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[Hilary]

Please keep adding to the list of questions for Mayor Duffy as well - I will let the mayor's office know we are compiling the list, and I would like to send the list to them in a week or two.  Thanks!

[Hilary]

No one has any more questions for the mayor? I would like to get those to him by early next week. (I gave the mayor's office a heads-up earlier this week, but did not get any response.)

[Hilary]

I moved the list of questions (and the other mayoral control related Questions of the Week) over to the mayoral control board so that it would all be in one place.  I am sending the list to the mayor today, but please keep adding to it if you think of more questions. Thanks!

[Hilary]

Here is the letter that I sent:

Dear Mayor Duffy,

The Flower City Parents Network is an on-line forum run by and for city school parents. Hundreds of parents visit the forum each day to share information and resources. Over the past two weeks, the network has been collecting questions for you from our posters.  The questions are listed below, and you can also see them on the forum at:

http://flowercityparents.org/forum/index.php?topic=1054.0

I hope you will take the opportunity to respond to these parents and constituents who care deeply about the future of our city schools.  We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Hilary Appelman
Flower City Parents Network administrator
www.flowercityparents.org


1. From Anna:
You have publicly supported Supt. Brizard and his strategic plan and have pledged to keep him in charge under mayoral control even though Brizard's tenure so far has not come close to producing the improvements you want to see. What specifically do you think has stopped him from being able to succeed so far and what will change to enable him to produce the results you want under mayoral control?

2. From KateK:
1. What would you with mayoral control do that you cannot do today, and how would that improve educational outcomes?
2. What safeguards would there be so that the city could not divert school funds to other city needs?
3. I think I have heard that this is proposed to be a temporary thing, for your term only. What would the process be for evaluating what to do at that point?
4. What mechanisms would there be for parental input and feedback?

3. From Patid:
What are three things you would do differently to increase the graduation rate?  Who would make the decisions on what is educationally appropriate for the current students of the district? Who would advise you on these decisions?

4: From lisa b:
I'd like to know details of his plan.  Period.

I'd also like to know -  if board members could be re-elected without a political party attached - as is done with electing board members in other districts - if we took the politics out of it, would that be a huge step forward in a more functional governing body?

This is an aside...I can understand his frustration in the dis-function we see sometimes with this school board.  But to just grab power, without a plan, does not best serve our students, or schools. Are there other things we can do to make improvements, without losing our voice?

5. From RocketSt
The RCSD has a parent involvement policy that I have heard they are not in compliance with, even though the RTA, board members, the media, etc., continually declare that lack of parent involvement is among the biggest problems with the school district. What steps will you take to make the District accountable on parent involvement and what creative and/or non-traditional improvements will you try?

6. From Elizabeth:
What does Parent Involvement mean to you? Will RCSD (city school) parents be part of your advisory board and how?

7. From Santosha:
How will you make sure that students across the city get fairly equal access to a high-quality elementary school education?  (Especially if mayoral control involves more support for neighborhood schools and schools with an opt-in component like charter schools and citywides?)

How will you, as mayor, help guarantee good customer service to parents who might not have access to information and assistance through their social networks and who might not have learned to make their demands heard and navigate the educational system by watching their own parents do so?

What kind of direction will you set for handling disciplinary problems in the schools?  Will mayoral control mean improved strategies to minimize disruptions to instruction time?

How, specifically, will you bring the social service and law enforcement capabilities of the city to bear on issues that affect high-school students?  Elementary-school students?  How will you utilize city resources to offer teachers more support when they are working with students who have emotional issues, behavioral issues, or family difficulties (all the factors that critics of mayoral control point to as immutable when they advocate for a continuation of the political status quo where schools are concerned)?

How will you use the city's resources to help outstanding students remain intellectually challenged and engaged in school?  At the elementary-school level?  At the high-school level?

What level of parental dissatisfaction with a program or policy would trigger a change?  Will there be a formal mechanism for registering dissatisfaction at a school level?  At a district level?  Will parents have to create a ruckus outside City Hall in order to register dissatisfaction with a policy?  How will parental frustrations be registered before they turn into widespread outrage or slow attrition?

When you do your grocery shopping at the East Avenue Wegmans on a Sunday afternoon, are you fervently hoping that everyone wandering around with a small child in tow doesn't stop you in the produce section and ask you for the details of your plans?  (Great self-restraint on my part, I tell you.)

8. From Hilary:
You have said that you would keep Superintendent Brizard in charge and suggested that the board has blocked his efforts at reform.  Can you give us examples of the board blocking the superintendent's reform efforts?

You have been very critical of teachers union president Adam Urbanski.  Under your leadership, what would you like to see change in the district's relations to its teachers, and how do you envision that happening?

What, exactly, will you do to increase graduation rates that Superintendent Brizard is not doing now?

If you do not get control over the school district, how will you repair relations with the school board so that we can move toward these goals that you and they -- and all of us -- share?

and

Why is your first announced public appearance a $45/plate breakfast at the Rochester Business Journal? What message does that send to city residents waiting to have a chance to ask you more about your plans?

From CoolGrrl:
If a law can be changed to allow mayoral control of the RCSD, is it also possible to change the current law so that city residents/tax payers could vote on our school budget like the rest of our county does?

I certainly would love to have the same equal rights as our suburban county neighbors do to have a more direct voice on what happens in our district. Why doesn't this happen?

Since we have so many more people/voters in the city, why aren't we allowed the same voice? And, if we're making changes to how things are run, couldn't we make this change at the same time?

[Hilary]

In case anyone is wondering what happened with our questions for Mayor Duffy ... I am not quite sure whether to laugh or cry.

We sent these questions to him on March 9, after sending a heads-up letter to the mayor's office letting him know they would be coming. We followed up with at least EIGHT emails and phone calls to Mayor Duffy's aides and secretary, which -- one month later -- resulted in our first response: apologetic phone calls from one of the mayor's aides and then the mayor himself.  In that phone call, Mayor Duffy suggested that - instead of answering the questions - he could meet with us in person to hear our thoughts and answer questions.

We agreed and, as requested, followed up with potential dates (seven of them!) for a meeting. We got permission from School 12 to have the meeting there.  And then ... nothing.  Honestly, once again we made half a dozen phone calls and emails to the mayor and his secretary, and got No. Response. Whatsoever.

Since then, the first actual forums with the mayor were scheduled - last week at RMSC and the U of R and this week (today) at the Phyllis Wheatley library. So maybe we don't need our own meeting with him. (A meeting that was HIS idea!) And I certainly understand that the mayor is a busy busy man, and we are small fish.  But.  If you were the mayor, trying to take over the schools, and had suggested to a parent group that you meet with them ... wouldn't it behoove you or your staff to at LEAST let that parent group know that you're sorry, it's not going to work out? Wouldn't either you, or your secretary, or your aides, bother to respond to emails and telephone calls to at least confirm they had been received? I think so.

As you probably know, improving communication with the RCSD is one of my main issues.  So far, I am not getting any warm and fuzzy feelings about the prospects for good communication if the mayor takes over. 

If anyone has any suggestions, or would like to take over calling/emailing the mayor, please feel free.  I don't have the heart to keep hitting my head against that wall.

 

[beanqueen]

On my way (in a minute) to tonight's meeting and taking the FCPN questions with me - dunno what chance there will be for audience questions, but at least I remembered to print them out &  bring them!