Rochester City School District

Change: A Message From The Superintendent

Jean-Claude Brizard
Superintendent of Schools
August 1, 2008

“Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will.” - Frederick Douglass

I had the good fortune of visiting the soon to be completed Frederick Douglass Resource Center on King Street with our mayor a few days ago. Walking the halls and learning about the Resource Center’s focus on students and education, I was again reminded of the importance of our work and how important it is that we never waiver when it comes to the education of our young people. Change is not easy! Of course, many people say change is good, but then they look for someone else to go first.

We’ve embarked on an aggressive reform plan that aims to radically change the culture of the district. Frankly, we are pushing the organization and one has to expect push back. Some are unhappy because they liked the status quo. They were comfortable. The challenge that we face is to keep the train moving in the midst of a changing of the guards. Early on, we said that the only people we need to make happy are our students and the people who entrusted their children to us. We will not waiver from that promise.

A reporter writing on her blog recently claimed that I returned to Rochester to find that both of my honeymoons are over. Well, I never expected a honeymoon and it’s why we hit the ground running. We fully expected that once we started to pull real triggers, the noise would start. We have a lot of great things planned and already happening for the new school year. We plan to present the new leadership team soon – they are prepared for the challenge. I’ve engaged more than 2,500 administrators, teachers and countless community organizations as we move the work. We have historic gains in math and English language arts and our soon-to-be released high school graduation rate will show further progress. Not all things make the news, but we plan to engage universities, the business community, mentors and parents to help move our work and we will always remain transparent and accountable.