Welcome to the Strough Referendum Blog. The purpose of this blog is to give you the opportunity to learn more about the Strough building project, answer any of your questions as well as give you the chance to leave a comment. To better help us manage this blog, please limit your postings to 300 words. Since the Rome City School District website is designed to be used by our students, the district will review all individuals posting for content as directed under Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) to prevent material harmful to minors prior to public posting on the RCSD website. |
To start the conversation, you may want to review the powerpoint presentation available on our website regarding the proposed plan to improve our Strough Middle School.
Did you know that Strough was once known as the Laurel Street School? Students in grades K-9 attended the Laurel Street School. In 1958 an addition was added to the school to accommodate a growing population of students. I would be interested in hearing from any citizens that attended Laurel Street School. With Regards, Jeffrey Simons Superintendent of Schools |
While I attended Strough Junior High School in the early 70s my brothers attended Laurel Street School in the early 60s when the school was relatively new. I remember both of my brothers talking about the "little kids" in the building, while they did not have any issues or concerns with a K-9 configuration I do remember they felt they had grown up when they went to the high school consisting of only teenagers.
A lot has changed since that time but the building does not reflect it, we need to move the building into the 21st century. |
I want to thank Old Roman for the comments. Strough has gone through several changes in configuration. As noted, it once served students, K-9. For a period of time, Strough was one of two 7-9 Junior HIgh Schools with Staley serving as the second 7-9 Junior High. Strough was a Grade 6-8 Middle School and now serves as the district's only school for students in grades 7-8. The curriculum has changed signficantly since the building was designed in 1950. New science labs, new technology classrooms and refurbished classrooms will help our teachers and students meet the curriculum requirements of today. Thanks Old Roman for taking an interest in our school project. |
I too attended Laurel st school as a kindergartener while Denti was being built. The second half of the school year we were moved to Denti where Mr. Whitman was the Principal. |
Thank you to not so old Roman for replying. What do you remember about changing schools during the middle of the year? The district is submitting plans to the state education department to renovate Denti School during the 2012-13 school year. The public approved renovations to Denti and the other elementary schools in January of 2010. As you are aware Denti opened in 1970.
The district needs a 60% approval of the voters to complete the needed work at Strough. Hopefully, residents who attended our schools like you will realize that the buildings are aging and need the necessary work. Thank you for posting your comments. |
Happen to be at Strough recently and my first thoughts were, looks good, but taking a closer look I realized the halls and lockers have been renovated. However the classrooms are awful, the ceilings, walls and floors need to be replaced and the chalk boards really tell the story of just how old the building is. Some rooms have smartboards well others do not. Looking at the halls then the classrooms I can vision just how nice the building will be once renovated. Plus I don't think the building supports student learning. No one wants to work or learn in poor conditions. We need to vote yes. |
Thanks "Just Another Roman" for taking the time to look around when you visited Strough. There is definitely a contrast when you examine the condition of the large gym, cafeteria, hallways, lockers and then go into the classrooms. There are 81 classrooms in the school that have not been addressed in previous projects. These classrooms contained asbestos flooring tile, inadequate heating and ventilation and are served by original electrical, plumbing and mechanical work that needs to be replaced.
As you point out, not all classrooms have the technology to prepare students for the 21st century. I am glad that you support the project and grateful that you took the time to look for yourself. Thanks Just Another Roman! Sincerely, Jeff Simons Superintendent of Schools |
I attended Strough from the fall of 2004 until the fall of 2007 when I transferred to RFA. I was there during the last year that they had sixth grade there Even then, the school needed work. I can remember the school using a large rug and duct tape to cover a large area of exposed asbestos in front of the guidance office. The black curtains on-stage, which were replaced in the 1990s, were torn to the point where they were almost unusable. Most of the school bells that were connected to the school buzzer system that indicates the start and finish of classes were disconnected (except for the bells on the east side of the second floor). In addition, everywhere I walked in the building, I saw conduit, along with a host of other age-related building issues.
I am very glad that the district has the opportunity to renovate this building to 21st century standards very inexpensively. In addition, would it be possible to construct a hallway between the maintenance area in the basement, the downstairs gyms, and the tech rooms? It seems that the only way to access these areas (from inside the building, unless one goes outside) is to take the stairs that lead to each area from the first floor. Thank you! |
Jeff, very nice presentation at the last School Board meeting. I had some questions on the referendum, but unfortunately I had to leave because we had a Common Council meeting that night. First, I'm very much surprised that the referendum is eligible for 97.8% percent state aid. With the State's economical challenges, I would have thought that the aid formula would have significantly changed by now. However, it didn't, and that alone almost makes the referendum a "no-brainer", because to vote the referendum down, would mean postponing work that needs to be done in the best interests of the students, and if you postpone the work, the 25.4 million dollar project becomes a $30 million plus project down the road. Furthermore, holding off on the project runs the risk that the state aid will not be there, and the burden of the cost for the needed work will be left to the taxpayers. My concern is the $137,120 per year for 15 years--the local share. Was any thought given to taking money from the reserve accounts to pay this yearly figure, and thus avoiding a tax increase, albeit small, to the taxpayers? There has been some attention recently to the amount in the reserve accounts, and if possible, possibly taking from the reserve would even decrease the tax burden that much more. Even if $50K could be taken from the reserve, it would lessen the tax burden to the general public. Your consideration in this regard is appreciated.
Frank Anderson |
Thanks Frank Anderson for both attending the board meeting and for your continued interest in school district issues.
As a former board of education member, you were very involved in the development of previous projects to maximize state aid and repair our schools. The school district has currently appropriated 6.5 Million from reserves to this year's operating budget. This decision, made by the board last Spring, ensured that the tax levy increase was kept marginal at 1.75% , maintained reasonable class sizes and avoided cuts in non-mandated programs such as Advanced Placement, Art and Music. The board and I are very concerned about what we might see in the Governor's budget for school operating aid in January. As you are aware school building aid and school operating aid are very different. We receive generous reimbursement for building aid but have experienced 3 years worth of cuts in school operating aid. We want to maintain our reserves so as to protect taxpayers from the potential impact of further state operating aid reductions. We will also be working within the constraints of the property tax cap and to offset anticipated increases in employee retirement costs. In short, if we take more monies out of reserves now to offset local share costs associated with the Strough project, we will have less money for the 2012-13 operating budget. Frank, I think you might also find it interesting that expenses associated with capital projects are exempt from the property tax cap. Thank you for the input and your support for this project. |
Thanks Recent RFA Graduate. I always knew our RFA Graduates were knowledgeable and well prepared. Your comments reflect a good understanding of the need to repair Strough. It is nice to hear from a recent student who can remember some of the deteriorated conditions at Strough.
Related to your suggestions to improve corridor access within the subbasement areas, I will forward your questions and suggestions to our district architect for consideration. Thank you so much. Are you residing in Rome and are you a registered voter? Thanks, Jeff Simons |
Number 1 question about using the empty classrooms @ NYSSD is how much will it cost Rome Taxpayers?? New York State has never done anything before without getting something more in return |
Thanks “Concerned Parent” for your question. At this point, the Strough Advisory Committee is looking into a number of topics related to the Strough renovation project. Use of classrooms at the NYSSD is one of several ideas we are researching at this point. We have not determined whether or not there are sufficient spaces available or if there are costs. The committee is at the very beginning stages of planning and the costs associated of any relocation of students will certainly be a factor in evaluating possible locations.
Thank you for the excellent question. Please check back as I will periodically post updates on the Strough renovation project. Jeff Simons |
There is so much about this that concerns me, first of all, the Sentinel was a bit premature in publishing the recent story about relocation possibilities. I fully agree that the classrooms do need renovating at Strough. I am there everyday as an educator and look forward to the time when middle school students in Rome will have the same "environmental" benefits as our students at RFA. As a staff member at, and parent of former NYSSD students, I am frustrated by many of the assumptions being made by people in our community about our facility, our capability and willingness to "host" 400-800 Strough students but especially the statistics being headlined such as "62 students on 17 acres". As that may be an accurate statistic, it does not prove that we have excess space within our school and dormitory buildings to accommodate even half of the total enrollment at Strough. Actually, each and every classroom in our school is currently in use, once used to educate all 275 or so deaf students when our enrollment was at a high. As a school that graduates students with Advanced Regents, Regents, Local and IEP diplomas each June, we have students at nearly every grade level from Pre-K to 12, as well as 2 ungraded self-contained classrooms, some grade levels have only 2 or 3 students while others far exceed that number. We also, have several Speech Therapists, Resource Staff, Art and Music. With all of this said, please leave the decision making about this option to both Superintendents. Lastly, to "Concerned Parent", in the event Strough students are housed in our facility, should NYSSD (NOT NEW YORK STATE) provide electricity, heat, etc. free of charge? Each year our Administration works hard to develop a budget which meets our needs (barely some years) while satisfying the Governor enough to gain his approval. Believe me, we have made many cuts and scarifies in recent years not unlike the public school system. I am confident that the final decision will be one that is in the best interest for all. |
Thank you Educator and Parent for your interest in the planning of the Strough renovation project. You are correct in that the discussions regarding the potential relocation of students from Strough to NYSSD are preliminary. Having visited the NYSSD for both graduation ceremonies and recently during my tour with NYSSD Superintendent Ray, I have first hand knowledge of the quality of the offerings you provide to students. I am also aware of the efforts that have been made to maintain positive and successful programs with reduced budgets and staff as I participate in regional meeting with Superintendent Ray.
I appreciate that the NYYSD is even willing to investigate this option with the Rome City School District. You are 100 % correct in cautioning the public not to draw to many conclusions from one newspaper article. Future meetings are planned with Superintendent Ray to further discuss and evaluate this option. Thank you for ensuring inaccurate perceptions are not developed within the community. Jeff Simons |
Mr. Simons,
After reading your response I realized my comment may have seemed directed at you when I actually intended to address comments others have made. I have every confidence that both you and Ms. Ray will make every decision in there best interest of all involved. Thank you for your commitment to our district. |
Kudos to the 5 members of the board who voted to keep Strough empty for the renovation and keep the 5th graders in the elementary schools for one year. I have a student who will be able to stay with his younger siblings for another year and he is thrilled. Students are resilient and don't care so much about facilities as teachers do: they care that their teacher is enthusiastic and is able to teach them what they have to learn. I am positive that even in temporary facilities (trailers) this will be managed quite well with the right teachers. Staley teachers need not have cried about this decision; it is clearly the best of options that considered the students' interests first, especially those students in Strough not having to be exposed to noise pollution or restricted to "safe" parts of their building. Staley teachers will get back their school after only one short year, anyway, now that the construction crew has full access to the Strough facility. I spoke to many parents who were in agreement with me that they didn't mind keeping their 5th grader in the elementary school AT ALL (and wished it would stay that way!). We didn't show up to the board meetings because we are busy parents with little ones who trusted that the board would choose this clearly best option. I am so thrilled that the 5 members of the board had the courage to stand up to the teachers union and make the right decision for the kids. BRAVO! |