​​ROCHESTER, N.Y. — ​Rochester City School District teachers and families are learning of the change in leadership as they are preparing to head back to the classroom.

A teacher in the district for 20 years, Jason Valenti, is preparing for the upcoming school year.

“Going through some Google slides and some Google Docs, getting it ready for some assignments for my students once the class is uploaded into the computer," said Valenti, who currently teaches 5th grade at School 39.

He’ll be there next week getting his classroom ready, but so far he does not have his class list.

“It’s a little bit of one of those things you get anxious about, like how many kids, where are they going to be?... So I’m concerned that the need for classroom teachers might shuffle students around and into other classes, making the numbers bigger," said Valenti.

The district is still working to hire more teachers, creating the concerns that class sizes will be too large.

“When you start to get up to like 24 or 25, it starts to get a little hard to instruct. You really have a hard time doing individualized instruction with a student or a small group of students that need it, the bigger the classes get," said Valenti.

To fill the void for the teacher shortage, RCSD is hiring long-term substitutes and recent graduates. In many of the classrooms, the adult in the room will be somebody who is not fully certified to teach.

“They, especially people right out of grad school, or first-time classroom teachers, however, they come in, having a big class to start out is a challenge," said Valenti.

Teachers are also concerned that there is currently no contract. But Valenti is encouraged that RCSD has named an acting superintendent, Dr. Carmine Peluso.

“I am encouraged by their choice of superintendent to fill in the role. Carmine was a well-respected and well-liked teacher in the city school district. He was a well-liked and well-respected principal in the district," said Valenti.

Valenti is hopeful Dr. Peluso will bring stability to the district.

“He knows this place," said Valenti. "So if he comes in and can kind of settle the waters in the beginning... I'm sure it'll be a somewhat tumultuous start to the year. They all are. It's just a matter of degree. If he can help settle that and we can get a few of these other bits of noise quieted down, we can get down to the job of making things the best we can for our students and the families and the community we serve.”

Despite some turbulence, Mr. Valenti is looking forward to being back at school and to seeing his students.

“I like to see their smiling faces,” he said.