Created: February 02, 2021 11:59 AM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) The reopening of schools in the Rochester City School District is causing a lot of controversy among the community, as some say, the kids need to be back in school, but others are not in support of the plan.
Parent Walida Monroe-Sims says it s time to take a step back from political opinions and let the parents decide what is best for them.
“It is totally up to the parent and the students, their families on what returning to school looks like for them,” Monroe-Sims said. “No one gets to determine that for you.”
Rochester city schools Superintendent Leslie Myers-Small is asking for an independent review of the district s plan to reopen school buildings.
In a letter to Jo Anne Antonacci, Monroe BOCES District Superintendent and Chair of the Finger Lakes Reopening Schools Safely Task Force, Myers-Small said the district has worked closely with the Monroe County Health department and other experts on the reopening plan. The superintendent hopes an independent review of its reopening plan will provide further assurances of its safety.
A few hundred students in the district have already resumed in person instruction and it has planned for more to come back to the classroom in February. But the district recently received pushback on the plan from the Rochester Teachers Association. Adam Urbanski, the union s president, has urged the district to pause in-person instruction until there is a comprehensive plan for instruction and until teachers have the opportunity to be fully vacc
The campus of Benjamin Franklin High School. Rochester Teachers Association leader Adam Urbanksi is urging the district to pause in-person instruction as part of a hybrid learning approach until teachers are given a “coherent” plan how to do it. “Because they’re being asked to perform tasks that are simply not doable,” said Urbanski. In a recent survey, roughly 89 percent of teachers, who are expected to return to school buildings in February, agreed with him. The union’s assembly passed a measure Tuesday making the same request, which Urbanski emailed to Rochester City School District leadership that night. Hybrid learning plans have become a common way for school districts to enforce physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. It varies per district, but in most cases, one group of students learn at home on some days, while others go to school buildings, and then they alternate on other days.
In New York alone, there are 3.2 million eligible candidates for phase 1b, including over 3,000 teachers that are represented by the Rochester teacher’s association.
“I’m glad that the governor agrees that teachers should be among the first to get vaccinated, after the medical staff,”said Adam Urbanski, President Rochester teachers association.
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WHECTV Created: December 30, 2020 12:50 PM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) Rochester City School District Superintendent Dr. Lesli Myers-Small has instructed her team to come up with a hybrid learning model for students in grades 7-12.
Those students were set to learn at home the rest of the way, with only students in specialized programs, and students K-6 being allowed to return to their home schools in a phased approach.
In a tweet thread Wednesday, Dr. Myers-Small said the district is developing learning pods for 7-12. She says In December, only 25% of students expressed their desire to participate in hybrid learning. And with medical experts telling the district that school is the safest place for students, Myers-Small said she strongly believes all students need to be back in school.