RCTA MEETINGS

Here are upcoming meeting dates:

June 15th
July 20th
August 17th
September 21st
October 19th
November 16th
December 21st

Get Involved

RCTA News

While we believe the dialogue helped to answer many questions and concerns (see documents section), it is clear that the work toward creating an additional Rochester high school has only just begun. Mr. Shea and Mr. Hopkins assured everyone at the meeting that public involvement would be an integral part of the discovery work throughout the entire process. However, one thing seemed very clear - Mr. Shea and Mr. Hopkins strongly believe that smaller schools provide for a better educational climate for students.

To date there has not been a lot of research done on this subject and it may be just another "fad." The one fact that does come out regarding smaller schools is that the concept and models are generally geared towards larger cities with numerous inner city high schools and large percentages of minority student populations. There have been only 22 research reports from 1966 to 2000 when the idea of smaller schools first emerged. These reports investigate and define school size, socioeconomic status (SES), and school-size issues.

The RCTA has done extensive research on the idea of smaller schools and we have presented many links on the documents section of our website for your information. While the RCTA will continue to stay involved with this process of looking at providing a smaller high school, we encourage you to do your own research and become informed. Whether you will have children that will be impacted by the outcome of this effort or if you're generally concerned about education performance and the cost of providing education, this will be an important step that our local school district might take that requires constant public scrutiny.

The RCTA strongly believes that parents and the public need to continually be involved with our children's education, so we hope that you will do your very best to do your part.

Rochester Concerned Taxpayers Latest

Suggestions from Rochester Concerned Taxpayers

We encourage you to review these ideas and contact the Mayor, City Councilors, School Board Members and Police Commissioners to let them know that you want them to put these "suggestions" into action. What most of them believe is a revenue problem really is a spending problem. The only way to solve this dilemma, without causing a loss of services to the taxpayers, is to re-invent government operations. There can be no substitution for effectively and responsibly applying our hard earned tax dollars. Our future and the future we struggle to create for our families needs to be given the respect it deserves.

If anyone has any questions or comments about these constructive suggestions, please email us at info@rochestertaxpayers.org or call 603.332.4557