Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa was in Rochester Friday for a spirited question-and-answer session on the state of education in New York. Rosa spoke to a crowd of school board members from across the state attending the 100th New York School Boards Association convention and expo at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center.
In her remarks, Rosa expressed concerns about the predictability of student failures based on economic disparities.
“We must engage in the, quote, whatever it takes approach. Viewing success as the only acceptable outcome for all students,” said Rosa. “Commitment to the education of every student means that we acknowledge the uneven playing field that currently exists in many of our communities.”
One way Rosa said New York can tackle that problem is by adding more teachers of color to districts, especially urban ones, so students can see teachers that look like them. Rosa argued that a culturally responsive and inclusive environment is key to the success of more students.
Among the hot topics from the crowd was turnover at the top of the state department of education. Commissioner MaryEllen Elia resigned in August. Her interim replacement Beth Berlin turned in her resignation earlier this month. She leaves in late November.
Vice Chancellor T. Andrew Brown, a Rochester attorney, who also took questions with Rosa said the search process for a new state education commissioner is about to pick up. Brown said they intend to soon hire a search firm to find candidates for the role.
“We are going to be doing a formal national search to find a new commissioner, but the steps have already been put in place,” said Brown.
Chancellor Betty Rosa says formal search process is in the final stages and they expect a search firm will help them find the next commissioner is coming soon.
As for the troubled Rochester City School District, Rosa said that she welcomed input from the state comptroller’s office on the district’s $30 million deficit andthe governor on what steps local leaders and the state education department could take, but the state education department has its own plan in play.
Rosa said that members of the state department of education are working on implementing on the findings in former Distinguished Educator Jaime Aquino’s report. Aquino’s report, issued nearly a year ago, outlined critical failures in the culture, finances, governance and many other parts of the city school district. The report also offered 84 solutions. Aquino resigned in June.
That plan will be based on the document that the Rochester Board of Education and the NYS Department of Education have been revising since February.
Vice Chancellor Brown said, an outsider may be brought in to implement that plan.
“We don’t want to dismiss the parties that sit around the board table as well as those individuals who are in the superintendent’s office.We want to be supportive,” said Brown. “We had a distinguished educator come to Rochester and do excellent work. We may take steps in the relatively near future in bringing in someone else into town to fill the role to implement the findings and recommendations of the distinguished educator, and if those steps don’t work, we’ll take more bold and aggressive actions.”
