Office of Communications Sharon L.

Contreras
725 Harrison St. Syracuse, NY 13210 Superintendent of Schools
Phone 3154355800 Fax 3154354015




For Immediate Release
August 6, 2014

For more information, please contact the Office of Communications at 435-5800.

Syracuse City School District Responds to State Education Departments
Labeling of Two Schools

The Syracuse City School District will press forward in its collaborative efforts to develop new policies
and practices for enhancing school climate, Executive Director of Student Support Services Patricia J.
Clark said today after the State Education Department assigned a No Child Left Behind-created label
to two of the districts middle schools.

Superintendent Sharon L. Contreras pointed to a January 8
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joint statement from the U.S.
Departments of Education and Justice: Schools can improve safety by making sure that climates are
welcoming and that responses to misbehavior are fair, non-discriminatory and effective.

For much of the last year, a task force co-chaired by Ms. Clark and made up of several dozen district
administrators, teachers, union leaders, parents, clergy and other community members worked to
create a new Code of Conduct for Syracuses schools. The revised Code of Conduct, among other
changes outlined in a July agreement between the District and the New York State Attorney Generals
office, will specifically address concerns over violations of State and Federal law in the Districts
historical practices for handling student discipline. More than that, the Code of Conduct is part of a
broader strategy for expanding supports available to struggling students. This strategy has included
individualized school climate support for several schools from the group Educators for Social
Responsibility, the addition of new Sentries at all elementary and K-8 schools, establishing a foster
grandparent program, the creation of a new Middle School Alternative Program, increasing the
number of students served through a partnership with Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection, and
extending the school day and incorporating more enrichment into the schedule at twelve of the
Districts schools, including Danforth and Lincoln Middle Schools.

This wide-ranging set of tactics for systemically addressing misbehavior already covers most of the
corrective actions that NCLB requires for schools receiving the designation given to Danforth and
Lincoln: providing free tutoring to students, encouraging participation in extended day programs,
revising the districts code of conduct, providing students with additional support from mentors and
other guides, and conducting analyses to determine which areas need additional intervention.

As a District, we are now doing the right things to build school climates that will enable all students
to focus on learning. The Superintendent and Board of Education have shown the commitment to face
these long-standing problems head-on, said former middle school principal and Innovation Zone
Director of Operations Dean DeSantis who sits on the Code of Conduct Task Force and participated in
summer training sessions on anticipated Code of Conduct shifts geared toward school administrators.
Teachers will participate in similar professional development when they return on August 27
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.