During her transition into the Rochester City School District Superintendency in August 2016, Barbara Deane-Williams identified her leadership approach with a laser-like focus on five areas: prioritizing educational equity; building relational capacity; nurturing innovation; creating coherence; and establishing accountability for action. This project has centered on re-framing Central Office as the primary service center for providing targeted supports to schools. Throughout her entry process and the development of the first phase of 100-Day Plans, Superintendent Deane-Williams surveyed school and District teachers and leaders across the Rochester City School District to receive open and consistent feedback on Central Office services and support, areas of strength and areas of growth. Superintendent Deane-Williams additionally actively engaged in an open-ended community-based Listening and Learning effort– working collaboratively to gather input, insights and reflective feedback from multiple constituencies, including the District’s Parent Advisory Council and Bilingual Council Education;, multiple faith-based partners; the Rochester Teachers Association (RTA); the Association for Supervisors and Administrators of Rochester (ASAR); Board of Education Non-Teaching Employees (BENTE); Rochester Association of Paraprofessionals (RAP); business, political, and college and university leaders; and other district stake holders and community members in “Kitchen Table Conversations” and other forums.

Superintendent Deane-Williams charged her Executive Cabinet Team to build a shared understanding of District and community-based needs. Superintendent Deane-Williams charged cross-departmental 100–day project teams with:

• Improving the quality of data dashboards to provide clear, actionable representations of individual student progress
• Focusing and aligning resources for results
• Providing central services and supports matched to school, student and customer needs
• Ensuring safe, healthy and welcoming schools where every student is personally supported to achieve– The focus of this report
• Ensuring timely communication and quality engagement opportunities to build community understanding and involvement

By accessing targeted information on challenges, interactions with Central Office, and suggested areas for development moving forward, Superintendent Deane-Williams’ Central Office project framed the following report. It summarizes initial findings collected and analyzed in relation to the potential redesign process, with the goal of designing our District’s future together to better serve our students, families, schools and community.