Colleagues, "Rochester teachers and their union join the rest of the community in mourning the tragic deaths of our two recent graduates, Jaquayla Young and Jarvis Alexander, killed during the recent horrific mass shooting in our city. Fourteen others suffered gun wounds. We re-commit ourselves to teaching all our students that such senseless violence is always wrong and that it is possible to live in peace.” As we enter our second week with students, albeit fully virtually, I want to update you on some current issues: - Negotiations. Citing busyness and lack of funding, the District failed to agree to contract negotiations meetings with us over the summer. We argued that this does not absolve them from their obligation to engage in collective bargaining with us. The mediator assigned to us by the NYS Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) agreed. Therefore, our stalled negotiations are now scheduled to resume early next month. Our goal is to achieve a fair successor agreement as...