Dear Colleagues,
On Thursday, December 19, the RCSD Board of Education will vote on the ill-advised recommendation for devastating mid-year cuts. Between now and then, we are doing all we can to dissuade them from approving that hurtful proposal which would disrupt our students’ learning and the relationships that they have formed with their teachers. Our cause is increasingly supported by our students, by their parents and by their families. Together we must convince the school board that a better and a more promising strategy is to delay any layoffs until June. By then, we’ll know more about the District’s budget, we’d have an opportunity to secure additional “spin-up” funding from the State, and we’d have the time to figure out together how to rectify the current fiscal predicament in a way that would not hurt our students as the current proposal would.
To achieve this, we must continue to support our students and their parents as they advocate against the mid-year cuts. We must also redouble our own efforts and become actively involved. We need hundreds of teachers to call 262-8525 and sign up to speak at the December 19 meeting of the school board. And we need every teacher to attend the Board meeting and the “Spare Our Students” rally that will precede it. We will be joined there by parents, students, fellow teacher unionists from throughout Monroe County, and many others from the Rochester community. American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, as well as New York State United Teachers president Andrew Pallotta, will also join us at the rally and will address the Board of Education.
Thank you for your unswerving support and for all that you are already doing to advocate for our students and for our colleagues. I am convinced that we can and will prevail because we are united and because of our solidarity with our students and their parents. I know that you will respond in unprecedented numbers and will join us on December 19 at the rally and at the school board meeting to send a strong and unmistakable message that our students deserve better. #RTAStrong
Adam Urbanski, RTA President