district is swimming in money. ... And yet they're skimping on services for English language learners and for special education children."
In a September email exchange between Urbanski and Rosser, obtained by WXXI News, Rosser wrote that there was "significant confusion" regarding the negotiation team's responsiveness to the union, adding that he would continue to "assess progress made to secure a successor agreement."
In a statement Wednesday, a district spokesperson said that RCSD has seen five superintendents in seven years and 'similar public campaigns against District leadership have contributed to an environment of instability.'"
"The District remains committed to reaching a successor agreement," District Chief of Communications Marisol Lopez said in an email.
"We implore RTA leadership to focus on coming to the table in good faith and working toward a fair and responsible agreement rather than continuing rhetoric that does little to advance the process or serve the interests of our teachers and students," she wrote.
This marks at least the second time in Rosser's career as superintendent that teachers union members worked with an expired contract.
Before coming to Rochester, he was at the Poughkeepsie City School District. Educators there worked without a successor agreement from 2018 until 2023, according to reporting by Times Union. Rosser arrived in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic put negotiations on hold until 2021.
This is not unfamiliar territory for RCSD teachers, either. In January 2023, RTA and the district approved a three-year union contract six months after the previous one expired.
As for the possibility of a vote of no confidence, Lopez said that was "a matter for RTA leadership and its membership."
It would be a rare move. Prior to the 2021 no confidence vote in Myers-Smalls, the last superintendent to face such action was Superintendent Jean Claude Brizard in 2011over policies and practices Urbanski described at the time as "harmful to students," and neglect of "deteriorating conditions for teaching and learning."
"No superintendent can ignore the importance of a vote of no confidence, because you're supposed to be a leader," Urbanski said Wednesday. "And you can't be a leader if you have no followers."
