Of all the new and innovative applications for Six Sigma, none
may be as interesting as one being used in the state of Colorado
– applying Six Sigma to all aspects of a public school system.
And “all aspects” includes the heart of every school district –
the classroom. Two years ago, businessman Jim Weigel, who was
president of the school board for Adams County School District
12 in Thornton, Colo., USA, gave his fellow board members an
unusual holiday gift. Each of them received a copy of the book
The Six Sigma Way (McGraw-Hill, 2000) by Peter Pande, Robert
Neuman and Roland Cavanagh. Their assignment for the holiday
break was to read it and be ready to discuss it at the first
school board meeting in the new year. Wiegel’s company
manufactured granite countertops, and as a Six Sigma
practitioner he was familiar with the methodology’s potential
for improving production processes. But he knew he had a tough
sell convincing the school board and the faculty of Six Sigma’s
value to them. Although many of them agr