City Newspaper Archives - 11/2007
EDUCATION: How to help Rochester's schools
Published on Nov 13, 2007
It's not the schools! So what is it? It's right in an article by Superintendent Cala and Mayor Duffy in the D&C: 88 percent of Rochester students live in poverty. I submit that if you took a class from School 8 and a class from Pittsford and switched them for a year, the city kids in Pittsford would still perform poorly and the Pittsford kids in the city would do very well. It's not the teachers, the curriculum, the building, or the programs. It's the families and their poverty.
If the D&C wants to have a campaign to turn poverty around, it'll be heading in the right direction. Many programs such as the Children's Zone are aimed at that very thing. Many city teachers help every day by giving clothes, food, and supplies.
The D&C wrote about "the plight of the nearly 40,000 students enrolled in city schools." These schools are a refuge for many of our children. That's where they get food, comfort, and someone to listen to their anger or sadness.
The major problems that the D&C and the community are fighting - such as violence, degrading rap music, and poor school performance - all have the same common denominator: poverty. Poverty begs anger, hopelessness, and poor self esteem.
There are no easy ways to get rid of poverty. But constantly blaming the school district is useless political rhetoric. Until change comes to the community, no significant improvement will come to the city schools' performance.
DAVID REILLY, FAIRPORT
Reilly is a retired Rochester teacher.
