I am a tenured RCSD teacher with over 7 years experience in the city district. I have been around for several (many) ideas, reforms and initiatives designed to boost student performance and graduation rates. None has had the desired impact.

Mayoral control will not have the impact Mayor Duffy, Governor Paterson, or any of its proponents desire.

"Why do you say this?" you may rightly ask. My answer is simple: this reform is at the wrong end of the power pyramid. It matters not who is in charge of the district or who controls the money. Any changes above the classroom level are superfluous and make no meaningful difference in the lives or education of the students.

Reforms that will make a difference must be made at the neighborhood and family levels. Our students come to school with a vague understanding of why they need an education. Most can parrot the right words "I need a good education for a good job. I need an education to get into college. I need an education for..." any number of other really good reasons. They know this, but they haven't incorporated it into their daily habits. Why? They don't have the opportunity to see it on a daily basis. Those who do have a number of other distractions at the neighborhood level which muffle the message their parents, teachers and ministers are sending.

The city needs to re-instate the Rochester Childrens' Zone and run it properly. Whatever lessons we can learn from the first failure should be learned. The concept is not only sound, it's the only one that will have a lasting and long-term (positive) impact on our childrens' lives.

Brizard needs to hold "Superintendent's Conference Days for Parents" to help parents learn the skills they need to help navigate their children's school careers and help guide them to a successful conclusion.
(It would also be helpful if Brizard began behaving in a manner that indicates that he actually likes the employees under him and trusts them to be acting in the best interests of students, but that's a whole other issue.)

What role should Mayor Duffy have in our childrens' future? He should encourage the Rochester City Police to come down HARD on gangs that commit the most egregious crimes, and those that incorporate children in their activities. He should encourage initiatives that do not make all black children suspects, or that find ways of getting all kids into the "system."

Positive change can be made in the lives of the young people in our city. Rochester youth of all ages, genders, cultures and races can help this city return to the vibrant path of growth and progress. The home, neighborhood and classroom are the proper venues for changes that will have the positive impact the city desires and the children need.

Larry Rogers

If the RCSD can lose 57 million dollars in one year and still graduate fewer than 50%, then the city administration can steal a third of that figure and graduate more seniors. If it's about stealing candy from babies, then the babies don't get to choose thieves. The city can't possibly do worse.

Larry, support for Mayoral control is not only driven by a desire or hope to improve performance, but it's about hopefully creating a sense of fiscal responsibility. I am a city resident, homeowner and taxpayer, therefore I pay a very small portion of your salary. I don't know if you live in the city, although I sure hope you do, but I am fed up by being bled to death by taxes that are out of control. This is part and parcel driven by the excess and gluttony at the RCSD. I am not saying that teachers are the problem, but poor management and oversight sure isn't helping.

The support for Duffy is also not all about some lovey-dovey "let's make all the children's lives better" attitude or "let's get rid of all gangs and drug activity in Rochester" and other various pipe dreams that are being bandied about. You're a teacher at the RCSD, these positive changes should be driven by people like you.

The outcry you are seeing has very little to do with whether or not Duffy will improve test scores, graduation rates, and so forth, and MORE to do with the gross and egregious negligence, excess and blatant fiscal UNaccountability shown by those who are running the RCSD. They apparently can't be shamed out of a job, so I am 100% behind Duffy to instill a sense of accountability on the behalf of Joe and Jane Taxpayer, who bust their asses to support you and YOUR job.

Mr. Dobbalina, I cannot disagree with any of what you've said. But if that's the argument, then that should be the argument. If the idea behind Mayoral control is about better fiscal accountability, then just say that. The arguments I keep hearing on WXXI and elsewhere are about "improving graduation rates" first, money (a distant) second.
As stated above, the change in power structure will have only minimal impact on the classrooms.
If we desire real and lasting change for the students, then this isn't the way to do it.

I support the Mayor. I think there are good points raised here on this board, but the biggest issue is that none of this has happened. We are stuck. I am confident that the Mayor will be open to these ideas and may actually have a shot at getting them done. Status Quo is simply not an option given how bad it is and how much is at stake.

The establishment of Children's Zones has always been a wonderful, though apparently difficult to administer, idea.

Without governmental action/interference - and despite it oftentimes - we the people have traditionally established our own "zones"; the oldest and most successful has been a stretch of West Main Street that functions as a Hooker's Zone.

Obviously, if a concept is something in which "we the people" have genuine interest and investment, it can flourish. Sadly, hookers are having greater success than school children in Rochester.

Larry, I guess that I am coming at this from a biased position. I do not have any children, I am part of what you would call a D.I.N.K. household - dual income, no kids. Other than having numerous family members who are teachers, both in the 'burbs and in the City proper, I am by no means an expert in education or the like.

I wish there was a magic bullet that could solve all of these issues in one fell swoop, but this too is a pipe dream. I wish the RCSD had graduation rates of 95% and no violence in the schools. There is no question that a large part of this problem lies with broken homes, lack of role-models, poverty and so on. It's a truly depressing situation if you think about it for more than a few minutes. I guess I don't know how Duffy is going to change the underlying causes of the problems we are facing by taking over the RCSD.

What I do know is that there is very blatant mis-management (fiscal-wise, personnel-wise, etc.) within the RCSD. This is nothing new - as much as people want to throw JCB under the bus, this goes way back in time to well before he arrived in Rochester. Just look at DiNapoli's findings regarding Manuel Rivera.

I am of the thought (opinion) that while Duffy might not easily (or quickly) hit the "nerve center" of the core drivers of the problems with student performance at the RCSD, there can be significant impact made if just fiscal accountability was stronger. Just think what good could have been done if all the monies spent on raises for the administration was spent on the *children* instead? We're talking ten, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars, in one year. Now carry out these costs year over year, as a raise is much harder (impossible) to renege on - it's an annuity. It makes me sick to my stomach that these grossly negligent acts are allowed to happen. Now maybe this is nowhere near on the mind of Duffy, but I have to believe it is - or maybe I'm just being naive.

You're a teacher, can you imagine what great things you'd be able to do for your students if those dollars were in your budget and not going to pay for an already overpaid administration and staff? Therein lies my point. Maybe Duffy needs to reposition himself, I don't know.