Preparation for the East EPO transition is underway

With East Lower and Upper schools’ relationship with the University of Rochester set to end in June 2025, educational leaders have been working on a transition plan for the next school year. 

Their goal is to maintain the collaborations and culture created at East after nine years under the Educational Partnership Organization while also bringing that system into alignment with the framework of the Rochester City School District.

Earlier this year, the district chose not to extend the EPO between UR’s Warner School of Education & Human Development and East schools.

“While we had hoped for a formal continuation, we remain fully committed to partnering with East for its success,” said Theresa Danylak, spokesperson for the Warner School. “With the broad understanding that the EPO was never intended to be a model that lasts forever, the one-year transition period will provide needed continuity for students, parents and families, and administrators, teachers, and staff who have been fully engaged in the EPO.”

RCSD did not respond to a request for comment.

East was placed in receivership, a designation given to schools with continually poor academic performance, in early 2015. Options following that categorization included direct state takeover of the school, transitioning to a charter, or forming an EPO with an educational partner.

Changes to the school under the EPO with the Warner School included longer instructional times, an emphasis on literacy, more social-emotional learning support, school family groups, staff development and professional learning, career experience opportunities for students, and special attention on the 9th-grade transition from middle to high school. 

In addition, the school had its own superintendent and educational structure, which gave it more flexibility and freedom from the district. The school showed improvement both anecdotally and quantitatively during the EPO years. Graduation rates rose from 40 percent to 80 percent and higher while student proficiency on Regents exams was over the RCSD average for both ELA and math.

Critics of the EPO opposed the control and cost of the partnership, saying the separation from RCSD and the higher costs of the partnership contributed to a disparity of resources across the district. (While East Lower and Upper schools did spend more per student compared to other schools, their overall budgets were not as high). In addition, the 2023 RCSD academic plan recommended transitioning East to full district control.

The transition plan is overseen by a 10-member core transition team, with six “tenet teams,” focusing on specific areas: systems and organization, school leadership, curriculum, instruction, social and emotional learning, and parent and community engagement. (Those tenets are aligned with the state Education Department framework for school improvement.)

“We have established a core transition team of 10 members from East, RCSD, and the University of Rochester,” Danylak says. “The district’s superintendent, Demario Strickland, is a key and supportive member of this team and also serves on the East EPO advisory board. This marks the first time a representative from RCSD has joined the EPO advisory board.”

Ruth Turner, RCSD deputy superintendent for administration, Vicky Ramos, RCSD interim chief academic officer, Donna Lucy Lender, RCSD chief of middle school, and Heather Cross, RCSD coordinator of curriculum are other upper leadership members from the district who are included in several tenet teams.

In addition, representatives from the Association of Supervisors and Administrators of Rochester, the Board of Education Non-teaching Employees, the Rochester Teachers Association, and scholar and parent groups are also a part of the core and tenet teams.

According to the transition plan’s rolling agenda, the core and tenet teams have been meeting monthly since September, with more meetings scheduled through June. The next scheduled meeting for the core team is Jan. 6. Danylak says the team was still “finalizing the timeline and deliverables for the transition.”

Some aspects of the plan have already been approved by the core team and will go to the RCSD board for final approval. Topics agreed upon include the number of hours in a school day, class lengths, start times, cohort sizes, community school status and the bilingual program. 

East’s curriculum, which is one of the approved items, will also undergo a longer process comparing the effectiveness and quality to RCSD’s curriculum. Further, the core team recommends that East’s curriculum should be considered by the district for areas “in which no curriculum exists and/or new curricula are being considered.” This directly addresses hopes that some EPO supporters had for the program, in developing and becoming a curriculum model for other schools.

Busing at East is one topic that is currently tabled by the core team. It is currently aligned with the district, with middle school students at East Lower using yellow buses, and high schoolers at East Upper using the Rochester Transit System.

Being open to cost-effectiveness and timeliness, East has sought scholar and parent feedback for any potential changes to the transportation system. So far, East Lower student opinion seems to be slightly in favor of yellow buses, even with the potential to be late.

Staffing is another significant area where the core team has tabled a recommendation for now. East has lower student-to-teacher and student-to-administrator ratios than the rest of the district, which lacks a concrete staffing formula.

The recommendations note that Terri Orden, RCSD executive director of accountability and student registration, is studying budgets, full-time employees, and operational expenses for all schools. The core team is now waiting on that recommendation for staff not in the classroom.

Topics still being discussed include agency contracts, family support and services, and social-emotional learning. Partnerships previously established by the EPO are also undefined at this moment, but Danylak is confident in the continued relationship with the Warner School.

“While the EPO concludes in June 2025, the (Warner School) will continue to be a community partner in the work that supports the well-being and education achievements of Rochester young adults,” she says. “Additionally, the Center for Urban Education Success, housed at the Warner School, will continue to serve as a robust clearinghouse of clinical and academic research and other resources to support urban schools and the challenges they face.”

Adds Danylak: “We are hopeful that the EPO model can succeed without the university’s participation in the coming years.”

Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist. The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing  [email protected]. 

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