'Motion passes ... with a heavy heart:' Maple Street will close, but its spirit lives on

School board chair Jerry Gregoire, right, announces the Maple Street School closure vote as Rochester Schools Supt. Jared Fulgoni looks on (City of Rochester screenshot)

The Maple Street Magnet School will close for good at the end of the academic year, but a unanimous vote by the school board created a subcommittee that is determined to carry its concept and culture forward in another of the city's elementary schools.
A majority of the school board asked to be a part of the subcommittee, which will seek out how best to implement the Maple Street concepts as soon as the next school year.
The vote to close the school, which will save the school system some $1.7 million, was nearly unanimous, with only school board member Lisa Carlberg voting no and an abstention from member Samantha Battis.
At the end of the vote School Board Chair Jerry Gregoire announced the roll call vote.

"Motion passes ... with a heavy heart."
Members of the Maple Street Magnet School family have been fighting the closure of the school for several months, even starting a petition to keep it open.
The school revolved around strong and active parental partnerships and a longer academic year than the rest of Rochester's schools.
Parent Val Dunn, who has a child at Maple Street, said she absolutely believes the school's practices and culture can be assimilated into other schools.
"I believe all elementary schools should infuse several components of a Magnet Program into their curriculum," she told The Rochester Voice, "especially second language learning, project-based learning, STEM programs and a heavy focus on parental involvement."
Dunn added that other components of the program might not be feasible.
"There are a few unique parts to our experience (at Maple) that logistically would be difficult to pull off in all other schools," she noted. "Biweekly Morning Meetings with the entire student base and all of their parents would be much more difficult in a school with 300 kids in it. And I don't foresee every elementary school going to a 200-day model."
Dunn said the heart of the program features strong parental influence and support.
"In a Magnet Program, the families in this school choose to be there," she said. "We have a community of parents who are actively invested in their child's education. Parents are invited to attend schoolwide meetings twice a month where we get to see exactly what our children are working on. Parents are also always welcome into the classroom to read and to participate in other programs in the school."

The school board on Wednesday also approved a tax compliant $76 million operating budget, but voted to seek another $2.5 million from the city in hopes to reduce the number of school personnel layoffs that are now being threatened.