Be Positive but Be Better

 

Let it Go. What’s buggin’ me about Old North

I am regarded by those who know me as a positive person. I look for the good in people, places and things. If you know me well, you also know that I am a perceptive person who sees where things seem less than optimal. Ironically, it is the negative perceptions that are great fuel for humor. It is with this spirit in mind that I would like to share a list of things that aren’t quite right at Old North Academy. The place has tremendous potential but, as I shared with the principal, I wouldn’t want to be charged with fixing all that seems broken.

The rhetoric doesn’t match the action  

·       Before I accepted the offer to teach Art in 2023-24 school year I heard a lot about the notion of creating a Middle School experience that would reinforce Pathways to futures in the study and careers in the Arts. That said, where is the recognition of excellence?

·       The Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) is heavy on the terms Respect, Responsibility and Safety. Why then it is so commonplace at Old North to hear students using inappropriate language, fighting (play or not) and ignoring simple rules like “level zero” while transitioning to class or cafeteria?

·       How come the “scholars” are expected to be in uniform and teachers and administrators are wearing jeans, hoodies and stretch pants?  

·       With so many opportunities to reinforce positive behavior and academic excellence, why does the school use a prime bulletin board to advertise to teachers about taking attendance? (Wouldn’t it be more positive to applaud students with perfect attendance?)

So much is taken for granted       

Teachers' meetings are dreaded because it means staff has to stay after school and generally listen to a one-way dialogue that masquerades as transparency. Example: The district needs to take these steps to satisfy the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education DESE "so here's what we've decided you will do...."

·       The way to handle a disruptive cafeteria is to make the entire class suffer the consequences. This kinda reinforces the student argument that if “everybody else is doing the wrong thing why shouldn’t I?  The consequences are the same either way.

·       Routines never have a chance since the playbook seems to favor audible change again and again: transitions to specials, breaks for water, restrooms, hall passes, routines are anything but routine.

So much needs repair or at least cosmetic attention

·       Bathroom soap dispensers are never all working or contain soap

·       Bathroom stall doors are usually broken

·       Graffiti in restrooms, on desks, furniture

·       Cabinets in rooms are not secured (broken locks, doors, handles, hardware)

·       Christmas trees still in hallways in February

·       Bulletin board with fall/Halloween theme still up in February.

Not much Empowering and Reinforcing staff

·       Teachers without keys to there room (i.e. Art and Music)

·       Frowning on arriving early to work, (The building can’t handle an ambitious teacher who wants to beat the horrific traffic on 70 arriving before 6:30 a.m. greeted with a mini lecture that begins “the expectation for teachers and staff is that they arrive at 7:15am)

·       Little or no consequences apparent for tardy teachers/staff. Example: a teacher arrives 20 minutes late for a team meeting and misses some of the business and apologizes for being “a few seconds tardy”.

Going through the motions and checking boxes

·       Do we really believe having back to back to back drills for effective preparedness? (Intruder Drill, Hurricane/Tornado Drill, Fire Drill)

·       Staffing – especially when it appears that keeping a position filled is not working (Why for example are we on our third Librarian in 8 months? Why were there 5 different art teachers last year?)

I invested time and money in becoming an educator 10+years. I began my education journey with Special Education (SSD) as sub, para-educator, applied behavior analyst (ABA). I taught self-contained classroom at Great Circle in Webster Groves, SSD re-hired me to be Special Ed teacher at partner district Riverview Gardens for middle schoolers (Westview Middle), I was Art teacher in Lincoln County’s Winfield Middle School before joining Confluence. (Funny - my 2023 tax return reports payments from 3 school districts.)

Good for me. I am learning and experiencing new things after full careers in advertising (at big league advertising firms) 15 years, Director and Vice President level marketing communications lead in corporate environments for three leading design and construction firms (HBE, Clayco, Crossland) and a global manufacturer of welding and cutting products (Thermadyne – now part of ESAB) 10 years. 

P.S. Separate category - scary things about working at Old North: 

That crazy commute on I-70 is very tense with aggressive drivers who will pass you on the left (even if it means swerving into and out of an exit lane). 

On I-70 I had to manage a flat tire at 70 miles per hour. 

On I-70 I had to avoid hiting an overturned office chair in my lane.

On 1-70 I've found myself traveling under 20 MPH for accidents at Goodfellow, Kingshighway and on 270...to name a few.

My back was turned facing a cabinet one morning only to have a student sneak up on me and prentend to shoot me in the head, Pow! (I'm sure L thought that was a clever thing to do.)

The truth is stranger than fiction: overheard conversations about teen pregnancy, firearms, trauma, family struggles and more. 

No easy fixes, I know.

P.S. How about this bulletin board post. Irony in education. Bragging about test scores with questionable grammar. LOL.