The search for RCSD solutions

A Rochester Beacon forum this week on ways to fix the city schools drew a packed house. “There are no silver bullets,” keynote speaker Christopher Cerf said. “The key is implementing 100 one percent solutions.”

Rochester City School District gets new chief

Terry Dade, who currently serves as an assistant superintendent of the Fairfax County, Va. Schools, is expected to join July 1, at the start of city’s and school district’s fiscal year.

Appreciating our lilacs, in 7 photos and 10 facts

In 1898, some 3,000 people gathered in Highland Park to smell lilacs planted by famed horticulturist John Dunbar. Today, a half-million people take part in the 10-day Rochester Lilac Festival. Here are some things you may not know about these beautiful and fragrant symbols of renewal and love.

A supply-side catastrophe

The behavior alleged in the recent civil and criminal actions brought against Rochester Drug Co-operative and other opioid distributors and manufacturers is reprehensible. But they are not the only ones responsible for the explosive, deadly growth in the supply of the addictive drugs.

Why I refuse to live inside the box of race

It hasn’t been easy acknowledging that I am of a different race than the majority in the United States. It’s been even more difficult understanding what to forgive as ignorance and what to call racist. But this I know: I no longer want to be labeled or pigeonholed.