Majority of highest earners pick suburbs; critics say it’s a problem
Justin Murphy – Rochester Democrat and Chronicle USA TODAY NETWORK – in the D&C on 4/11/21 on page A1
The last student is dismissed for the day at Dr. Charles T. Lunsford School 19 and the last afternoon meeting concluded, and Principal Moniek Silas-Lee walks out the front door to start her commute home. Left on Reynolds Street, north for two blocks, then right on Hawley. That’s the commute. It takes five minutes.
Silas-Lee lives so close to school, in fact, that parents sometimes ask if she’ll walk their children home. “I see my students all the time … and the neighbors are appreciative of the fact I’m here and live where I work,” she said. “It’s definitely a positive impact.”
A positive impact but an uncommon one. In living in the city, Silas-Lee is part of a distinct minority among educators in the Rochester City School District.
More than three quarters of teachers and principals drive home to the suburbs each night. It is a commute with serious consequences for community building at schools and for the city’s tax base.