Looking at a perfect world

Debra Trione found 50
powerful and influential Americans and then asked them questions they weren't
used to answering. "Name two things you hope will be true in 50 years.
Tell me about an environment in which you personally thrive. Now paint a
picture of your ideal world."

The results make up the Rochester
resident's new book, A Perfect World.
Trione's findings may surprise some readers. Norman Schwarzkopf was loud and
clear: "No more war!" Alan Dershowitz hopes for a world with no
organized religion. Julian Bond painted a homey, quiet picture of himself,
reading a book.

Trione's intention with this
five-year project was to understand in a new way the men and women who
supposedly control our fates. "I wanted to find the real story behind what
people say." She buttonholed James Carville on the DC subway, then
finagled an interview. She spoke with the heads of NASA and NOW, right-wingers
and traditional liberals, the CEOs of Kodak and PBS, politicians, writers, TV
news people.

She asked them to describe in words
their perfect worlds, then at the end of the interview, pulled out paints and
had them create a visual image. At first these high-paid, high-profile people
were "surprised and a little embarrassed" to be dabbling like
kindergarteners. But many of them found the experience oddly liberating. Even
the way they spoke changed as they moved the paints around. "Their voices
became more childlike," Trione says, "they became more spontaneous
and human."

She's convinced that her findings,
both verbal and graphic, are important. "These people matter," she
says. And their vision for a better world may help the rest of us see where
we're heading. At least for her, the results were gratifying. "I came away
less cynical."

A
Perfect World will be released in September by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

--- Th. Metzger

Schools uncut, somewhat

A Restoration drama was performed here last week, but it was
no period piece. And it could play the same venue next summer, too.

That's
because the venue was 131 West Broad Street, and the theme was City School
District finances.

Last week,
outgoing Superintendent Clifford Janey, the Rochester Board of
Education, and the Rochester Teachers Association and its allies
vied over restorations to the 2002-2003 budget. Through most of the 2001-2002
school year, the district struggled with budget shortfalls. In part, the
shortfalls were self-inflicted, the result of miscalculated expenses and
overestimated revenue. But those problems have been compounded by the
district's inability to raise funds directly through tax increases, as well as
Albany's disinclination to adopt a fair state-aid formula in line with the
state constitution.

Only months
ago, when the projected shortfall approached $70 million, it was feared that
900 positions or more --- teachers, non-teaching classroom staff, counselors,
librarians, and administrators --- would be axed. As it is, some key programs
have been pared; the valued "SHAPE" program for troubled youth won't be a
stand-alone program any longer, for example. But recently the state legislature
stepped in, providing more than $20 million in aid --- actually an advance on
money promised for next school year --- so some givebacks have been made
possible.

School
Board members met July 18 and voted unanimously to adopt the superintendent's
revised spending plan. The new budget total will be $530 million, up from the
$497 million as approved by City Council last month. This, says the district,
includes a dedicated $5.2 million grant for class-size reduction as well as the
recent state advance. In all, the plan will "restore 305 teaching jobs,
bringing the total number of teachers districtwide to 3,564, a 7 percent
reduction" from last year, according to a district news release.

Though all
players are happy that many positions are being restored, there's some
lingering controversy.

Hours
before the July 18 meeting, State Senator Jim Alesi and Assemblymember Susan
John joined RTA president Adam Urbanski in condemning some details
of the new plan. Alesi and John said the district wasn't following the legislative
intent, which was to restore all teaching positions. Along with Urbankski,
Alesi trained a spotlight on Central Office.

"The
primary intent was not to maintain or enlarge Central Administration... but to
see there were no [teacher] layoffs, so children could get what they deserve,"
Alesi said. "It seems," he said, "that there isn't enough appreciation among
those who received the money."

An hour
after the RTA news conference, district officials maintained that the numbers
weren't as bad as opponents believed. Indeed, when the smoke cleared, both
sides anticipated that there could be a net loss of around 100 teachers. There
could be fewer than 100, in fact --- the numbers shift greatly during late
summer, as teachers quit, transfer, retire, or otherwise add to routine
"attrition."

The
restoration plan brings back elementary librarians, physical education
instructors, and arts and music programs. It also adds 80 paraprofessional
positions, most of them classroom aides. Does the latter mean deprofessionalizing
the classroom, a classic anti-labor device of shifting work to lower-paid
staff? Not at all, says Clifford Janey. The increase in "para's" is mandated,
he said: As the number of teachers drops, average class size increases, and
this, per the district's contract with the RTA, means more aides must be hired
to fill the gap.

But what
about Central Office? Janey and other officials say Broad Street will see a 12
percent cut in positions. Urbanski, though, maintains that Central Office will
lose only "phantom" positions, not positions that are actually filled.

In any
case, the district, even after the restorations, is still taking a big hit.

And will
all the confusion, additions, and subtractions compound another annual problem:
middle-class flight from the district? "I've had a number of conversations with
parents over the last six months," says Susan John, "and I'm happy that most of
these parents said they'd decided to stay." Still, she says she understands
that many parents "may feel exasperated."

Prohibition in the park

If you go to one of the free concerts in Manhattan
Square Park, you can take in only one sealed water bottle. How come?

According
to Stephanie Gradinger, the city's director of cultural affairs, the
policy protects the liquor license of the vendor who provides booze at the
shows.

"If you
have an unsealed bottle, it could potentially contain anything," Gradinger
says. Just as you can't take your own bottle of hooch into the neighborhood
bar, you can't take it into the park. Gradinger says the city is also concerned
about lawsuits stemming from accidents in an uncontrolled environment.

Gradinger
notes that even sealed water bottles were verboten in years past. And, she
says, people "can bring in a large sealed bottle" if they're really
thirsty.

"People
also need to remember that these events are free," Gradinger says.