#WBFK...

This past week, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Google headquarters in Manhattan with a team of local educational leaders in the Mohawk Valley. During the day long visit, we met with Googlers who took us on a tour of the facility and provided some inside information about the life of Google. Throughout the day, most of us frequently would look at each other and recognize that most of what we were hearing was nothing new or earth shattering. In fact, the majority of it is no different than what we all talk about in Rome every day. As we spoke about educational philosophy and best practices, everything continued to revolve around a new acronym: WBFK. Now, I know we need a new acronym about as bad as Manhattan needs a new Starbucks, but this acronym is essentially what we all hope to do every day: What's Best For Kids. Google's entire design is centered around what's best for production. Education's entire design is supposed to be centered around what's best for kids. I would argue the almost all people in education follow this philosophy and it's only in moments of stress, fatigue, or un-focus that the concept of WBFK is lost. The largest concern in education though is the actual structure of education. Education in the United States is still very similar to education in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, etc. You get the drift. Sure we have technology, standards are different, yada yada. But have the structures changed. Has the delivery of instruction changed significantly. I would bet that almost all of our students' grandparents experienced a school environment that was very similar to today. However, the rest of the world outside of schools has changed dramatically! Everything looks different, is built different, is serviced different. It's time that from an organizational level our schools are different as well. It's what's best for kids. Unfortunately, the reason why schools have had such a tough time adapting is because as adults, we don't embrace change because of the negative connotation. Not changing is the equivalent of going backwards in time. Change is nothing more than an evolution of the current positives. This takes effort and hard work though. Rome is poised to make this evolution as we already have the staff in our schools that believe in and practice what's best for kids. As we get set to turn the calendar in the coming weeks, let's turn the page on the archaic practices of yesteryear and create the evolution that our children need. It's time to truly do WBFK!!  

Christmas in the City Event

Life Church of Rome, NY will be hosting a Christmas in the City event this coming Friday and Saturday, December 8 and 9, from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. The event will be held at the former NYS Armory, located at 1110 Black River Blvd. During the event there will be an interactive Christmas village, live caroling, local artisans, food trucks, treats, and live animals. Christmas in the City is a FREE event and for more information, please visit their website at www.lifechurchny.com/christmas

RCSD Apparel Sale

The Rome City School District is holding an online apparel sale from now through December 22, 2017. Items for sale can be found by following this link: https://form.jotform.com/73234073037955. All apparel comes in varying sizes, men's/women's, and colors. The logo on each item varies, so please read the item description carefully. We expect product delivery to be roughly one month from the close of the sale. All payments are made online and go directly to the vendor. 

Closing/Delay Reminders

Poor weather and/or other conditions occasionally necessitate the closing of schools. In the event of an emergency closing, parent/guardians and students are notified by means of announcements on local radio, television stations, automated phone calling system, social media (Facebook and Twitter) and the District website. The decision to close is based upon several criteria – wind speed in combination with temperature, present and predicted precipitation, and overall road conditions. Also keep in mind that Rome is a city of 72 square miles and overall road conditions might not be the same in one part of the city as in other areas. Announcement of school/closings are made through the news media and automated phone calling system, generally beginning at 5:45 a.m. In some instances, it may be necessary to make announcements as late as 6:30 a.m. Since decisions on closing have to be made very early in the morning and weather conditions sometimes change drastically before students actually begin traveling to school, the ultimate decision on safety of travel conditions for students rests with the parents/guardian. For more information, please visit our website  at http://romecsd.org