"𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼, 𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝗮𝗺 𝗢𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿. I am the newly appointed school board member for Ward 5, Seat A. I've been doing the job for about a week and a half now, and I'm looking forward for the opportunity to continue to serve the community coming this November.

I grew up in Dover. I've been living in the city for the past 18 years. I had two boys that have gone through the school system. My wife and I have very much enjoyed the community. I've coached for a long time, done a very variety of other community services as past president for the local soccer club, scout leader, things like that very quickly.

Couple big goals I see: obviously very important to get the next superintendent correct. While there's a lot of hopefully we find a great candidate, I also do think we just recently got a notice that we were shorted by the state $1.3 million from the original estimate. Dr. Nichols and Jared very much very quickly found some of the causes of that. With that, I think the possibility if we can't find someone we're in love with that there's a world where we maybe need to keep Jared on. He in my mind is a fixer, good at looking at systems and policies and procedures, and maybe help fix some things that might also be wrong in the district so we don't continue to lose funding that will ultimately affects our local taxpayers.

The other thing: obviously we're here for better outcomes. I saw a poll that we basically are at like 20%–24% I think it was on level reading as opposed to 42% state average, which isn't great either. We need to improve that—obviously the resources again being a good part of that. From my personal experience I think early interventions will be key on trying to do that and getting the tools to those teachers in order to do that. It's much easier to get a child up to speed if you catch it earlier than it is later on, which I know.

And the other thing: obviously once you do have those needs detected, having the proper toolbox in order to fix that. There were some things that my son would utilize that was outside of the school's toolbox that, quite frankly, we couldn't get funded larger. And I do think things like that a little more outside the box might be a great way to do that.

Again, my name is Sam Oliver, School Board Ward 5 Seat A."

Notes:

The Public Information and Community Engagement Office for the City of Rochester is pleased to announce that the Meet the Candidates video series is now available for viewing ahead of the upcoming Municipal Election.

The nonpartisan series introduces voters to candidates for Mayor, City Council, School Board, and Police Commission. Each candidate was given up to three minutes to speak directly to voters, share their priorities, and present their personal message.

To ensure fairness and transparency, all videos were recorded live in a single take, without edits, hosts, or predetermined questions.

The views and opinions expressed in the following video are those of the candidate and do not necessarily reflect the views of the City of Rochester, its elected officials or staff. The content is presented as part of a public information effort to provide equal opportunity for all candidates to address the community.

Transcript was taken directly from the GovTV website closed captioning. AI added bold/italic fonts for emphasis and separated paragraphs where appropriate.

"Good afternoon, Rochester. This is Sam Oliver, newly appointed school board member for Ward 5 Seat A. Those of you that don't know me, I've lived in Rochester for the past 18 years, having grown up in Dover. I've been an active volunteer around town, having coached, been a board member for the local soccer association, as well as a scout leader for Troop and Pack 184.

One skill set I bring to the table is being a data-driven problem solver. To that end, one thing I'd like to focus on is our bottom line outcomes.

When I was looking lately, our on-grade reading tends to be at 24% proficiency—if those numbers are correct. One thing I want to do at the next school board meeting is see if I can get that number verified, establish some sort of baseline, and then work on bringing it up.

Let's note that the state average is 42% which isn't stellar in and of itself, but we can improve our own. What I'd like to do in order to do that is try and identify certain areas that are in our control and then try and work on those—whether that's resources, engagement, our systems supports, creating better efficiencies, etc. Anything that can drive that.

Those are my quick thoughts. That being said, I'll be doing more of these from time to time. Hopefully you'll tune in and I hope to see you at the polls on November 4th and that you would hopefully give me the opportunity to continue to serve this community.

Again, Sam Oliver, Ward Five, City School Board. Thank you very much."

*Video transcript via YouTube's transcription services. Bold and italics added via AI

Link to Candidate's LinkedIn Profile

Sam Oliver III School Board Ward 5 Seat A Facebook Page