Community looks to Brizard for new vision, direction

(Photo by Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

With a graduation rate of 39% (the lowest among the "Big 5" school districts in NY), there is clearly a lot of hard work ahead for the new superintendent of the Rochester City School District. Despite heavy odds, it seems that the school board made a good choice in the selection of Jean-Claude Brizard. In his "Plan of Entry" outlined on January 2nd, Brizard emphasized the solution "is about every child". It is easy to make nice sounding statements like that in presentation, but gaining the confidence of parents and teachers takes action. And after 21 years with the New York City schools system, Brizard knew this - so he offered something better than even action: interaction. On Friday, Brizard spent nearly 2 hours at Dr. Freddie Thomas High School talking with approximately 100 students from 16 schools. He answered their questions, and more importantly, listened to what they had to say. He heard what the major problems are in the district in the eyes of the people it serves. The session was also broadcast over the radio on WDKX-FM 103.9 and WXXI-AM 1370. It is instinct like this and an impressive background that should provide hope and a measure of comfort to parents and students. During his time in New York, Brizard served as Executive Director for Secondary Schools, Region 8 Instructional Superintendent, a high school principle, a high school physics teacher, and a junior high school science teacher. His most recent position was Senior Executive for Policy and Sustainability. Before that he was the Region 6 Superintendent, where he oversaw 100 schools and 100,000 highly diverse students - 61% of whom were economically disadvantaged. Brizard was a good find with his extensive experience relevant to the problems in Rochester. Lets hope he can be as effective here as he has been in New York. (Sources: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester City School District)