ROME — Several Rome Free Academy student musicians were commended by the district Board of Education and Superintendent Peter Blake at their regular monthly meeting on Monday.

The board passed unanimously five separate resolutions commending the students. According to those resolutions, Gregory “Alex” Brown, Dennis van Hoesel, Jack Conley, Sam Hilderbran, Ellis Pomales, Colyn Seeley, Jacob Knopka, Sara Swistak, and Karl van Hoesel recently earned statewide recognition when they were selected as members of the Area All-State Band.

Gwendolyn Caro, Brandon Crisan, Anna Do, Liesl Froschauer, Mary Hapanowicz, Rocco Jennings, and Paw Moo earned statewide recognition when they were selected as members of the Area All-State Orchestra.

Michaelanne Allen, Alana DeJosie, Anthony Jayson, Liam Butler, Julianna Nasto, Mia Panasci, Dakota Morrison, Karabrie Wiggins, Arwen Reddick and Jacob Cosentino earned statewide recognition when they were selected as members of the Area All-State Chorus.

Those groups all performed in concerts in November at the New York State Music Association Conference in Little Falls.

Morrison and Cosentino also earned statewide recognition when they were selected as members of the New York State All-State Conference for Mixed Choir and Brown for Symphonic Band. They performed in concert earlier this month at the New York State All-State Conference in Rochester.

Cosentino and Brown each also won national recognition for their achievement in music ... Cosentino was selected as a member of the All Eastern Chorus and Brown was selected as an alternate for the All Eastern Band. “We have some pretty special students out there,” board President Joseph Mellace said.

Tomorrow’s Teachers

Assistant Superintendent of Educational Programs Christopher Brewer told the board about the Today’s Students Tomorrow’s Teachers (TSTT) program that mentors teachers-to-be from ninth grade on through college. TSTT especially benefits students from minority or economically disadvantaged groups, he explained.

The district is hoping to get started with TSTT soon in the new year, working with Mohawk Valley Community College in a program that helps answer the ongoing teacher shortage by creating a “pipeline” of new teachers, Brewer said.

Grant benefits counseling services

District Director of Counseling Services Amanda Jones told the board about the five-year, $2.4 million competitive grant from the Office of Mental Health that started this year. There are three objectives to that grant, she said.

Plans call for the implementation of a universal screener for mental health; a multitiered system of support models embedded in each school; and community provider partnerships and engagement through meetings between Oneida County mental health officials, community agencies and district representatives.

Equity Task Force looks at issues facing students

ACCESS Global Group Founder and President/CEO Shanelle Benson Reid offered an update on the Equity Task Force partnership between the ACCESS Global Group and the district. There are monthly meetings to address issues affecting the students with the goal of having people share their own experiences, she said.

Benson Reid is hoping to have more time to meet with district teachers. Blake said he felt that once people start to hear the message of the task force and take the training, they will want to understand the outreach even more.

Public comment

No members of the community came to this meeting to speak before the board.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Rome City Schools Board of Education is at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9 at the district office, 409 Bell Road.