Waterville Central School District will learn this week if the district will become part of the successful Community Schools Initiative started in the Rome City School District.
For months WCS administrators have been in discussion about becoming part of the program should funding allow for expansion beyond the Rome district. The Rome program is run by WCS graduate Melissa Roys, who worked with the district when she was at her previous position with the Neighborhood Center in Utica.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers union, which represents 1.7 million members, will be in Rome Thursday, Oct. 31 for a press conference and to observe the Rome program. She will be joined by local, state and federal government employees and early childhood educators.
The AFT has provided funding for the former Rome Community School program, now called Connected Community Schools. The Rome Teachers Union founded the program in 2017 and also provided funding.
The Rome program has attracted attention on a national level for how it works with students and families. Roys and others in her Rome office have discussed with AFT officials in Washington, D.C. the idea of expanding it locally.
The model of the program runs that rather than just dealing with…