RCSD to make own sandwiches after discolored batch from supplier
Students in the Rochester City School District have been given a particularly unappetizing sandwich for lunch the last two days, but district representatives and the food contractor say it s not mold but rather uneven curing.
Nonetheless, the district is switching to making its own cold sandwiches starting Thursday, the next day of in-person learning.
Teachers in school buildings have widely shared photos from Monday and Tuesday showing what appears to be bologna sandwiches with gray spots. Many of the same teachers have been vocal opponents of RCSD s reopening plan and point to it as evidence of poor planning and lack of funding.
Credit Provided Rochester Board of Education President Van White, who s been on the board for 13 years, said he’s not running for reelection.
Instead, White is pursuing one of three open Monroe County Court judge seats in 2021. White said he could not run for both roles simultaneously.
White said there has been a clamor for systemic change in the legal system for a long time. As an African American and an experienced litigator, he feels he can make that change happen from the inside.
“I could be as Teddy Roosevelt said, in the cheap seats looking down and condemning and criticizing, and litigating on a case by case basis as a lawyer or I can get right in the thick of things,” said White. “I don’t look at my effort to go over to the courthouse any different than when I decided to go into the district. It was a system in need of systemic change and so is the courthouse.”
More Rochester City School District students than previously announced will participate in hybrid learning, Superintendent Lesli Myers-Small announced Wednesday on Twitter.
Rochester City School District Superintendent Lesli Myers-Small is interviewed July 30, 2020, outside of the School of the Arts on University Avenue.
Credit James Brown / WXXI News
“For the sake of equity and opportunity to that of elementary students, I have asked my team to work on a plan that could bring those students who selected hybrid learning in grades 7-12 back into our buildings for two days of in-person learning in early 2021,” Myers-Small tweeted.
“When our plan is finalized, I will present it to you, in the same manner I have in the past with greater details,” Myers-Small continued. “Our District’s primary core belief is that students are our first priority and will drive each decision.”
At a time when most school districts and municipalities are preparing for significantly less state aid due to New York State’s budget crisis, the members of the Rochester Board of Education may be taking a pay cut. The board members, who are by far the highest paid commissioners of any school board in the state, will discuss the possibility of reducing their own salaries when they meet Tuesday. Over the summer, as Rochester City School District officials wrestled with closing a massive budget gap, Superintendent Lesli Myers-Small said all departments should plan to reduce their budgets by 20 percent. That means cutting more than $286,926 from the Board of Education’s $1.4 million budget. The entire district budget is $927.6 million.