New York State Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia says her one-on-one meetings with Rochester School Board members today were to tell them that the district has to solve its problems and improve the results it’s getting with district students immediately.
Elia and her counterpart at the State Board of Regents came to Rochester to explain the appointment of Distinguished Educator Ken Eastwood to Rochester. Board member Natalie Sheppard delivered a fiery criticism of his appointment last week, calling it essentially a state takeover of the city schools.
Superintendent Elia said last week that Rochester has to reverse its poorest-in-the-state student performance numbers, and Eastwood’s job will be to objectively analyze the district’s systems with an eye to how that can be done.