A community schools program at Batavia City School District initially promoted as a strategy to help with each child’s well-being, success and educational equality is being realigned with a reduced coordinator position that will be responsible “for the most critical elements of the program,” Superintendent Jason Smith says.
The program that was implemented in 2021 by district social worker Julie Wasilewski and then-Batavia High School Assistant Principal Julia Rogers was centralized at Robert Morris, where Rogers was later relocated and made full-time community schools coordinator.
The adopted $60,294,755 million 2024-25 budget — which will go up for a vote on May 21 — includes some staff changes, including making the coordinator a part-time position. One of the job’s responsibilities has been to forge relationships with outside agencies and organizations to serve as resources for students and families and have a presence at vendor fairs that were held at Robert Morris and other public sites.
Smith said that other staff will be there to help fill the gap.
“BCSD currently employs five social workers who will continue to foster positive relationships with our families and community providers/agencies,” he said.
During a presentation to the school board in 2021, Wasilewski and Rogers talked about how Robert Morris was converted into a community center for children and parents to obtain assistance for school work and many additional other life needs, from laundry to filling the gaps of clothing, school supplies, hygiene products, toys, bedding, food and other missing items in their households.
The Batavian asked Smith if community schools offerings would remain or how they might shift with the staffing change. Those life needs resources have been collected and provided at Robert Morris through a community closet in the Heart of Kindness Center.
“At this point, the district intends to maintain the critical elements of the Community Schools program, which could include things like the Heart of Kindness Center,” Smith said. “All BCSD schools and programs have strong connections to our community. Schools host programs throughout the year, such as Family Fun Nights and Reading Nights, which are well attended.
“We are exploring different ways to integrate community vendors into these robust school-based activities to provide the most value and assistance to our families and partners,” he said. “Given the budget challenges this year, it was imperative for the Board of Education and district to focus on the core elements of our academic, extracurricular, and social-emotional programs.”
During this week’s budget presentation, which drew even less than the one attendee who asked questions last year, Smith referred to his teeter-totter scenario of how trying to balance out the budget to serve the needs of both sides.
“As you know, this was a particularly challenging budget year for many school districts, we were not the exception,” he said. “There were several extenuating circumstances, issues with state aid, foundation aid, COVID funding. So all of those are taken into account.”
He emphasized that foundation aid remained flat. It did not increase, though it also did not decrease; that aid remained at $24,191,855. The transportation contract calls for a $556,263 increase of $3.3 million, a 20 percent increase, a general support increase of $514,943, and an employee benefits increase of $313,405 for a total hike in expenses of $1,323,981.
The budget also includes a tax levy increase of $450,345, for a total levy of about $20.3 million. District voters will be asked to consider a property tax increase of 39 cents per $1,000 assessed value, or $48.75 more per year on a home assessed at $125,000.
Other personnel changes include reducing seven grant-funded positions due to a nearly $6 million COVID-related grant drying up by this fall and five more through attrition but retaining seven other positions by moving them out of the general fund and into other ongoing grants.
While that’s the good news for those seven, it’s “going to be challenging next year,” to figure out how to continue funding those, Smith said. A mental health grant will reestablish three social-emotional learning positions and three instructional coaching positions, he said.
He pointed out the nonmandated items that made the list — those things that really make “a school a school” but aren’t required to be offered — such as music lessons, social workers, drama club, the technology program, art shows and exhibits, interscholastic activities, school resource officers, girls flag football, Link Crew, Advanced Placement and college credit courses, and summer programs.
There is a capital project for $100,000 at Robert Morris tucked into the budget for door security work, which is state reimbursed at a 92% rate, he said. He referred to a small city comparison review for how the district has held up in grades three through eight in math, numbers that administrators take pride in, he said. The graduation rate took a dip from 2021’s 95% to 2023, at 87%, and the average class size was 19.
There are 21 public schools serving 7,900 students in Genesee County and, according to Public School Review for 2024, Batavia High School ranks third place, with math in the 85 to 89 percentile, and reading at or greater than 50%.
John Kennedy Intermediate comes in at No. 14, with math at 35% and reading 50%, with Batavia Middle School at 17, with math at 23% and reading at 50%, followed by Jackson Primary, with math at 50 to 54% and reading at 40 to 44%, making those at the bottom 50 percent. (Pembroke Intermediate School came in first, with math scores at 68% and reading at 66%.)
The ballot includes Proposition #1 to approve a general budget of $60,294,755 and to vote for three board members with candidates Michael Bromley, Korinne Anderson, Jen Lendvay and John Reigle running.
The vote is from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. May 21 at Batavia High School, 260 State St., and Robert Morris School, 80 Union St., depending on the voter’s residence.
For residents living north of Route 5 (Main Street), vote at Robert Morris, 80 Union Street (Multi-Purpose Room). Enter on Union Street at the entrance across from Notre Dame.
For residents living south of Route 5 (Main Street), vote at Batavia High School, 260 State Street (High School Library).
If you need clarification on where to vote, check the street-by-street guide on our website or call the Business Office at 585-343-2480, Ext. 1002.
