Community Organizes Protest, Study Sessions, around the State of our Schools
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Last week was quite busy for community members looking to change the direction of the Rochester City School District. Before Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard gave his "State of the Schools" address, between 400 and 600 teachers protested outside of the School of the Arts. The protest, organized by the Rochester Teachers Association, focused on many issues, but the thread that tied them all together was that teachers see Brizard as running the schools with a heavy-handed, top-down approach, rather than reaching out to teachers and listening to their expertise.
Earlier, the Community Education Task Force organized a study session at the Phylis Wheatley public library titled, "What IS the plan for our schools?" (video reportback) The plan was to investigate several initiatives in the RSCD and think about what they really mean for students, teachers, and the larger community. The night was a way for the CETF to take matters into their own hands regarding the lack of communication from Brizard and his administration — if we aren't going to be told the plan for the schools, then we need to figure it out. We highly recommend watching the video if you want a quick synopsis on where Rochester city schools could be headed.