RCSD outlines safety plan amid spike in violence

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — News10NBC has been reporting on the rising violence in Rochester City School District schools for weeks. Wednesday, the District released the details of its plan to address safety in schools, but one teacher says it’s just more lip-service.

The four-point plan tackles everything from the District’s Code of Conduct, all the way to staffing shortages.

In a letter sent to the RCSD Community, Superintendent of Schools Doctor Lesli Myers-Small said she and her team are actively working to address concerns raised by the four unions that represent all school employees.

"I would like to reiterate that the Rochester City School District is unequivocally committed to promoting practices that create safe, and high-quality learning environments," Myers-Small said.

The outline shows the steps the district has already taken to date, starting with student conduct, outlined by the Code of Conduct. Plans also include Social-Emotional and Mental Health Supports, then talks about the spike of violent incidents happening off the school campus. It ends with issues of staff shortages.

Franklin High School Teacher Corrine Mundorff, who says she was recently sexually assaulted while breaking up a fight, called the Comprehensive Outline a lot of lip service.

"I’m speaking out because my students deserve better. My colleagues deserve better. We have a right to learn in a safe school, and that’s the bottom line, and these are incomplete plans. This is stuff on paper, and it’s a Band-Aid. That’s all it is," Mundorff said.

Rochester Teacher’s Association Union President Adam Urbanski read the outline and says there’s nothing new in what was released.

"There’s nothing meaningful in there," Urbanski said. "There’s absolutely no response to what teachers, the principals, the non-teaching employee have been asking for, for weeks."

Urbanski went on to say that Myers-Small should move her office to Franklin Upper School’s 3rd floor for one week, for a reality check.

Read the full outline below (mobile users, click here):

Lesli Myers-Small Statement by News10NBC on Scribd