RCSD gets new state-appointed fiscal consultant, Mark Potter
Former Syracuse-area superintendent Mark Potter has been assigned as fiscal consultant to the Rochester City School District, the state Education Department announced Tuesday.
Potter retired as superintendent of the Liverpool (N.Y.) Central School District in 2022. He replaces Jaime Alicea, who in turn replaced Shelley Jallow last year as the state monitor overseeing RCSD.
Potter's salary will be paid by NYSED, not RCSD. He will earn $180 an hour, up to $150,000 in a year. The contract runs from Jan. 1 to June 30.
"The Rochester City School District must achieve continued fiscal and academic progress to ensure the students of Rochester receive the high-quality education they deserve," said Board of Regents Chancellor Lester Young Jr. in a statement. "Dr. Potter’s expertise in instruction, finance, facilities management, and operations makes him well suited to assist the district in addressing the fiscal and operational challenges they have faced in recent years."
RCSD has been under formal state monitoring of some kind since 2018, when Jaime Aquino was appointed distinguished educator.
The scrutiny intensified after a massive eight-figure budget shortfall in 2019.
The district is currently at work on a 2024-25 budget that will serve as an off-ramp from federal COVID-era stimulus funding. It also must implement Superintendent Carmine Peluso's school reconfiguration.
— Justin Murphy is a veteran reporter at the Democrat and Chronicle and author of "Your Children Are Very Greatly in Danger: School Segregation in Rochester, New York." Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/CitizenMurphy or contact him at jmurphy7@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Mark Potter named RCSD fiscal consultant in Rochester NY
