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The district and students’ behavior
Rochester Superintendent Bolgen Vargas says “poor student behavior is an indication that students’ needs are not being met” (“Student Behavior: Vargas Dares to Go There,” News Blog”). Why aren’t students accountable for their own behavior? What entitles them to blame others for neglecting their “needs,” when they’re disruptive to the education of others? In the rest of the world, school is a privilege. These students treat school with contempt and disrespect, and then we have to listen to administrators stand around making excuses for them. As long as the district colludes with the students and parents who want to blame their own destructive behavior on someone or something else, nothing will change. LISA JADWIN
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2 CITY
DECEMBER 4-10, 2013
something, put it back where it belongs. 6) When a teacher (aide, administrator, School Resource Officer, etc.) says do this, you do this. And the Boy Scout Rule: Leave your campsite in better condition than it was when you arrived. These rules worked well when I was in school, and they probably worked well when you were in school.
In September 2005, brand new teacher certifications in hand, I started teaching seventh-grade math for the Rochester City School District at Franklin High School. I learned a lot that year, and, although RCSD and I parted ways, I have paid moderate attention to RCSD since. I do not need a community discussion to know what constitutes proper student behavior, and I find it hard to believe anyone does. The rules parents usually teach to their 2-year-olds should do fine. 1) Keep your hands to yourself. 2) Watch your mouth. 3) Don’t touch what isn’t yours. 4) Don’t be mean to anyone. 5) When you are done with
I have been reading City’s articles on the state of RCSD for a few years now. In fact, your work has been a huge factor in my decision to go back to school for a degree in education in my field. After lots of hard work, this school year I became employed for the first time as a teacher in RCSD. When I was an outsider, I had a burning curiosity to know why people talk about the district the way they do. For as long as I can remember, it’s been like a record on repeat: the same problems are outlined over and over. Now that I’ve been working in the district for three months (as a brand new, first-year teacher), I’ve been put in some extremely challenging situations and have been subjected to a vast web of interrelated problems. The weight of the issues here can certainly cloud one’s ambition. I see that there is no one answer, and there have been times when I felt like quitting because everything is so gridlocked. I try to keep my head up despite the difficult time I’ve had. Recently, I read a City article that quoted Superintendent Vargas: “the district is facing its last chance to turn around.” I felt the weight of those words changing my hope. But I remembered I’m an insider now, and I know the fantastic families, students, teachers, and administrators who don’t lower themselves to the expectations of outsiders, who don’t give up because the district performs poorly overall. I’ve met people all over the district who leave me feeling deeply inspired to be like them.
City can help by stepping inside. I encourage you to choose headlines, quotes, and angles that help dissolve the dismal perspective many local residents hold onto. Come into our schools and talk to the kids about the very real success they achieve each day. Find out what they want from their schools, because they feel the distress more than anyone else. I ask that you advocate for our district by writing plainly about what actually happens right now in schools, in addition to the vague, long-term goals set out by administrators. This district is a living community that is happening right now, with many strengths in addition to its weaknesses. ANONYMOUS
The creation of ‘garden cemeteries’
Your article on the Mount Hope Cemetery mentioned that it was modeled on the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts (“Mt. Hope Cemetery: A Buried Treasure”). Mount Auburn, the nation’s first “garden cemetery,” itself has an interesting story. It was established in 1831 under the leadership of two prominent Boston Unitarians, US Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story and physician Jacob Bigelow. They and their supporters didn’t view death in the traditional Calvinist way, as the prelude to a terrible reckoning, but as a natural life passage. In place of the uninviting and sometimes scary burial grounds that were common in New England, they created a park-like atmosphere in the belief that life, death, and natural beauty can coexist as part of the full cycle of life. Their cemetery became a model for others that were established throughout the country, with Rochester’s Mount Hope among the first. The full story of the Mount Auburn Cemetery is told in “Silent City on a Hill” by Blanche MG Linden. BILL FUGATE
News. Music. Life. Greater Rochester’s Alternative Newsweekly December 4-10, 2013 Vol 43 No 13 250 North Goodman Street Rochester, New York 14607-1199 themail@rochester-citynews.com phone (585) 244-3329 fax (585) 244-1126 rochestercitynewspaper.com facebook.com/CityNewspaper twitter.com/roccitynews Publishers: William and Mary Anna Towler Editor: Mary Anna Towler Asst. to the publishers: Matt Walsh Editorial department themail@rochester-citynews.com Features editor: Eric Rezsnyak News editor: Christine Carrie Fien Staff writers: Tim Louis Macaluso, Jeremy Moule Music editor: Willie Clark Music writer: Frank De Blase Calendar editor: Rebecca Rafferty Contributing writers: Paloma Capanna, Casey Carlsen, Roman Divezur, George Grella, Jim Kempkes, Laura Rebecca Kenyon, Andy Klingenberger, Dave LaBarge, Kathy Laluk, Adam Lubitow, Nicole Milano, Ron Netsky, Dayna Papaleo, Suzan Pero, Rebecca Rafferty, David Raymond, David Yockel Jr. Editorial interns: Trevor Lewis, Colin McCoy Art department artdept@rochester-citynews.com Art director/production manager: Matt DeTurck Designers: Aubrey Berardini, Mark Chamberlin Photographers: Mark Chamberlin, Frank De Blase, Michael Hanlon Photography intern: Larissa Coe Advertising department ads@rochester-citynews.com Sales operations: Matt Walsh New sales development: Betsy Matthews Account executives: Nancy Burkhardt, Tom Decker, Christine Kubarycz, William Towler Classified sales representatives: Christine Kubarycz, Tracey Mykins Operations/Circulation kstathis@rochester-citynews.com Circulation manager: Katherine Stathis Distribution: Andy DiCiaccio, David Riccioni, Northstar Delivery, Wolfe News City Newspaper is available free of charge. Additional copies of the current issue may be purchased for $1 each at the City Newspaper office. City Newspaper may be distributed only by authorized distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of City Newspaper, take more than one copy of each weekly issue. City (ISSN 1551-3262) is published weekly by WMT Publications, Inc. Periodical postage paid at Rochester, NY (USPS 022-138). Address changes: City, 250 North Goodman Street, Rochester, NY 14607. Member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies and the New York Press Association. Annual subscriptions: $35 ($30 senior citizens); add $10 for out-of-state subscriptions. Refunds for fewer than ten months cannot be issued. Copyright by WMT Publications Inc., 2013 - all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, photocopying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system without permission of the copyright owner.