Creative Problem Solving

It was a mixture of thinking outside the box and staying focused upon a vision.

He had only been superintendent of the Rochester, NY schools for six weeks. The wind chill on the February morning was minus 14. The suburban schools were canceling classes. Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard decided to keep the city schools open. The new superintendent was deluged with complaints from parents and district employees. It was not the way things were done. Brizard listened to the complaints – really listened. What he learned was that people were upset because many inner city children didn’t have adequate winter coats to be out in such cold. He also knew that the children belonged in school.

Understanding the nature of the complaints and the full scope of the problem, Brizard chose a new approach –keeping the schools open in cold weather – but getting the students coats.

"It is not about closing schools. It's about making sure there is school and they have the right equipment to get to school and, once they get there, to do well," Brizard said.

So a drive was begun with the Volunteers of America collecting the coats. Over the next two weeks more than 1000 coats and 600 pairs of boots were collected. They are now being dropped off at city schools.

I loved this story because the superintendent kept communicating with his critics, got to the heart of the issue, and came up with the start of a solution.

While I was researching this story, I came across some great quotes on education and creative thinking that I would also like to share:

Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day. ~ Sally Koch

Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future. ~ Maria Montessori

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ~ Nelson Mandela

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. ~ Edward de Bono


Judy Warner