As the World Turns...

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Often used as a cliche referencing the concept that we must keep on moving forward and adjusting to whatever comes our way, the phrase "as the world turns" can be used to describe living in New York during this COVID-19 situation and attempting to adjust to the Governor's executive orders and determine what they mean. Regardless of your line of work, we have all been living in a state of flexibility for several months now. Just as when this all started in March, things were evolving and changing rapidly; we are starting to experience this again as we begin to re-open our communities and plan for the future. This weekend (only weeks after announcing no in-person summer school), the Governor has announced that schools can hold in-person summer school for special education students only, but provided no detail beyond saying that all rules and safety precautions must be followed. For Rome, our administrative team will meet this week to discuss what this may look like and determine by the end of this week if we plan to continue with the virtual summer school or move to an in-person plan. We are hopeful that we will receive some actual guidance on what the requirements will be, before we have to make a decision. Another similar and important instance of this is graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2020. This week, the Governor announced the provisions for schools to follow related to graduation ceremonies and I am pleased to report that our plan has been presented by the Mayor to the Regional Re-Opening Task Force and preliminary feedback from Albany has been positive. As soon as we have an approved plan, the full details will be provided to the senior class. However, as with the special education summer school, I still believe that there is a large chance that the Governor is going to throw a curve ball and allow for in-person ceremonies at the last minute. I would like to thank the RFA Class of 2020 for the wonderfully written letter that they sent to Governor Cuomo urging him to change course on this topic. Their letter was a great representation of our community as they shared their concerns and justifications for their position without any form of negativity. We should all be honored by the way in which our future has represented our community to the Governor. With that, we. know he has consistently proven that changing course during the COVID-19 experience at the last minute is possible. Thus, the world of flexibility that we all are living in and need to continue to be mindful of. I am hopeful that with continued conversation, the Governor will once again change course and as the world turns, turn this graduation ceremony into the one that our kids deserve.  

2020-2021 Budget Vote


The annual school budget vote and elections for the Board of Education occurs this week on Tuesday, June 9, 2020. All ballots must be received before 5:00 p.m. or they can not be counted, due to the Governor's executive order. Also,  please make sure that ballot envelopes are signed or again, the ballot can not be considered as a qualified vote. Information on the budget and candidates for the Board of Education can be found in the budget newsletter here: https://romecsd.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_695381/Image/Business%20and%20Finance/RCSD%202020-21%20Budget%20newsletter.pdf. The district website has several other budget related items on it, including a video of the full budget presentation. The webpage can be found here: https://romecsd.org/district/business___finance/budget. Finally, when the counting of ballots begins on Tuesday, the process will livestream on the district YouTube channel, which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8BoYZyGLUorkU1Ec_YP20w.  

 UPDATE (6/8/20): Yesterday, Governor Cuomo issued a statement amending the requirements for school district voting and Board of Education elections. While the Executive Order with the details has not been released yet, his press conference stated that in-person drop off ballots can be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on June 9 and districts must continue to receive mail-in ballots until June 16. If there is more detail once the Executive Order is issued, we will provide another update.


Absentee Ballot Issued List
In accordance with Education Law, the list of individuals who received an absentee ballot for the vote and elections must be publicized so that any member of the community can review the list and challenge the voter eligibility of an individual on the list. Upon reviewing the list, if you believe there is an error or would like to challenge the eligibility of a voter, community members may do so by submitting a letter to the district business office, or by calling the business office (315.338.6541) between 5:00 p.m. and 5:20 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9, 2020. A copy the absentee ballot issued list can be found on our website here: https://romecsd.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_695381/File/Absentee/Absentee%20Master%20Csv%20for%20SCHOOL%20BUDGET%20VOTE.pdf. 

Kindergarten / Pre-K Registration


The Rome City School District will be resuming the kindergarten/pre-K registration process beginning on June 15, 2020. There will be an online method and an in-person (by appointment only) option for families to register. We are going to promote a registration window of June 15 to June 30. Please be aware that the Board of Education recently adopted a new policy regarding the documentation necessary for registration. More information about what is required for registration can be found on our website here: https://www.romecsd.org/parents/student_registration 

RFA Spirit Day


The RFA senior class is promoting a spirit day to be held on Friday, June 26, 2020 (their normal graduation rehearsal day). Their plan is to have students and community members order shirts before June 12, 2020 and then submit a selfie of themselves in the shirt for the virtual spirit day. For anyone interested in participating, the link to order the shirt is: https://kandkgraphicsco.com/collections/rfa-seniors/products/rfa-knights-strong-t-shirt

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