Avon Board of Education President Rodney George has been elected Second Vice President of New York State School Boards Association, an advocacy organization that represents the more than 675 public school and BOCES boards across the state.
George was voted into the position by the association’s membership at their annual convention in October. He begins in his new role Jan. 1, 2024.
“Holding this position is an opportunity to continue on and represent the entire state on some of the same issues that are affecting us right here in Avon,” said George, who first won election to Avon’s Board of Education in 1999 and has served as its president since 2004. “There’s a fallacy that New York City is much different than we are. They may be more urban, but most school districts have the same issues we do. Everyone just wants their kids to have a good education. I have a grandson who just graduated and a granddaughter who’s a freshman. These kids are our future, so we want to make sure we provide the best for them.”
In preparing for his new role, George said he’s leaning on his past experience as a member of NYSSBA’s board of directors as the association’s Area II Director. It’s a position he’s held since 2013 that requires him to represent the 56 public school districts and 4 BOCES in Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne and Yates counties.
In that role, George has his finger on the pulse of education in New York State as well as ready access to the significant resources and expertise the association has at its disposal.
For example, shortly after the State Education Department announced its intention last year to require schools to ditch indigenous nicknames and mascots, there was speculation that schools using the name “Braves” like Avon might be able to drop the “s” and remain the Brave.
As luck would have it, the association’s head attorney - “He’s argued before the Supreme Court on a number of different school-related issues,” George said - has lunch with Betty Rosa, New York’s education commissioner, once a week,
“He talked to the commissioner about that and, afterwards, told us that ‘No, she’s turned that down. That’s not an option that’s available to us moving forward,’” George said. “It gives us a heads up of what's coming down the tubes and if we know something’s coming, we have the resources right there at NYSSBA to help.”
Looking forward, George expects the relationships he’s forged through NYSSBA to pay dividends as Avon and other districts navigate the pressing educational issues of the day - like the increasing mental health needs of students.
“No matter what district you come from, we have a huge mental health issue and all school districts have had to expend a lot more resources to try to address it,” George said. “That’s our biggest advocacy goal right now - to get increased funding for all these things from the state.”
Other issues on George’s radar include the ongoing teacher shortage - “That’s a major issue facing not only New York, but the entire country. Young people just aren’t going into the field,” - and the state mandate for districts to transition their school bus fleets to entirely zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
“An electric bus might be fine for an urban or suburban area where it’s a 10-mile run, but some of our rural districts have 100-mile bus runs. Will a bus battery last that long?” he said. “There are districts in Area II that have bus runs that pass over 7 or 8 bridges that electric buses can’t go over today because they’re too heavy. So those are big topics that we’re trying to address right now.”
‘I owe this school a lot’
George has made public service a cornerstone in his life. He’s a former Avon village trustee and deputy mayor, volunteer EMT with the Avon Rotary-Lions Ambulance and past commander of the Avon American Legion Post.
But after nearly a quarter century, it’s Avon Central Schools into which George continues to pour his energy and that continues to hold a special place in his heart.
George moved to Avon the summer before his sophomore year of high school amid difficult circumstances.
“I moved here when I was 16 and I lived in an apartment with a couple college kids, seniors from SUNY Geneseo,” George recalled. “My foster father - he lived in East Avon and had gotten married to a woman he’d met the summer before we moved. That’s why I moved into that apartment. I was on my own.”
A self-described “wild kid,” George credits the teachers and staff at Avon with keeping him on the straight and narrow as a teenager.
“The guidance counselor at the time, Henry Druschel, got me a job and kind of looked over my shoulder throughout high school, kept me in line,” George said. “And then I played football and that was the biggest thing for me. My football coach, Richard Fagan, who was a history teacher in Avon - he was a huge reason why I hung around. He and football were what kept me in school and school is what kept me from being a wayward kid. I owe this school a lot.”