Indy TV #33: Community Education Task Force on Proposed Mayoral Takeover of Schools

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2010-02-16 23:17

Indy TV #33Indy TV #33 deals with the issue of the proposed Mayoral Takeover of the Rochester city schools. Our roundtable consists of members of Community Education Task Force, which formed to oppose Mayoral Control and to put forward alternatives. Dan DiClemente is president of the Union BENTE (Board of Education Non-Teaching Employees. Ryan Acuff is with Rochester Students for a Democratic Society. Bishop Tillman is with Mission Consortium of Churches International.

I represent a lot of the members in this community, non-teachers who work for the city schools and also send their children and grandchildren to city schools. The majority of my members live in the community and when you're talking about taking away their voting rights, which is what is happening here— they are looking to remove a school board that was recently elected by the public, they want to remove that voice they have in education and replace it with one person who would have control and say over all the issues in the city school district… We don't believe that rolling back on civil rights issues is the way to go. -Dan DiClemente BENTE

We agree that there's a lot of issues with the education system, but the problem isn't that we need to have less democracy, but if anything we need more democracy and moves towards ways that empower the community more… more community control over schools not less. So moving towards different reforms such as non partisan elections, participatory budgeting, ways that the community can be more directly involved. -Ryan Acuff, SDS

I'm in opposition to Mayor Duffy being in control of the schools because he does not have the background… Neither have I seen the qualified consulting of people who can help him make such a decision of changing over one of the most important systems in Rochester… that system that trains and educates our children. -Bishop Tillman

Watch Show Here

Indy TV #33 Extra! Interviews with the Community Education Task Force

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