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$3 for 3 months. Save 90%.

Now is the time for adult supervision

Larry Neal

A teacher chains herself to the school district's central office building.  Community organizers, parents and teachers march en masse to Board of Education meetings.  Nearly 95% of city teachers vote that they have no confidence in the superintendent's ability to lead the Rochester City School District.

The superintendent lashes out at community groups who question his methods and direction.  He refuses to bargain in good faith with the teacher's union to replace its lapsed labor contract, while expeditiously negotiating his own contract, which guarantees him a salary that exceeds the governor's.

What a mess!  Parents and teachers are angry and afraid.  Where do we as a district go from here without endangering the education of thousands of students who travel to city schools each morning?

Where is the School Board during all this?  Why isn't Malik Evans mediating this situation?  He's the president of the School Board.  He's supposed to be in charge!  Why hasn't he pulled Mr. Brizzard and Dr. Urbanski into a room together and forced them to deal with each other in a constructive way.

This situation reminds me of an analogy that a former Navy boss of mine used.  He likened organizations to aircraft carriers.  They both have momentum.  In the case of an aircraft carrier, it has about 90,000 tons moving at 35+ knots worth of momentum.  My boss said that if you tried to make major changes to an organization too fast, it was like shifting the rudder of a carrier moving at high speed too quickly.  All that happens are incredibly violent vibrations, structural damage to the ship and very little change in direction.  Better to turn the ship by easing the rudder over slowly and incrementally, thus bringing it around smoothly, safely and efficiently.  In his pursuit of questionable and unproven reforms, Mr. Brizzard has moved the rudder of our "ship" too quickly and too far.

I have a suggestion for Mr. Evans.  Get these two gentlemen into a room the rudder and then let them start this turn again by finding incremental changes acceptable to both.  If you don't, our "ship" is bound to go aground.