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Tim Louis Macaluso

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EDUCATION: The teacher evaluation boondoggle

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 18th, 2012

The struggle to agree on a teacher evaluation plan that suits the city school district, the Rochester Teachers Association, and the New York State Education Department is far from over. While Superintendent Bolgen Vargas and RTA President Adam Urbanski devised a plan that met SED approval for this year,

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PRESERVATION: A Rochester gem gets a beautiful polish

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 16th, 2012

The property at 16 East Boulevard still hums with the sounds of saws, hammers, and a chorus of other tools and machinery. It's been about two-and-a-half years since Fran Cosentino and his wife, Jane Parker, began restoring their home. This is no ordinary update, however. The Park Avenue-area property, often

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URBAN ACTION (5/16-5/23)

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 15th, 2012

This week's calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Rally to raise hourly wages Social justice organizations advocating an increase in the minimum wage will hold a "Raise Rochester" rally at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 24. Assembly

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EDUCATION: Rochester school board approves new budget

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 11th, 2012

The Rochester school board has approved a $705 million spending plan for the coming school year. It adds about 68 teachers in music, art, and physical education. The additions are made possible through a combination of attrition in administrative staff and dipping into the district's reserve funds. In a

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FINANCES: RCSD cutting it close on rainy-day money

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 8th, 2012

Rochester city schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas has a $44 million hole to fill in the district's 2012-2013 budget. Part of his plan to plug that gap is to take $15 million from the district's reserve fund. But that's making some people nervous, since it will leave the fund with

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PROFILE: Meet Monroe Avenue's ‘Dancing Man'

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 8th, 2012

Christopher McGuire's work uniform is a giant bright red cowboy hat, black shorts, and red knee-high socks. His office is the sidewalk in front of Monroe Avenue's Texas Blues BBQ, where the 29-year-old McGuire grooves, grinds, twists, and twirls in choreography fusing Steve Martin and Mick Jagger. Many drivers, joggers,

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URBAN ACTION (5/9-5/16)

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 8th, 2012

This week's calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Conservation workshop for educators The Department of Environmental Conservation will hold one-day "Great Lakes Institute Workshops" throughout the state to familiarize teachers and educators with a specific area of

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EDUCATION: Buffalo high school recognized

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 8th, 2012

US News & World Report just released its rankings of the best US high schools, and Buffalo's City Honors School at Fosdick Masten Park was ranked 23 out of the top 100. The school outranked Pittsford-Mendon, which came in at 82. The Odyssey Academy, a Greece high school, came

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HISTORY: Faces of the Great War

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 1st, 2012

More than 25,000 residents from Rochester and Monroe County served in World War I. Newly rediscovered photographs taken nearly 100 years ago show the youthful, determined, and sometimes somber faces of many of those young men and women. The Rochester Historical Society and the city historian published a three-volume collection of

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URBAN ACTION (5/2-5/9)

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 1st, 2012

This week's calls to action include the following events and activities. (All are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.) Helpers needed in parks The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, and Parks and Trails New York will hold "I Love My Park Day," a

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Health insurance trends under Obamacare

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 16th, 2012

While many people think the Affordable Care Act was intended to reform the health care system, most of the law's impact relates to insurance reform -specifically, access to insurance. But to provide increased access, the law is encouraging far reaching trends throughout the industry. That was one of the

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Is your child being used for testing research?

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 14th, 2012

There are many interesting discussions taking place on Flowercityparents.org and it's tough to single one out. But Rochester school board member Mary Adams wrote a recent blog urging parents to think about whether they want their children to take a "field" test to help the test publisher get

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Are Romney's bullying days behind him?

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 11th, 2012

A day after President Obama announced his support for marriage equality, GOP front runner Mitt Romney appeared on Fox News to say he didn't remember an assault on a fellow student who was presumed to be gay. The Washington Post reported that Romney and several classmates were disturbed by a

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Republicans: thinking is for wimps

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 10th, 2012

If you're a political wonk, this is your week. The last few days have been politically charged and historical. Though it was disappointing to see North Carolina voters ban marriage equality, President Obama proved again that he is a strong leader, visionary, and forward thinking. His support

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Let Obama evolve on marriage equality

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 8th, 2012

I'm a gay man, married, and nearly 60 years old. And I respect President Obama for evolving on the issue of marriage equality rather than insisting he take a strong position either way. That may seem unjust and it may also strike some as cowardly. But it's also pragmatic. Obama

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US economy: doom or boom?

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 7th, 2012

The decline of the US economy has been written about extensively, and it's a favorite topic of political pundits. That's understandable. Thousands of well-paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared. A decade of wars has drained the US treasury. And calamities in the financial and housing markets brought on the

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Romney bows to the Religious Right

Tim Louis Macaluso on May 3rd, 2012

I can't help but wonder what was going on in the mind of Mitt Romney's foreign policy aide Richard Grenell. A well-educated gay man in his mid-40's who supports marriage equality, Grenell presumably knew that someday he would be rejected by the Republican establishment. Grenell, who abruptly resigned from

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Mitt Romney's Swift Boat strategy

Tim Louis Macaluso on April 26th, 2012

Though Democrats railed against the 2004 "Swift Boat" ads, to advertising and marketing types there was something brilliant about them. The ads torpedoed one of Senator Kerry's key strengths in his run for president, turning his Vietnam military experience into a vulnerability. The ads minimized Kerry's service,

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Bolgen Vargas's short window in the Rochester school district

Tim Louis Macaluso on April 25th, 2012

By mid-day yesterday, the accolades for Bolgen Vargas began rolling into our newsroom. "Bolgen has been a true partner with us and has helped to forge improved relations between the City and the City School District," Mayor Tom Richards said in a written statement. The Rochester Business Alliance is looking

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Decision time nears on a Rochester school superintendent

Tim Louis Macaluso on April 20th, 2012

Rochester's school board members will probably meet sometime next week for a debriefing on the superintendent search. They've had second interviews with the finalists, and they may be ready to make a decision. I would love to sit in on that conversation. It's not going to be an easy

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