Thank You Community...

-
As you know, the Rome community successfully passed the 2017-2018 school budget this past week with a 78% approval rate. On behalf of all of our students and staff at the Rome City School District, I want to thank you all for your support. We are very appreciative to have a community that values education and wants the best for their children. The district is dedicated to ensuring that our students are receiving the very best instruction possible with the most appropriate resources available for learning. Our high school already carries a course load that provides students the opportunity to graduate with a year of college under the belt and we continue to develop programs and outlets to provide an equivalent experience for those that want to enter the work force following high school. Our middle school continuously evaluates their programming to ensure that we are providing the absolute best opportunity for student success as the prepare to enter high school. And the elementary program has experienced quickly improving math scores while they have turned their attention this year (and into the future) on early literacy efforts to ensure that students can read on grade level. All of these efforts are made possible because of the support of our community. When you work in a community and environment that is support of children and growth, it makes the entire system better. We appreciate our community and once again, on behalf of our children and staff, THANK YOU for your support!!

Internet Safety Panel Discussion


 In partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the Rome Police, the New York State Police, Bryant & Stratton College, and the City of Rome; the Rome City School District is proud to host: Internet Safety and Social Media: What All Parents Should Know. The event will take place on Tuesday, May 23 at 6:00 p.m. in the Rome Free Academy cafeteria. We expect the event to last roughly 45 minutes to an hour and it will address the following topics:
  • What are the most common websites, apps, or social media platforms that students are using? What is the general purpose of each app?
  • What are some of the issues students are experiencing when using and communicating through these technologies?
  • What are some of the misconceptions of communicating through these websites or apps.
  • Why should parents and students be concerned with their digital footprint?
  • What are some guidelines to keeping students safe online?
 Protect Your Child’s Digital Footprint for the Present and Their Future!

 Video Highlight of the Internet Safety Discussion


ESSA Public Meeting


The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law by President Obama and is a reauthorization of the nation's national educational law. ESSA retains many of the core provisions of No Child Left Behind (the previous reauthorization of ESEA) related to standards, assessments, accountability, and use of Federal funds. However, ESSA does provide states with much greater flexibility in many areas, including the methodologies for differentiating the performance of schools and the supports and interventions to provide when schools are in need of improvement. To meet the requirements of ESSA, New York will also be required to submit a new state plan to USDE for the use of a wide array of Federal grant programs, including Title IA (Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies, Title IB (State Assessment Grants, Title IC (Education of Migratory Children), Title ID (Prevention and Intervention Programs for Children and Youth who are Neglected, Delinquent or At-Risk), Title IIA (Supporting Effective Instruction), Title III (Supporting Language Instruction for English Learners and Immigrant Students), Title IVA (Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants), Title VB (Rural Education Initiative), and Title VI (Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native Education).

 There will be a public meeting on ESSA this Wednesday, May 24, from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm at Henninger High School in Syracuse. The commissioner and our local Regent will be in attendance at this public hearing. It is expected that New York State will adopt the draft ESSA plan later this summer. For more information about ESSA, please click on the link below:


Restructuring Update


 This past week, the District was able to determine 130 of the 139 general education staff assignments needed for the restructuring. This is the first step in the process of setting each building staff. This week, we hope to have a clear picture on teaching assistants, special education staff, and special areas teachers (art, music, PE). Also, we have been working on the master schedule to ensure that buildings have the necessary staff. Principals have been busy reviewing their buildings and the space available as they will begin the process of assigning classrooms. Teachers have begun the conversations related to sharing materials with their colleagues that they no longer will need and some newly developed grade level teams have already begun meeting together to discuss the curriculum and plan for next year. Our next steps for the week include developing an electronic form for special permissions and communicating to each student where their assigned school is for next year.  





Popular posts from this blog

It Takes A Village...

-
Image
 We all know the old phrase, "it takes a village to raise a child." One can reflect on the phrase and find a few different ways to interpret its meaning, however, it cannot be argued that when groups of people work together to help their children grow, success is more likely. To me, I view this phrase as referencing that there is someone within every community that a child can connect with to help them feel a part of their school and/or community. It may not be their classroom teacher or their principal. It may be a bus driver, a coach, a teaching assistant, secretary, custodian, food service worker, music teacher, art teacher, computer specialist, monitor, etc. The list can go on and on. Why mention this? Well, currently, one of the largest and most important educational research projects in our nation's history is occurring with some of the leading educational experts researching what education needs to be by the year 2025. Education 2025 is producing information that m
Read more

Finish Strong...

-
Image
It is that time of year where many schools, teachers, and students want to "coast" to the finish line. A lot like that NFL team that has their playoff birth locked up weeks before the end of the season so they start resting players to avoid potential injury as the regular season comes to an end; some schools have traditionally modeled this mentality. Difference being is that we are in a race, not a season. In a race, if you let up at the end, your final outcome/product will suffer. Even if you are in first place in the race, you don't slow down as you approach the finish line do you? You don't see the jockey on the thoroughbred pulling on the reins so that the team doesn't set a time record. Those thoughts would be unthinkable. So why do we pull up the flaps at the end of the school year on our kids' learning opportunities. Yes, the weather is nice. Yes, it's been a long year. Yes, we've just made it through State testing and AP testing. But, we only
Read more

I Had A Dream...

-
Image
Once upon a time, when we all began our careers or started a new position/school, we had dreams. Dreams of what we wanted to accomplish, dreams we wanted to see our students accomplish, dreams we wanted to see our school communities achieve. Throughout my travels though, I have seen more adults tell students that should lower their expectations and downsize their dreams. Unfortunately, I would say that the ratio of adults encouraging students and adults discouraging students is close to 1:1 in my career. I ask, would you be where you are today without someone throughout your educational life encouraging you to pursue your dreams? As with many things in our schools, we need to focus on the positives that are happening and capitalize on them. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream for our country, and while his dream was related to equal rights and oppression, his intended message of having a dream and working tirelessly to achieve it can be applied universally in society. Recently,
Read more