Teacher World

A bizarre story surfaced this week which has me wrestling with a wide variety of reactions. It’s the story of a boy with a twisted yet unique excuse for doing something unthinkable.

A 13-year old boy from Rio Arriba County in New Mexico, whose name is not being released at this time, confessed to officials that he had inappropriately touched and raped a 7-year old girl in his family. His defense? He claims that he was teased and bullied unmercifully on a regular basis for being a virgin. He claims that he raped his relative, I assume his sister, due to intense peer pressure from these bullies.

Sheriff Thomas Rodella of the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Department has taken some criticism for his apparent sympathy for the rapist, even saying, “This case is all about bullying, and because of the bullying, now we have two victims.”

Statistics do show that frequently bullies were once victims of bullying themselves, who engage in bullying in an effort to regain some control over their own lives.  Our nation has seen a dramatic increase in teen suicides which have been attributed to the deep despair and depression which can result from being subjected to unrelenting bullying, and we have watched in agony as schools have been held hostage by bullied victims out for revenge. These events have been tragic and horrific and have opened our nation’s eyes to the seriousness of bullying and its potential repercussions.

But my gut reaction to this story is one of grave concern that children will now use bullying as an excuse for sexually deviant behavior. At the age of 13, children know the difference between right and wrong. They understand that forcing young children to have sex is morally despicable. It is beyond my scope of reasoning to accept this deplorable act as excusable because of peer pressure over still being a virgin. At the age of 13, aren’t most kids still virgins? I don’t believe my head is so far in the sand that I missed that 13 was the official age of sexual maturity.

Apparently, this boy never told anyone at the school that this constant “brutal teasing and bullying” was taking place. I find it a little suspicious that no one knew before yet he is freely talking about it now.

I have reported on, and read about so many terrible incidents of bullying over the years. If you have followed my blogs, you know that I am extremely sympathetic to victims of bullying. And maybe I am wrong not to be more sympathetic to this boy’s situation. But it all feels a little too contrived for me.

Is this a boy who was so victimized and made to feel so marginalized that he would do the unspeakable to get these alleged bullies off his back, or is he instead a clever boy with sexually deviant tendencies who hit upon a great get-out-of-jail-free-card? Only someone who knows him well can say for sure.

In the meantime, he is currently awaiting his fate in a detention center in Santa Fe County. A hearing must be held by Tuesday to decide whether he should stay in the detention center or return home. He faces two counts of criminal sexual contact and one count of sexual penetration of a minor.

And what of the little girl? In the video from HLN, Prime News, she is mentioned very briefly. At one point, Rodella stated, “She is doing as well as can be expected given the situation.” The rest of the video is all about the rapist.

Does anyone else think this is a little skewed? Should our real sympathies lie with this poor, innocent girl, whose life is forever changed, or for this boy, who subjected a relative to sexual torture?  Whose reasons, by the way, are despicable whether they were to prove to his peers he was a man, or whether to satisfy his own sick desire. If this was a matter of peer pressure, I am horrified! Don’t we teach our children not to give in to peer pressure? Now we are going to allow a child to use peer pressure as an excuse for rape? Outrageous!

I am left feeling sickened by this story, and by the thought of giving any credence to this boy’s motivation for what was, no matter what his reasons, a terrible, appalling violation of a young and innocent, little girl.

Bullying, Teacher-World's Blog Bullying, New Mexico, peer pressure, rape, Rio Arriba County, Sheriff Thomas Rodella

Tonight I have an inspiring story for you; one of courage and tenacity in the face of unbelievable odds. It is the story of little Robert “Boo” Maddox V and his battle with H1N1.

Robert Maddox V contracted H1N1 at the age of 5, and was admitted to New Orleans Children’s Hospital in critical condition on November 19, 2009. Today, after a battle of 480 days and now a 7-year old, he was finally released to go home.

Upon his arrival at the hospital in 2009, he was immediately placed in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and during his prolonged stay he experienced severe ailments, including organ failure. He was placed on an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which took over for his heart and lungs and gave his organs the time they needed to heal. He remained on this machine for 53 days, and then began the next stages of his recovery.

He celebrated two birthdays in New Orleans Children’s Hospital, where he underwent 10 surgeries. During this time, he lived through one complication after another. Chris Price, the hospital’s communication manager said, “There were times when it seemed like he was getting better, and then he’d have a setback.”

Yet, Price said that even when he was at his worst, fighting off nearly fatal infections and organ failure, he never lost hope or his sense of humor. He described him as a lively “jokester” and said, “He loved to pull pranks. He would put little rubber roaches in the bed with him for when the nurses would come. That’s one of the most amazing things: to spend 480 days stuck in a bed in one room and to still have a sense of humor.”

While any age group was susceptible to H1N1, children were extremely vulnerable. According to Dr. William Schaffner, the chair of preventative medicine at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, “What we had was this avalanche of illness in children that flooded our emergency rooms at children’s hospitals. Most of them got better. But there are those among them that had to be held in an emergency room for 24 hours. Some had to be admitted, and some needed intensive care.”

According to Schaffner, Boo’s 480-day battle with H1N1 is very rare for a child. “The situation usually gets resolved much, much earlier, either for the better or, unfortunately, the illness becomes grave in the root sense of that word and the patient dies.”

Chris Price reported that there were only a few children who had to be admitted to New Orleans Children’s Hospital for H1N1; most were successfully treated with Tamiflu, which prevents the virus from spreading through the body and were able to go home.

Boo’s father said that even though he has five children from 20 years old to 3 years old, they had never faced the agony of having a sick child until Boo’s ordeal. He told ABC News affiliate WGNO, “So we didn’t really realize what went on [in] these places, but God has … [given] us a valuable lesson that will stick with us the rest of our lives.”

So finally, Boo Maddox V will be heading home. And although the family looks forward to him being able to be a “normal kid” who can finally do the things a 7-year old does, he is not out of the woods. He has been left with kidney damage which will require his going to dialysis three times a week. And he will have to be monitored carefully because if his kidneys don’t recover, he will have to remain on dialysis for the rest of his life, unless he can get a kidney transplant.

I cannot begin to imagine what this family has endured. Doctors are astounded that Boo survived his ordeal, which speaks highly of the care he received at this hospital and his fighting spirit. What a little hero!

My hope and prayer is that this little boy is able to finally experience all of the things most children take for granted; a walk in a forest, a picnic in the park, swinging on a swing, sledding down a hill, watching fireworks on the Fourth of July, eating an ice cream cone on a warm summer day on the beach, falling asleep in his own bed…

Good luck to you, Boo! May your life be as blessed as you so richly deserve!

Teacher-World's Blog H1N1, kidney failure, New Orleans Children's Hospital, Robert Maddox V

This is a sadly ironic little blog about a school which was renamed after our president, the Barack H. Obama Elementary School in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Originally the Bangs Avenue School, this building was renamed in 2010, due to a successful movement orchestrated by city resident, Myra Campbell. In 2009, Campbell told the Star-Ledger, “Every time they walk through the school doors, there’s going to be a certain amount of pride in where they go to school. We now move forward in trying what we can to improve the academic skills of the students and also the social skills.”

At the time, administrators took some heat for placing emphasis on changing the name of the school as opposed to focusing on the school’s issues, but Campbell thought it would “send a subliminal message” to the students.

Apparently, that hasn’t worked out very well, because on March 17, it was announced in a release by the Asbury Park State Fiscal Monitor’s office that the school would be closed. Bruce N. Rodman, the official in charge of this district’s finances, informed the district that one of its elementary schools would have to close. Since the Obama elementary school’s enrollment had dropped over the past ten years by 35%, it was determined that this should be the school to shut its doors.

So, starting in the fall, students from the Barack H. Obama Elementary School will be attending two other local schools which, according to the school system’s superintendent, Dr. Denise Lowe, would help improve academic achievement.

“Change is never easy but the district is at a pivotal point where difficult decisions must be made. The consequences of idleness are far greater than the improvisation that is now necessary,” Lowe stated. “While my preference was to restructure the district’s schools based on the Pre-K – 3rd grade reform model, I am committed to leading our schools to greater academic achievement no matter the course.”

Lowe had hoped that by reconfiguring the elementary grades, they would have been able to keep the Obama school open.

It is sobering when a school closes, sobering for the parents who must send their children to schools which are probably further away than they would like, and equally sobering for the children who must adjust to a new environment and blend in with the students who are already there.

For my part, I am sorry that the renaming of the school was not inspiration enough to turn this school around. I imagine that it was difficult news for our president to hear as well. I guess the lesson learned is that it’s not in the name, but in the desire and the drive of the teachers, the students, and the community to achieve in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds. It takes a village, not the name, not the building. It takes the teachers, students, and community working together as a village to raise our children.

It is difficult for me to believe that changing the address will change the situation which has led to the closing of this school. I can only hope that there is a stronger sense of community in the two schools which will adopt these new students. Be a village!

low-performing schools, Teacher-World's Blog Asbury Park, Bang Avenue School, Barack H. Obama Elementary School, New Jersey, school closing

Well, here we go again! Another tragic shooting in a school, but this time the incident occurred in a middle school, not a high school, and from all indications so far, it may have more to do with tainted love than bullying.

The school day hadn’t even begun yesterday at Martinsville West Middle Schoolin Martinsville, Indiana, a little community just southwest of Indianapolis, when a 15-year old student, whose name and grade have not been released, entered the school and shot 15-year old Chance Jackson in the stomach an undisclosed number of times, in the vestibule of the school.

The shooter then left the school, but was eventually apprehended several miles away. Following the boy’s trail, police discovered a handgun on a wooded hillside near a local shopping center. The boy is in custody but, as of yesterday, he hadn’t been officially arrested. Police said he could face an attempted murder charge if arrested.

Chance was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis by air ambulance, where he underwent surgery and is now listed in critical, but stable condition. In a statement released by the hospital, his family said, “We appreciate all of the thoughts, prayers and support and ask that you also pray for the families of all involved. Please respect our privacy as we focus on Chance’s recovery.”

The students of Martinsville West Middle School spent almost five hours in lockdown after the shooting, but were finally released sometime after noon to their anxiously awaiting parents outside.

So, what happened this time? What made this boy crack? Well, the pieces are still coming together, but apparently he was suspended and expelled last week, although the school is not saying why, at this time.

However, a seventh grader who attends the school and claims to be friends with the victim, said in a Facebook chat with The Star that the shooter was suspended for threatening to blow up the school. She further claimed that he had told her boyfriend that he was going to return to school on Friday, and it would be a “good day.” At the time, her boyfriend assumed he meant that he was happy to be returning, but the statement takes on a decidedly perverse meaning now, if this is true.

According to talk at the school, the conflict between these two boys may be as simple as unrequited love. Students at the school claim that the two boys were fighting over the same girl for several months, and their conflict intensified at a school dance which took place last week.

Now, I’m no rocket scientist, but it seems pretty clear that these two had some issues with each other, but these issues seem to have escalated for the shooter and the victim this past week: first, a conflict at a dance then, the shooter is suspended and expelled for possibly threatening to blow up the school.

I could be reading these signals all wrong, but it sounds like this is not a case of bullying, but rather a case of a boy who couldn’t handle not getting the girl. If that’s the case, there are some real psychological issues here. And it makes me wonder if these signs were missed by this boy’s parents. I am always flabbergasted that someone like this has access to a gun! How does this happen?

As expected, there is a lot of he-said, she-said talk going on right now, but one parent, Kim Faulkner states that her son, who’s a student at the school, told her that a girl who knew the suspect attempted to warn the administrators of the school that there might be some trouble this week. Faulkner claims that the school wouldn’t listen to this girl’s concerns about the shooter. “She was telling the truth but no one would listen to her,” Faulkner said.

But when an upset parent tried to question the school’s principal, Suzie Lipps, outside the school yesterday, asking her if it was true that a student tried to warn the administration that there might be violence at the school this week, the parent was told that the rumor was untrue. It may be rather telling that Lipps went into the school without addressing the media.

However, Ron Furniss, Martinsville Schools Superintendent, issued the following statement: “We have had an extremely unfortunate situation at West Middle School and our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and his family during this time. We have had counselors available for students this morning and have worked closely with law enforcement agencies during the investigation.”

So, we wait to hear the reasons for this latest school shooting. As the police continue to investigate this incident, I will keep you updated as more information unfolds.

Teacher-World's Blog Facebook, handgun, Martinsville West Middle School, school shooting

This past week, Pennsylvania students were busy taking their state achievement tests, well, most of them that is. Some students didn’t have to take the tests this year because their parents opted out of them. Didn’t know that was possible? Well, neither did I. Check it out.

At Park Forest Elementary School, in State College, Pennsylvania, 9 of their 500 students were excused from taking this year’s tests as a result of a religious exemption, the only legal exemption which allows students to sit out the tests. However, religion doesn’t seem to be the major issue in these cases.

Michele Gray, who is refusing to allow her two boys to take their achievement tests, says, “The more I look at standardized tests, the more I realize that we have, as parents, been kind of sold a bill of goods.” She feels that they are an inaccurate measure of accomplishment and create excessive stress for students. She also feels, as educators do, that they are being used to punish schools. She referenced her own school which received a warning status when its special education students’ scores fell below the state’s expected level of progress.

“The more I looked at it, the more outraged I became,” Gray said, “This is not something I want to be contributing to or something I want my children participating in.”

Gray’s action was motivated by Dr. Timothy Slekar, associate professor of education at Penn State Altoona, who also did not allow his son to take the tests this year. He cited the same issues that educators everywhere have voiced: the tests narrow the curriculum by forcing teachers to spend too much time preparing their students for them. He feels so strongly that these tests do not accurately measure students’ or a school’s performance that he is making a passionate stand.

“I’m a father and an educator who’s finally said, ‘This is it. I’m done.’ Something has to give. Something has to change,” Slekar said.

Dana Mitra, who is also an education professor, decided to let her daughter take the tests this year in spite of her unhappiness with them, too. Her decision is based on her concern that opting out will hurt the school, whose test scores will have a lot to say about the school’s performance level, but she admits that she doesn’t know what she will do next year.

In spite of criticism regarding their decision, Gray and Slekar’s resolve remains strong. Gray is using Facebook as a way to send the message to parents that they, too, have the option to refuse to allow their children to take these tests, and she is strongly encouraging them to do so. And parents in Colorado have a similar website.

So 9 out of 500 will sit out these tests this year at Park Forest Elementary School. It will be interesting to see if these numbers grow over time, especially as 2014 grows nearer, the year when all schools everywhere are expected to achieve 100% passage of their state achievement tests.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if in 2014, we had 100% of our parents nationwide refusing to allow their children to take the tests due to religious reasons?

We can only pray!

state achievement tests, Teacher-World's Blog Dr. Timothy Slekar, Michele Gray, Park Forest Elementary School, state achievement tests

Another uplifting story about bullying caught my eye today. It is the wonderful tale of a 6-year old girl who is refusing to let bullies control her life.

LaNiyaha Bailey is a young girl who is overweight due to a medical condition and because of that, she has been bullied on a regular basis since attending preK and day care. Her mother, Latoya White, said that her daughter would come home from preschool crying because she was being called elephant girl and fatty pants by other students. As a result, she reached a point where she didn’t want to go back to school, so Latoya says she contacted the supervisor of the day care center telling her what was happening, but the situation wasn’t really handled, and eventually she moved her to a different day care center.

LaNiyaha wanted to help other kids like herself and to teach those who tease and bully others that bullying isn’t cool, so she and her mother worked together to write a book called Not Fat Because I Wanna Be. The book explains some of the situations that LaNiyaha faced and how they made her feel. She also tells how her mother helped her through some of the rough times.

Here are two excerpts from the book to give you an idea of how precious this book is. Remember, this is a 6-year old.

“I always tried to hold back my tears but they came anyway. ‘BJ called me a big-fat elephant girl.’
I sobbed, ‘And they all call me fatty pants.’
My mom would hug me tight and say, ‘Don’t cry honey. Don’t give them the pleasure. People often judge others by how they look on the outside. They don’t take time to discover the beautiful person that’s on the inside.’”

And this one…
 “One day my mom and I were watching the kids channel on TV and we saw Michelle Obama, that’s the president’s wife. She said if kids ate healthy they wouldn’t get obese.
I guess that’s just a fancy word for fat! This made me sad. I do eat healthy food, but I’m still fat. A lot of those kids with the president’s wife looked like me.”

When she was asked what message she hopes this book will send to parents, Latoya said, “It all starts at home. You know, you’ve got to teach your kids self-confidence. You’ve got to tell them you love them.  You’ve got to really create a pathway for them to be able to come home and talk to you about anything. And when you’re not doing that, a lot of times kids take their anger or whatever they’re not getting home out on other children, which isn’t good. And that’s how bullies are created.”

The book is getting rave reviews from people who have read it already and are being so supportive of LaNiyaya and what she is doing. This is a book I will definitely pick up to use in my own classroom. I believe it is a must-read for any classroom. Who knows how this book might inspire other children just like LaNiyaya? What a brave, young girl!

Bullying, child obesity, Teacher-World's Blog Bullying, child obesity, LaNiyaya Bailey, Not Fat Because I Wanna Be

I feel compelled tonight to write a follow-up blog about the young Australian boy, Casey Heynes, who stood up to an even younger bully, Ritchard Gale. There have been some interesting interviews which either shed new light on what really happened that day or perhaps, are an attempt to muddy the water a bit.

First of all, in an interview with Casey Heynes, the 15-year old who has become an overnight hero as a result of the often watched YouTube video of his encounter with Ritchard, he revealed that he has been bullied and harassed for years because of his weight. He admitted to feeling lonely and sad, and said that on that fateful day, he had just had enough and he “snapped”.

Casey said that ever since he can remember, “he’s been picked on, put down, bashed, and tormented.” He said that when he went to high school, he had eight friends, but they left him and the real teasing began; the tripping, hitting, being hit with water balloons, and so on, happened practically every day. The worst, he said, was when he was duck taped to a pole after his eyes were taped so he couldn’t see.

Casey claims that Ritchard had been slapping him and harassing him about his weight for about two weeks prior to the much-watched attack. The attack, according to Casey, was a complete surprise; suddenly Ritchard ambushed him and you can hear in the video that Ritchard’s friends were cheering him on.

His father, Collin, admitted that he had had no idea what Casey had been dealing with until he saw the video, and he admits to being unsure what his appropriate reaction should be to what he saw. He said that it wasn’t anything to be proud of, but, on the other hand, he was glad that Casey had finally stood up for himself. He told the reporter, “It’s already changed his demeanor and self-esteem. I can see he’s standing a lot straighter; a lot more proud, which is very good for him.”

The interview ended with this message from Casey to other children out there who are victimized by bullies: “Look for the good days. Keep your chin up. School ain’t going to last forever.”

The second interview was with Ritchard and his father, and I will admit to being a little disturbed after watching this one. In the initial reports that came out after the attack, witnesses and people interviewed all said that Casey has been the victim of bullying for a long time and has never been in trouble for fighting. He has been described as a quiet boy. Casey himself admits that he has been a loner, making him an easy target.

On the other hand, Ritchard was characterized as a notorious bully. Early reports indicated that this was definitely not the first time he had harassed another student. And it certainly looks as though this altercation between Ritchard and Casey was planned or why would someone be conveniently taking a cell phone video at the time? It has all the earmarks of being a set-up to later post on-line in an attempt to further humiliate Casey.

But suddenly, in this interview, Ritchard, who has become the target of some pretty awful on-line responses, is portraying himself as the victim, claiming that Casey started it by talking trash to him and hitting him first. He claims that the cell phone video missed what happened first, and that Casey is the bully who started the whole thing, and that he, Ritchard, was the one who got mad and fought back.

I’m sorry, but it seems circumspect to me and a little too convenient to suddenly turn this whole story around. Don’t you suppose we would have heard this much earlier if it were truly the case?

At one point in the interview, the reporter asks Ritchard if he is sorry for what he did. His immediate response is no, until he obviously turns to where his dad is sitting off-camera and gets the message that his response was not appropriate, at which point, he quickly changes his answer to yes. The reporter states the obvious, that Ritchard is conveying what his dad wants him to, and asks him to be honest and answer the question. Amazingly, he confesses that he isn’t sorry because it wasn’t his fault. He proceeds to disclose the fact that he also has been bullied, which may actually be true, as this is such a common scenario; victims of bullying becoming the bullies. But I do not believe that he was bullied by Casey.

Ritchard’s father is obviously, and legitimately worried for his son. He expressed his concern over the terrible things that have been said about him on the Internet, and admits that he is afraid of what might happen to him. But he should be even more worried after this interview. This was the perfect opportunity for Ritchard to come clean; to admit his poor choices and ask forgiveness. His attitude from the start was smug, and at no point did I get any sense of remorse.

It is unfortunate that Ritchard did not take this opportunity to make amends by taking responsibility for his actions and publicly asking Casey for his forgiveness. Some of what has been posted about this boy on the Internet is completely over the top! No matter what he did, he doesn’t deserve some of the outrageously hateful things that have been said. My fear is that this interview will fan the fire, which is already burning hot against this boy.

I must apologize for the teacher in me who is always looking for what we learned from our experiences. It seems to me that Casey has learned to stand up for himself, and I think the public support from all around the world will make him stronger and an excellent role model for others, like himself, who are facing bullying.

As for Ritchard, it is difficult to determine what lesson he has learned, other than that age-old lesson of making excuses and passing the buck. Neither will make him very likeable in the future or very popular.

Bullying, Teacher-World's Blog Australia, Bullying, Casey Heynes, Ritchard Gale, YouTube

I promised you part two of this wonderful story about Taft Information Technology High School, and here it is. (If you didn’t read yesterday’s blog, please read that first, or this won’t make a lot of sense.)

As I explained yesterday, Taft’s principal, Anthony Smith is all about relationships and partnering with his teachers to positively push their children to succeed in the classroom, and, as I told you yesterday, the relationships they have built with their students is making a huge difference.

But, the teachers at Taft are not Smith’s only partners in his determination to improve this once-failing school. Smith teamed up with the CEO of Cincinnati Bell, the city’s local phone company. Jack Cassidy was so impressed with Smith’s dedication and drive that he brought his whole company into the project by promising free cell phones and laptops for every student who was able to consistently maintain a 3.3 GPA! But, here’s the catch: If their GPA dipped below a 3.3, they had to give them back.

“You know how many cell phones and laptops we’ve taken back in nine years? Zero,” Cassidy told reporters.

Additionally, Cassidy encourages his employees to tutor at the school an average of two to three hours a week during their work day. Even though they are still expected to get all of their work done, in spite of the tutoring, he claims that the tutoring energizes his employees because they are doing things they wouldn’t normally do during their workday. Cassidy claims they do an even better job when they return to work.

And how does Smith feel about this voluntary tutoring by Bell employees? He believes that it was the tutors, and not the technology, which had the greatest impact on the students at Taft. “Here is one more person willing to take some time out of their schedule to give us one more dose of love,” Smith said.

When Cassidy was asked what made him get involved in this project with a school that was clearly failing, he remarked that his motto is “Go big or stay home.” He went on to explain, “Why connect with the best? They’re already the best. But, if you can move the needle at all, at the worst place, imagine what you can do at the best place.”

So, has the needle moved? Oh yes! It definitely has. Here are some staggering statistics from a once-failing school: As I told you yesterday, ten years ago the graduation rate at Taft was at an all-time low of 18%. Today, 95% of the students graduate. They have been rated a school of excellence as a result of their state achievement test scores. And, here is the most staggering fact of all: Over the past nine years, Smith boasts that all of their students passed all five parts of the OGT! Wow!

Amazingly, the school which used to be the eye-sore of Cincinnati is now attracting transfer students. Kenny Fowler is one of those students. He transferred to Taft from one of the city’s top schools. Why did he do it? “It wasn’t until I peeked into a class where one of the students was reading his essay, and he said he enjoyed a ‘plethora’ of things,” said Fowler. “And I was like, what does that mean? They were high-fiving each other and everything,”

Kenny is a straight A student at Taft now, and his mother, who didn’t want him attending this school at first, is now a believer.  “The school made just a phenomenal, a drastic change in his life and I’m just grateful,” she said.

How fitting that the once dilapidated, old building has been replaced with a new $18.8 million high school, which will open in the spring. And the teachers and students joke that in their new schools, the clocks will work.

A school turned around by the commitment of a principal who believes, “You have to look at these children like they’re the most important part of your life. I can teach you how to be a good teacher. I can’t teach you how to care.”

And yet, you did just that. Your teachers caught your fever, your love for the students you serve, and you have changed them as much as you have changed the students at Taft.

And, you changed me, too. I was so inspired by this story because it reminded me of why I got into teaching in the first place. It is so easy to get inundated by the negatives in education: parental complaints, administrative demands, all of the paperwork, and the dreaded test prep, to name a few. Today, I entered my classroom with a new attitude and a new purpose; to personally and purposefully touch the lives of each of my students, to encourage them and let them know I believe in their ability to succeed, and to use that belief as a catalyst to motivate them to higher levels.

And, just like Anthony Smith, I am excited by the prospect of making advances in our classroom, “one child at a time.”

Changes in Teaching, low-performing schools, state achievement tests, Teacher-World's Blog Cincinnati Bell, Jack Cassidy, Principal Anthony Smith, Taft Information Technology High School, turnaround schools

I want to tell you a story about hope, a story about relationships, and a story about failure replaced by success. It’s also the story of ABC’s Person of the Week for last week, Anthony Smith, and why he achieved this honor. Because I am so captured by this story and there is so much to tell, this will be a two-part blog.

Let me start out by setting the scene. Ten years ago, Taft Informational Technology High School located in Cincinnati, Ohio, was considered to be the worst slum school in the whole city; teachers didn’t want to teach there, parents didn’t want their children to go there, and the failure rate was high. It was “dilapidated, crime-ridden, and filled with failing and forgotten students.” One of the comments that best summarizes the condition of this school was, “It was so dysfunctional that each clock told a different time-all of which were wrong.”

But something happened nine years ago which changed everything at Taft; they got a new principal named Anthony Smith, and they would soon discover that this was not your average principal. Smith’s motto was, “Failure is not an option.” And he has lived out that motto at his school.

When he first arrived, he had the option of firing all of the teachers at Taft since it was considered a failing school, but he kept them all. He admits that he thought at first that the teachers didn’t know what they were doing, but he learned pretty quickly that he was wrong. Smith said, “They knew what they were doing, they were working hard, just working hard in the wrong direction.”

What’s so different about Anthony Smith and this school that has basically been reinvented? It’s very simple; the principal and every teacher in the school have learned the importance of developing personal relationships with the students they work with.

Now before you think that is no big deal, let me explain how that plays out. First, Smith walks through the halls and into each classroom of his school every day taking the time to talk to students along the way. He makes it his business to connect with each student, calling them all by name, and letting them know that he is aware of their successes and struggles. He encourages them, he jokes with them, but the bottom line is, he lets them know he is interested, he cares, and he has high expectations for each one of them.

He wants to know if they are happy, who needs help, and what they think about their teachers. He tells them that they must pass; failure is not an option, and he even tutors students who are struggling after school. He knows each student and what their situation is which makes a huge impact on the students of Taft.

And he has placed that same expectation on his teachers whom he teams up with to monitor the progress or struggles of each student. Together, they meet daily to identify students who are falling behind and make plans to catch them up.

Smith stated, in the ABC interview, that sometimes he has students who just give up and stop coming to school. He explained that he gives them a couple of days, but then he goes to their house, knocks on their door, and makes it clear that he will not let them give up. How many principals do you know who would do that?

The bottom line in any story about turning around a failing school is always: Did it make a measurable difference? Well, I’ll give you more details in tomorrow’s blog, but here’s a little nibble: Ten years ago, the graduation rate at Taft was 12-18%. The current graduation rate is 95%! Yeah, I’d say it’s working!

So, how do the teachers feel about this new attitude and their success? Kelly Rozell said that she chose to come to Taft because she figured, “They were so far in the dumps and at the bottom, there was nowhere else to go but up. Nowhere else to go!”  She went on to say that change has come because students know that their teachers really care. “And kids know whether or not you are genuine or if you really, really care about them.” She felt that this is what is making Taft a success; a principal and teachers who genuinely care.

When asked why he thinks it’s not happening in schools everywhere, Smith said, “People forget the major R. There’s an R-factor called relationships. You have to look at these children like they’re the most important part of your life, and if you do that, you’ll be able to replicate it. Because I can teach you how to be a great teacher, but I can’t teach you how to care.”

Think about it. The teachers who had the biggest impact on your life were the ones who made you feel that you mattered to them. And because they did, you worked extra hard in their classrooms in order to please them.

Now imagine going to a school where your principal made a special effort to talk to you daily, who knew what was happening in your life in and out of school, and was willing to work with you after school or show up at your house if need be. What if all of your teachers genuinely cared about you? Wouldn’t you work harder and be more successful? Happy, well-adjusted students are more cooperative and diligent.

Could the answer to turning around our schools be as simple as this? Well, there’s a second piece of the puzzle that I will share with you tomorrow, as well as significant and irrefutable proof that this approach is working. So, stay tuned…

Changes in Teaching, Educational Reform, low-performing schools, Teacher-World's Blog Cincinnati, failing schools, Ohio, Principal Anthony Smith, Taft Informational Technology High School, turnaround school

Well, the anticipated glitch has now frozen any movement forward on Wisconsin’s new budget repair law even though it was signed into law by Governor Scott Walker two weeks ago. Of course, Walker said, according to a spokeswoman, that he was confident that the initiative would eventually prevail in the court system.

As threatened, after only a two hour notice was given by Republicans for a vote on this budget repair bill, Wisconsin Senate Democrats filed a complaint with the Dane County district attorney. In their complaint they claimed the Republicans in the Senate violated Wisconsin’s open meetings law by failing to give a 24-hour public notice of the meeting it held on March 9, in spite of state Representative Peter Barca’s objection.

The ruling on Friday, by Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi, called for a temporary restraining order which halted the budget repair law designed to diminish the union’s power of most public employees. Her order demanded that Secretary of State Douglas LaFollette was to refrain from publishing the new law “until further order of the court.”

In Judge Sumi’s written decision, she made the following analogy to help explain her ruling: “Those few of you who may have seen the Super Bowl know that there was a much-photographed guy with a cheesehead, and it said ‘owner’ on it. And of course, we all know what that refers to, the fact that the Green Bay Packers are publicly owned. It’s a heartwarming moment to see that, but in fact, it states that we in Wisconsin own our government. We own it. And we own it in three ways.

We own it by the vote. We own it by the duty to provide open and public access to records, so that the activities of government can be monitored. And we own it in that we are entitled by law to free and open access to government meetings, and especially governmental meetings that lead to the resolution of very highly conflicted and controversial matters.”

Secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, Stephanie Bloomingdale, was pleased by the ruling. “In Wisconsin, we have a democracy, and rules need to be followed. No one is above the law, including Scott Walker,” Bloomingdale said. “This is definitely a move in the right direction for working people in Wisconsin to uphold worker rights and also to uphold democracy in Wisconsin and America.”

While Democrats are hopeful that this ruling might bring the demise of this new law, Democrat Senator Jon Erpenbach stated, “I would hope the Republicans would take this as an opportunity to sit down with Democrats and negotiate a proposal we could all get behind.”

Indeed, so many of us in other states, like Ohio, with similar controversial bills still to be decided would hope for the same thing, because Wisconsin is leading the way in this drama, which has us all watching and waiting to find out what will happen next. Although, I think most of us already assume that this latest decision will just slow the inevitable down a little bit.

Funding Education, Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog budget repair law, collective bargaining, Governor Scott Walker, Judge Maryann Sumi, Wisconsin