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Syracuse school board will discuss proposed residency requirement for new hires

Tom Magnarelli
/
WRVO News
Councilor Susan Boyle sponsored the request.

The Syracuse Common Council unanimously approved a request that the city’s school board require new employees in the district live in the city. Currently, almost 60 percent of Syracuse City School District employees live outside of the city. The statistic is worse for teachers and administrators. School Board Chair Derrick Dorsey said it would be great to have high level employees living in the district.

“I think it’s important that we look at it right now, because it does increase our tax base,"Dorsey said. "If you look at some of the inequities that are taking place in our district in terms of funding, it’s very important that we look at how we can increase our base to make sure that we are providing a quality education for the Syracuse City School District.”

The school board will meet next week to review the policy and will also seek the input of the teachers union.

"It's our responsibility to come up with a policy, but we wouldn't want to just unilaterally have a policy moving forward without having some deep conversations with our union about what their perspective is and how it may impact the district," Dorsey said. "There are a lot of different layers in this right now that we want to address."

One concern is that there will not be enough city applicants to fill open positions in the district.

Tom Magnarelli is a reporter covering the central New York and Syracuse area. He joined WRVO as a freelance reporter in 2012 while a student at Syracuse University and was hired full time in 2015. He has reported extensively on politics, education, arts and culture and other issues around central New York.