(Students) have rights that have to be protected, but they also have responsibilities. We spend a lot of time talking about rights, but not much time talking about responsibility. Maybe these are opportunities to teach a lesson, not issue punishment.

We definitely didn't put it on the schedule because we thought it was going to be an easy win. We knew we were going to have our hands full but we played them very competitively.

As children are growing up in an increasingly diverse world, they need to have exposure to people different than themselves. I'm not saying it can't happen outside the public system, but it happens easily in the public system in many cases.

The results clearly prove that his leadership has been successful. The (Rochester) district has achieved dramatic improvements in the number of students passing the statewide exams in the past three years.

This kind of thing distracts energy and resources for defending yourself. Sometimes there are important precedents to be set, but sometimes people are just trying to have their way with the districts.

Manny Rivera represents high-quality leadership in our nation's public schools. Since his return to Rochester, Manny has focused on raising achievement standards ... Despite pervasive poverty ? Rochester ranks 11th in the nation in child poverty ? the district has achieved dramatic improvements in the number of students passing the statewide exams in the past three years.

It makes it even worse. It is really a tone-deaf response to the crisis. It is a real grab to get an ideological position across that they haven't been able to achieve under normal circumstances.

The hill will be higher for the school to climb than the kid.