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Education/Youth Development
Working with SCSD The City of Syracuse needs to have an educational system in which all children can fulfill their potential. We cannot have a system that allows children to fall through the cracks. I do not believe that the Mayor should take control of the schools, but I do think the Mayor should work more closely with the leadership of the school district. When I am Mayor I will include the Superintendant of Schools in the Mayor’s cabinet, and have a Mayoral representative at meetings of the Superintendents’ Department Heads. Furthermore, I will require that the CFO’s of the School District and the City meet regularly, and work together in making their respective budgets. Benchmarks of Improving Establishing a functional relationship between the School District and city government would give the city more oversight of the schools and hold each individual school more accountable for its performance. The city gives $65 Million a year without defined goals of success, or approval from City Hall. Benchmarks of progress must be established. High School graduation rates in the city have hovered around 50% for far too long without any proactive plans, I propose placing higher standards on our Principals and administrators. Challenging, yet realistic, goals must be set, and if they are not met then replacements should be found. Joint School Construction Board There is only one reason why this project is over-budget and behind schedule. Poor management. During my career as a businessman I would see results like this as unacceptable, and my point of view will not change as Mayor. A timeline for these projects needs to be put in place, and followed, without letting politics get in the way. Charter Schools Syracuse is missing out on millions of dollars of Federal Aid by neglecting to have a charter school program. By opening a charter school we will be able to offer a more specialized services to some of our students while still assuring that the rest of our schools are adequately funded. Universal Pre-K I currently serve on the Policy Council of Success By 6. A division of the CNY United Way that works on projects to provide services to infants to assist emotional, physical and intellectual development of infants, assuring that they will be ready to enter elementary school. This age group is often overlooked yet extremely important. If children go into Kindergarten behind their peers than they run the risk of never being able to catch. This is a risk we cannot afford to take. That is why I support Universal Pre-K, to all Syracuse residents. Board of Education Reform Currently, there are seven Commissioners of Education that are elected in city-wide elections. This has led to uneven representation on the Board as several neighborhoods are without an advocate. I would support a charter change to have School Board Members elected on a district basis, similar to how our Common Council elects its members.
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