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Technology Referendum for the Rochester schools

 Impact Lvl 1: Children & Youth ; Commitment ; Education ; Governance/Public Policy ; STEM ; Technology Enablement
Lvl 2: C2C: Post-Secondary C2C: Workforce Participation
Public Pinned Report on Rochester Public Schools Strategic Plan led by Rochester Public Schools
Last modified: September 29, 2023

Contents

Highlights

1. Post Bulletin: Rochester 10 Year, $ 10M+ school funding referendum Op ED PB: Kent Pekel: "Why I recommended a technology referendum for the Rochester schools"; 2. School Board Study Session; 3. Official YouTube Presentation

Contents

 

 

 

Abstracted from: Post Bulletin Op ED August 19, 2023 

 

School Board Decision

At the RPS School Board meeting on Aug. 1, the board voted to approve my recommendation to place a referendum on the ballot in November that would ask voters to approve $10,150,000 in funding each year for a 10-year period to support technology operations, upgrades, and related initiatives. 

 

Fund allocations to replenish RPS General Fund

 Approval of the technology levy would enable the school district to redirect approximately $7 million from the school district’s General Fund that is currently used to finance technology services to instead support teaching, learning, student mental health, and other priorities.

 

Federal Covid Dollars Replacement

 $3 million of the $10,150,000 that the levy would generate each year would enable RPS to invest in new technology or to replace federal funding for technology that the district received during the COVID pandemic but that ends in September 2024.

 

Average Out of pocket to homeowner

If approved, the capital projects levy that I recommend the School Board place on the ballot in November 2023 would result in an increase of $135 in the taxes paid by the owner of an average-priced home in Rochester (which is currently identified as $325,000) each year — or $11.25 per month.

 

Usage of funds for technology

 Examples of the resources we could purchase or sustain include:
  • Software and hardware to keep students and staff safe both inside and outside schools and to protect against future cyberattacks
  • Computers and tablets for students that will enable RPS to continue providing every student with a device for learning, which the district first achieved in 2020 thanks to federal COVID funding
  • Software applications that advance priorities of the RPS Strategic Plan, such as accelerating student learning in reading and math and helping students develop and implement plans for success in postsecondary education and a career.

 

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August 1, 2023 School Board Meeting

 

Referendum Video School Board Meeting

 

 

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Official RPS YouTube Messages

 

 

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Message on X

 

 

 

 

 

 

More information 

 

 

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Related Reports

 

Other Rochester Public Schools Strategic Plan Pinned Reports

November 11, 2024 : Rochester Public Schools Referendum Nov 2024
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Commitment, Diversity and Inclusion, Education, Governance/Public Policy
Impact Lvl2: C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: HS Graduation, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation, Higher-Education

RPS Superintendent Video and Presentation Slides

Referendum to support: Strong Communities; Strong Schools; Strong Young People

PB Reporting on Referendum Efforts and Results


April 25, 2023 : Rochester Public Schools Strategic Plan 2022
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education, Governance/Public Policy
Impact Lvl2: C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation, Higher-Education

1. 2022 Strategic Plan and extracted sections. 2. RPS Strategic Plan Building Blocks 


August 09, 2022 : Plans to Strengthen Belonging and Behavior During the 2022-2023 School Year
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Commitment, Diversity and Inclusion, Education, Governance/Public Policy
Impact Lvl2: C2C: Prenatal-K Development, C2C: Kindergarten Readiness, C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation, Human Resource


March 28, 2022 : RPS School Board Meeting - 3/22/22
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2: C2C: Prenatal-K Development, C2C: Kindergarten Readiness, C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: HS Graduation, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation

Strategic Action Plan - Focus Group and Survey Results


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Pinned Rochester Public Schools organization and project reports

. Project Report of Rochester Public Schools Strategic Plan : November 11, 2024 : Rochester Public Schools Referendum Nov 2024
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Commitment, Diversity and Inclusion, Education, Governance/Public Policy
Impact Lvl2: C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: HS Graduation, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation, Higher-Education

RPS Superintendent Video and Presentation Slides

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PB Reporting on Referendum Efforts and Results


Project Report of Family and Community Engagement (RPS) : October 21, 2024 : RPS Family Engagement Reports
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2: C2C: 3rd Grade Reading

Oct 2024 Reports

Reading Literacy Updates


Project Report of Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights) : September 15, 2023 : RPS Board Consider Updating District Equity Policy
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2: C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation

RPS Board Study Session video recording; Proposed Equity Policy; PB Reporting


Project Report of Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights) : July 26, 2023 : 2022-2023 RPS Disipline Data
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2: C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation, Higher-Education

According to the district’s data, suspensions increased from 1,224 in 2021-22 to 1,523 in 2022-23, representing a jump of 24.4%."


Project Report of Rochester Public Schools Strategic Plan : April 25, 2023 : Rochester Public Schools Strategic Plan 2022
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education, Governance/Public Policy
Impact Lvl2: C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation, Higher-Education

1. 2022 Strategic Plan and extracted sections. 2. RPS Strategic Plan Building Blocks 


Project Report of RPS American Indian Education : October 06, 2022 : American Indian Education at RPS
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education, Food
Impact Lvl2:

 October 10, 2022 Indigenous Peoples' Day


Project Report of Rochester Public Schools Strategic Plan : August 09, 2022 : Plans to Strengthen Belonging and Behavior During the 2022-2023 School Year
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Commitment, Diversity and Inclusion, Education, Governance/Public Policy
Impact Lvl2: C2C: Prenatal-K Development, C2C: Kindergarten Readiness, C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation, Human Resource


Project Report of Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights) : July 20, 2022 : Outcome and Discipline Data 2021-2022
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2:

RPS 2021-2022 Monitoring Reports


Organization Report: March 29, 2022 : Rochester Public Schools Board Self-Evaluation
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2:

2022 RPS School Board Self Evaluation Framework; Video Recording


Project Report of Rochester Public Schools Strategic Plan : March 28, 2022 : RPS School Board Meeting - 3/22/22
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2: C2C: Prenatal-K Development, C2C: Kindergarten Readiness, C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: HS Graduation, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation

Strategic Action Plan - Focus Group and Survey Results


Project Report of Family and Community Engagement (RPS) : January 12, 2022 : Family and Community Engagement (RPS) Report
Impact Lvl1: Caring Relationship, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2: C2C: Prenatal-K Development, C2C: Kindergarten Readiness, C2C: 3rd Grade Reading, C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: HS Graduation, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation

January Family Engagement Video Recordings


Project Report of Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights) : July 21, 2020 : Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights) 2019 -2020
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2:

2019 and 2020 RPS Data: July 14, 2020 School Board Meeting, 2019-2020 First Semester, Achievement and Integration Plan Updates 2020

 


Project Report of Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights) : September 23, 2019 : Analysis of RPS referal data
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2:

Phil Wheeler analysis of RPS referral data.


Project Report of Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights) : July 17, 2019 : Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights)
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2: C2C: 8th Grade Math, C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation, Higher-Education

2018-2019 Report presented to RPS school board and comparison with 2018 reporting. 


Project Report of Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights) : August 24, 2017 : August 2017 Update of June 27 RPS Board Study of 2016-2017 discipline data
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2:

August updating the 2017-06-27 RPS Board Study of discipline data with school breakdown. 


Project Report of Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights) : March 09, 2016 : Consultant interim identification on barriers
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education
Impact Lvl2:

Great Lakes Equity Center has identified 6 barriers for equity progress.


Project Report of Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights) : January 05, 2016 : An openBEAM 5+1 proposal to address school disciplinary dispairty
Impact Lvl1: Children & Youth, Diversity and Inclusion, Education, Governance/Public Policy
Impact Lvl2:

 The Rochester Public School District is taking the first steps to address a disproportionate disciplinary rate for black and Hispanic students. A community engagement session to get input and solicit involvement from community members will be held at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at Riverside Elementary School. I believe that conversation is necessary but not sufficient. We need to follow up with actions. Here is a 5+1 action plan.

 


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Site Information
Project Phase Definitions
The following defines the various project phases:
  1. Available - a product, program or service is in production
  2. Develop - program or application is being developed
  3. Plan - idea is solid, stakeholders are identified, and there is strong commitment to go forward from all parties.
  4. Concept Phase - idea scoped out with enough details to give an early sizing and/or to build a proof of concept
    demonstration
  5. Pre-concept Phase - an early idea or a requirement.
About Beam

Community Beam (dmcbeam.org) is a registry of private and public resources (organizations, projects, initiatives, programs) that underpin economic and social developments of greater Rochester:

  • For the commercial sector, we tend to register startup activities (new companies and new commercial projects) that bring diversification and high-impact opportunities to the area.
  • For the non-profit sector, we wish to shine light on all the organizations and services that otherwise labor under relative obscurity.
  • Our hope is that dmcbeam.org will encourage cross-sector collaborations and creative solutions.

While there are a number of registries in the community, dmcbeam.org's  distinct value is to pilot a database with a data structure and categorizations that answer the questions such as: What organizations or projects/programs in our community that have purported relevance with some of the over-arching focuses put forward by initiatives such as DMC, J2G and Health Improvements?

This database could be used as one of the ways to explore the capacities of the community. If you are someone on an exploratory journey to learn about the greater Rochester community. dmcbeam.org could be an interesting first step.

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