ABOUT
Great Schools For All (GS4A) is a group that believes equal opportunity requires that every family, no matter their zip code or income, is guaranteed access to an excellent public school. We are comprised of city and suburban residents, volunteers and institutional representatives with diverse experiential backgrounds.
We believe that every child deserves a quality education, and that a strong public school system is the foundation of a thriving community. Join us in our efforts to make sure every child in our community has the opportunity to reach their full potential!
The impact of high poverty schools has been well documented and we believe that now is the time for our community to correct the problem by employing a variety of solutions.
GS4A is committed to action. It is our intention to create a plan of action using short- and long-term goals focused around our central commitment: to reduce the impact of the concentration of poverty in area schools. We seek to link with existing efforts, while maintaining our core mission.
Our Vision
All students, no matter their zip code or income, are guaranteed access to diverse cross-district magnet schools across Monroe County. We envision existing school districts, colleges or partner organizations will operate these schools. This is the surest, shortest, and least expensive remedy for high-poverty schools.
Our Mission
How We Formed
GS4A began as a small group from the 10-congregation Urban Presbyterians Together (UPT) consortium. The group began exploring problems with urban schools and was motivated to act after reading Hope and Despair in the "American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh", by Gerald Grant, Professor Emeritus, Syracuse University. We asked what we could learn from Raleigh that might be applied in Rochester. We were further motivated by conversations at Rochester’s 2013 GradNation Summit, and expanded our group beyond UPT to include other interested citizens from the community. We obtained a grant from the Rochester Area Community Foundation for a two-way exchange with Raleigh. In April 2014, eleven people from Rochester traveled to Wake County, N.C., to explore ways to break down the effects of concentration of poverty in public schools, interviewing over 75 community and school leaders. In November 2014, five Raleigh leaders traveled north to participate in a day-long educational symposium with some 150 participants from a broad cross-section of the greater Rochester community.
Every family in our community, no matter their zip code or income, will be guaranteed access to an excellent public school.
Defining the Problem
While it has become cliché to say “poverty is no excuse” for the failure to learn, poverty is a huge impediment to learning. What does that mean, exactly? Basically, that the deck is stacked against children who may arrive at kindergarten with untreated and undiagnosed health issues (from nutritional deficiencies to poor eyesight), who may be well behind their middle class peers in acquiring basic math and reading skills, who are more likely to live in families and neighborhoods where few people have had a positive experience of school and who see education as the ticket to a better life. Many go through school never having family vacations, concerts or music lessons, youth sports, or summer jobs — the enrichment that can open them to life and career paths that could be theirs with the right education. No one says that poor children cannot succeed in school. But Great Schools for All believes that when schools are racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse, the odds for success dramatically improve for the children most at risk of failure— and diversity also helps more affluent students improve their critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills, and to more effectively and compassionately navigate a very diverse society. Here's a little of what the research says: - Students who attend integrated schools are 68 percent more likely to enroll in a four-year college than students who attend high-poverty schools. - African American students who attend racially and socioeconomically integrated schools for at least five years earn 30 percent more income than students who attend high poverty schools, are less likely to be incarcerated as adults and are more likely to have stable marriages and good health. - Low-income students in more affluent schools scored two years ahead of low-income students in high-poverty schools on standardized math tests. Certainly there are other ways to counter the impact of poverty-related conditions on educational outcomes. But it turns out the Supreme Court was right in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision: There is no such thing as separate but equal. The surest, most efficient and least expensive tool we have for improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children is integration.
Who We Are and What We Believe
Great Schools for All, founded in 2013, is a diverse and growing coalition of urban and suburban Monroe County residents who see equal educational opportunity as a moral, legal and economic imperative. All the way back in 1966, sociologist James Coleman’s landmark report, Equality of Educational Opportunity, found that the best predictor of student outcomes is the composition of the student body; students are more likely to succeed in racially and socioeconomically diverse classrooms. "The research results indicate that a child's performance, especially a working-class child's performance, is greatly benefited by his going to school with children who come from different backgrounds. If you integrate children of different backgrounds and socioeconomics, kids perform better." --James Coleman, Johns Hopkins Sociologist As Rucker C. Johnson demonstrates in Children of the Dream, integration was, in fact, a spectacular achievement. Drawing on longitudinal studies going back to the 1960s, he shows that students who attended integrated and well-funded schools were more successful in life than those who did not -- and this held true for children of all races. Great Schools for All does not propose consolidation of school districts, but rather a mechanism that would permit districts to jointly and voluntarily develop magnet schools to better serve the needs of their students and the Greater Rochester community. “We stand united in our support of equity and inclusion and we claim schools as a place of love and acceptance for all. Our school communities have the power to turn pain and prejudice into healing and understanding. Let this moment in history be defined as a tipping point—a moment to truly come together.” --Monroe County Council of Superintendents’ Statement on Racism, June 9, 2020
TEAM
The Great Schools For All (GS4A) leadership group is an amalgam of city and suburban residents with diverse professional and experiential backgrounds seeking to build a coalition around socio-economic integration of schools in the greater Rochester, N.Y., area. GS4A is both “grassroots and grasstops;” individual volunteers and institutional representatives – parents, grandparents, business people, clergy, educators, researchers, journalists, lawyers, students, tutors, and community activists all dedicated to reversing the failure of high poverty schools through a variety of voluntary integration strategies. Members of the leadership group are not representatives of elected officials, school board members or administrators, school district employees, or advocates for a specific solution.
STRATEGY TEAM
Donald Pryor
Convener
Don is the convener of the GS4A leadership team and is recently retired as Principal/Director of Human Services Research at the Center for Governmental Research (CGR), a non-profit research and policy consultant. He has authored numerous reports and blogs on education and the relationship of urban education to segregation and poverty, and was one of the organizers of GS4A
Mark Hare
Strategy Team
Former reporter, editor and columnist in Rochester at City Newspaper, the Times-Union, and the Democrat and Chronicle from 1978 to 2012, Mark volunteers as board chair for Mary’s Place Refugee Outreach Center.
Tom Gillett
Strategy Team
Tom is recently retired as Regional Staff Director for the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT). He taught English, coached and mentored other teachers in the Rochester City School District for 33 years. Two of his sons and a daughter are teachers in area schools.
Clay Osborne
Strategy Team
Clay currently is an Executive Coach and Consultant in Organizational Effectiveness. He also teaches Human Capital management in the St. John Fisher doctoral program in Executive Leadership. Prior to starting his consultancy he served as the Vice President of Human Resources for Bausch & Lomb, and was the Deputy County Executive for Operations for Monroe County.
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Karen Pryor
Strategy Team
Karen is a retired financial aid and higher education administrator, her last position having been Medical Center Director of Government Relations at the University of Rochester. She has served on a variety of church and community boards over the years. Her daughter is an assistant principal in the Rochester City School District.
Rick Worner
Strategy Team
Rick spent 15 years as a public school history teacher in Cleveland and in Greece, New York, 20 years as a middle- and high-school counselor in Greece, and one year directing an alternative school in Rush. He and his wife have mentored and maintained relationships with African American boys and their families, providing a window on the struggles caused by poverty and lack of opportunity in Rochester. “GS4A aligns closely with my personal beliefs.”
Melody Wollgren
Strategy Team
Melody Wollgren is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and owner of Open Mind Counseling, PLLC. Through her practice, Melody specializes in providing individual therapy for adults around issues of racial trauma, racial identity, and gender affirming care. She has been working as a clinical social worker for more than 15 years in a variety of settings (inpatient, outpatient, non profit, and VA healthcare).
Rev. Tedd Pullano
Strategy Team
Tedd is a Presbyterian pastor who is currently Associate Pastor for Outreach at Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester. He is passionate about social justice, and his interests are consistent with those of GS4A and Third’s history of leadership in public education support and reform.
Dorthea King-Simpson
Strategy Team
Dorthea is the founder and lead trainer at DEKS Consulting, serving Early Childhood, School-Age Professionals, and Small Businesses since 2013. She has worked with the City of Rochester, the National Center on Afterschool, and the NY State Summer Enrichment Council. She is the Rochester Co-Chair of the NYSAEYC, with over 30 years of non-profit leadership experience. Dorthea supports GS4A's commitment to educational equity and lives in Western NY with her husband, Samuel Simpson, a retired educator.
Johnita Anthony
Strategy Team
Johnita Anthony is an entrepreneur and executive with over 25 years of experience in business. As the co- founder and COO of Youdle, she helps grocers connect with shoppers. In addition to her professional achievements, she serves various community organizations and has been a SCORE Mentor.
Kristen Turgeon
Strategy Team
Kristen is a Licensed Clinical Social worker who specializes in perinatal mental health and has worked in human services and social justice since college. I am founding member of both Penfield AntiRacist Alliance and Being Black in the Burbs - both grassroots organizations committed to antiracist work in our community. I am a mother of 4, ages 8-15 and currently live in Penfield.
Ad Hoc Advisors
Marilyn DeLucia
Diane Larter
Larry Marx
Gladys Pedraza-Burgos
Jenn Poggi
Jeff Sciortino
Lynette Sparks
Jim Tiefenthal
John Wilkinson
Previous Strategy Members/
Steering Committee
Mark Foerster
Patricia Jackson
Ahlia Kitwana
Cornelia Labrum
Elizabeth Laidlaw
Jeffrey Linn
John Thomas
Travelers to Raleigh
Michael Ford
Mark Hare
Diane Larter
Corni Labrum
Beth Laidlaw
Larry Marx
Clay Osborne
Dorelis Osborne
Don Pryor
Lynette Sparks
John Thomas