Pittsford Central School District

The Board of Education consists of seven, non-paid, elected members who reside in the Pittsford Central School District. Members serve 3-year terms. Elections are held each May for board members and to vote on the School District Budget.

Current board members are:[7]

• Kim McCluski, Vice President
• Amy J. Thomas, President
• Ted Aroesty
• Valerie Baum
• Rene Sanchez-Kazacos
• Irene Feldman Narotsky
• Peter Sullivan
• Debbie Carpenter, School District Clerk

The Pittsford Central School District operates five elementary, two middle and two high schools across the District. By convention, the District names schools for the road on which they are located.

A major remodeling and construction program was undertaken in 2004. This involved modernization of existing buildings, expansion of Sutherland High School, and the construction of the new Calkins Road Middle School. The Sutherland High School remodeling was completed in 2007, while the construction of Calkins Road Middle School was completed in time for the 2006–2007 school year.

In 2013, the Pittsford Central School District was recognized as the No.1 district in upstate New York by the Albany Business Journal, as part of its Schools Report for 2013. Schools from 50 counties and 455 districts were evaluated based on a variety of factors, including graduation rates and performances on Regents exams.

The Pittsford Central School District was named as the best district among the 67 surrounding districts, for the fourth year in a row by Buffalo's Business First in 2013.

Pittsford Mendon High School and Sutherland High School were commended for their Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs by U.S. News & World Report. Mendon was ranked nationally at No. 107 and Sutherland was ranked No. 23 (The STEM Index showed only eight points separating the two schools).

Both Mendon High School and Sutherland High School were nationally ranked in 2012 and 2013 by The Washington Post, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report.

Mendon High School and Sutherland High School were the top two high schools among the 67 surrounding western New York districts in 2012, according to Buffalo's Business First.

In 2012, both Barker Road Middle School and Calkins Road Middle School were named as Schools to Watch.

Barker Road Middle School and Calkins Road Middle School were named as the top two middle schools among 67 western New York districts by Buffalo's Business First in 2012.

Barker Road Middle School and Calkins Road Middle School were named top two schools in the county, respectively, in 2015.

Barker Road Middle School was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education in 2012.

In 2012, Allen Creek Elementary School was named a National School of Character.

All five Pittsford elementary schools were ranked in the top 20 of elementary schools in 67 western New York districts, according to Buffalo's Business First.

Pittsford students rank high academically in standard and specialized tests. More than 97% of Pittsford students graduate with an Honors diploma. A high percentage move on to college.

In June 2007, the American Music Conference recognized the district as being among the 2007 "Best 100 Communities for Music Education"[8]

In 2007, Park Road Elementary School was named one of 287 schools in the country as a Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education.[9]

“We want Slurpees!”

In January of 2014, Pittsford Sutherland students gained national attention for their use of a racially charged chant during a local varsity basketball game against neighboring Brighton High School. The Pittsford high schoolers were caught on video chanting, "We want Slurpees!". This racial chant was aimed at an opposing team player of Indian American descent, intending to stereotype Indian Americans as 7-Eleven employees.[10]

The response from Superintendent Michael Pero was met with criticism as he responded to the incident by stating in a press conference that the athlete targeted should "feel a little better [knowing] that the students at Pittsford meant no harm."[11]

White Supremacy

In September of 2016, students, teachers, and other Pittsford residents discovered the distribution of pro-white-supremacy documents around Pittsford. These papers included the slogan "Make (Rochester) Great Again" and directed recipients to a website that explicitly stated the goal of making Rochester whiter. The website read, "This [is a] platform to network [with] like-minded whites for the furtherance of the European-white races....as heretical thinkers in mainstream society, we [work] to shape society for a more definitive European-white future."[12] The occurrence of these types of distributed intolerance has been reported as recently as June 2020.

Black History Month Scandal

In February of 2019, fifth-grade students at Park Road Elementary School were assigned a project to research and share the achievements of African American inventors throughout history. The project was intended to incorporate Black History Month into classroom instruction. However, there were multiple incidents of students crediting and picturing whites with the work of black inventors. [13] The teacher failed to take corrective action and allowed the faces of white men to sit beside a black person's invention for well over a month. In April, a black parent saw the Black History project and reported his confusion and dismay to the district and local media. Many parents criticized the teacher and the school district for providing little education on the importance and significance of Black History Month.

After this incident was brought to light, Superintendent Pero responded by saying the issue was handled, and the project would not be revisited out of fear that the topic was becoming too political. "What we don't want is for our staff to ever feel defensive or they're on their heels or they're going to be publicly shamed for doing something that has good intentions," Pero said in response to WXXI.[14]

Racism Amongst Students

In April of 2019, a flood of allegations of racism directed toward minority students swelled in Pittsford. These reports include: elementary students calling classmates the n-word and "black b****"; an Asian-American student told to "go back to Mexico"; a white high school student drawing swastikas on desks; and most notably, a black Pittsford Mendon student-athlete targeted by her track and field teammates who called her "monkey" and the n-word. This same student was later criticized for reporting the incident and insulted by fellow peers who mocked her using "angry black voice."[15]

White Culture

Racial issues are compounded by the predominantly white culture that makes up Pittsford and the Pittsford Central School District employees and students. Only 3% of the students are Black or African American. And, the majority of those students attend Pittsford through the Urban-Suburban program.

In April of 2019, in an interview with the Democrat & Chronicle, one Urban-Suburban parent of a Pittsford Mendon student stated, "What our children hear is: 'If you're Urban-Suburban, you should just shut up and be quiet because we let you come and get this great education. And if someone calls you the N-word now and then, oh well, at least you're here.'"[15]

As these incidents came to light, families and community members, have reported Superintendent Pero and other members of PCSD Central Office with "inaction," "obfuscation," and a "cover-up" as a means to preserve the Pittsford reputation and maintaining "the elitism of the community."[15]

Library Diversity Audit

In 2017-2018, Superintendent Pero began a library audit to track the contents of the almost 25,000 titles within the PCSD library system. The goal of the project was to ensure equal representation of racial, cultural, and other identities as well as themes present in literature.

Pero has repeatedly pointed to this project as a concrete example of anti-racism work within PCSD. However, the conflation of representation in literature and the actual creation and preservation of equitable, inviting, and inclusive environments have been called into question. There is no evidence that this categorical log of literature present in the PCSD system has had any real impact on combating discrimination and racism within Pittsford schools – as racially charged incidents have continued to increase since 2016.[16]

Inclusivity Advisory Committee

In September of 2018, Superintendent Pero congregated a diversity and inclusion board titled the Inclusivity Advisory Committee. However, months after the committee assembled, a black parent stepped down from the committee, saying it was deeply flawed in composition and direction. Currently, the Inclusivity Advisory Committee is made up of 24 community members, with a handful of African American members.[15]

Discrimination in Discipline[17]

Across all of the Pittsford Central School District, black students are 6.1x more likely to be suspended compared to white students.

Mendon Center Elementary School: Black students are over 20x more likely to be suspended

Calkins Road Middle School:  Black students are over 6x more likely to be suspended

Pittsford Sutherland High School:  Black students are over 4.7x more likely to be suspended

Pittsford Mendon High School:  Black students are over 8.2x more likely to be suspended

• Official website
• New York State School Boards Association