School Restructuring Update...

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As you may know by now, the Board of Education voted last week to approve a restructuring of our elementary schools from a k-4 & 5-6 model to a k-6 model. During the past week, we continue to receive many questions regarding the transition. Each week, we will be using our automated email system to email any updates that we have to all of our current k-5 families. Also, we will continue to send home hard copies of updates on a monthly basis to ensure that the information is reaching our families. In the meantime, we encourage you to continue sending along any questions that you may have via email or telephone. We only ask that you please keep in mind that while we prepare for 2017-2018, our main focus remains on our students in the current academic year which could mean that answers to some questions may not have an immediate response. We continue to work through contractual and regulatory paperwork which will delay some of the information that we all seek. In the coming week, we intend to have a chart of streets and residence numbers available per school, a tentative plan for staffing the buildings, and a better draft of our transportation plan. In the meantime, we have a page on our website dedicated for new information related to the restructuring. It can be found here and I encourage you to view that page for any current information.   

Blue Pinky Swear Day


Sponsored by the Awareness Committee, the Rome Teacher Center, and the Rome City Schools; we are asking all schools to join us in the Blue Pinky Swearing to stand up against bullying day on Friday, May 5.  Inspired by Secret Deodorant's Mean Stinks campaign, students paint the pinky nail on their right hand blue to show that they stand against bullying at their school.  If you are willing to allow your student to take part, please have him/her paint their right hand pinky nail any shade of blue prior to coming to school on Friday, May 5. Please show your support for a kinder, more tolerant school, district, and city!  Our hope is that all students will take part and recognize the importance of this symbolic act.


Matilda Cuomo to Visit Rome


 On Wednesday, May 3, Matilda Cuomo will be visiting Rome again to speak with both the individuals who have been mentoring our students throughout the year; as well as to use the Rome program as a model to strum up support for other districts throughout our region to partner in this amazing program. Thank you to the assistance of Frank DiBerardino (Community Member), Amanda Jones (Director of Counseling Services) and Jason Evangelist (Holland Patent Superintendent), the Rome program has been a huge success. We are honored that Mrs. Cuomo would like to visit our schools and program personally to both thank everyone, but also work to increase the program in our region.


RFA Travel Club

During the Spring break, the RFA Travel Club took their second out of country trip. This year, the group visited England, Scotland, and France. At each stop, the group represented both RFA and the Rome community with pride. The Travel Club is open to all students in the high school and they work year round to help raise funds to take their trip. Next year, the club is anticipating a trip to Italy and Greece. Any interested student should touch base with the club advisors or current students in the club to begin preparing for next year. 




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