No Parking, No Zeroes, No Problem...

I was with a student today who told me that she is having a much better year than last.  It would really mean a lot to me, she said, to go to Homecoming with my boyfriend.  "Why don't you go?" I asked.  The event is only a few weeks away and the young lady, popular, smart and fun, would be absolutely in her element at the Homecoming Dance. "Well, I missed some school a month ago and still have zeroes." I asked her if she had met with her teachers? No.  I asked her if she was using daily Eagle Block to catch up? No.  I asked her if she had attended any of our Saturday Learning Seminars.  She sadly shook her head no.  She must have read the expression on my face - you know the one of being perplexed and frustrated at the same time? "I have always been able to pull grades up at the end of the year" she confessed. "I am not used to having to worry about it in October."

This year we have an OHS initiative called "No Parking."  It has nothing to do with driving, but everything to do with moving forward.  I told the kids that basically No Parking means that they can not pull over on the side and watch everyone else pass them. They cannot have zeroes in their classes and expect us to be ok with that.  The do not get to opt out of work that their teachers have determined as essential to their mastery of the material - for whatever reason ..well, in fact, for any reason. (Is that always the case? No.  But that is another story for another blog).

Frankly, No Parking is bribery.  Students do not get to participate in the fun things in school if they have "parking tickets."  It is a new spin on the old "pay to play" approach to schooling. I guess it reflects the way that I was brought up as a teacher many years ago - that the business of school is learning and everything else is just extra. This sounds so right and so full of common sense, doesn't it? But too often today, students often feel they have an unalienable right to school dances and pep rallies and sporting events - based solely on the facts that they attend the school and possibly have a passing, occasional interest in something intellectual, academic or scholarly that might take place in one of their classes on any given day that they mistakenly believe qualifies them as a student. Truth is, this is not the truth.  They have a right to access an education. Period. Everything else is EXTRA - things reserved for students who have demonstrated a legitimate claim to that label because of their efforts to move their lives forward with education providing the fuel.

This is a hard lesson to teach to a generation of children who take the opportunity for education for granted.  This is a hard lesson to teach to children who view their education as an entitlement and not as a responsibility that they must satisfy for their family, their community, their nation and themselves.  This is a hard lesson to teach to students who live in real time and who have a hard, if not impossible,  time projecting/connecting their today to the future.  They see little connection between what they want NOW and the lives they want SOMEDAY.  But we know we must try. To get their attention, to get the ball rolling, to begin to establish a learning readiness culture, we know that it does no good to talk to them about work habits, work ethic, or academic maturity - what does work is making a connection between success now and rewards now.  They get that .



Complacency, laziness, lack of prioritization of learning all have dire results under the No Parking initiative. High stakes consequences, like being able to participate in Homecoming activities, up the ante for students determined to work harder at failing than passing. The connection between effort and achievement become intimately connected because both are needed in order to avoid a "parking ticket."  If they fail to TRY, they don't get a chance to do much else. The penalty is unimaginable to teenagers -exclusion from the first big social event of the season.  If this, then this... If you want to be involved in all of the amazingly fun things here, then all you have to do is to try on each and every assignment by each and every teacher... And guess what, the teachers are STILL ready to help, even after strike one, strike two and sometimes even strike three...

Teachers have been working with students for the past month to encourage, support, re-teach, re-test, remediate, and re-grade work.  No Parking causes more work for teachers - but they don't mind.  They too see value in building a culture of no excuses, no easy outs, and no rewards for doing - well, nothing.  A teacher told me that his students were turning in work that was assigned weeks ago. "I hate taking late work because it is not relevant to what we are currently doing, but what I see is that students who work to dig themselves out of holes are more likely to not fall in as deep a hole again." In some ways, I think that they appreciate being held accountable.  Most understand when I tell them that I am doing this for them and not to them.

In a few days, I will know if this initiative helped inspire students to get off to a rousing start for this school year. I will be faced with the Zero/F List of student not eligible to participate in Homecoming. It will be the makings of bench line data by which we will measure our efficacy of this intervention for the rest of the year.  For me, it will be a measure of whether I am making any difference in a profound, meaningful way for students that need to get out of their own way to be successful - those students that leave me perplexed and frustrated.

Will this work? We think so. We understand that we are going for compliance at this point and not quality... that will come.  Our goal is for all students to be eligible to attend school events if they want to do so because they have earned that right... No Parking prioritizes their learning for them until they can do that for themselves.  No Parking may be the lure - but the real prize is that they take one more forward move to a future they deserve. No Parking, not now and not ever, not for these Eagles.

So, here we go...The Need for Non-Seasonal Leadership

Yesterday was the first day of school for the 2014-15 school year at OHS. A teacher laughingly said last week, "The kids are going to show up whether we are ready or not."  Well, we were ready.

All of the usual back to school jitters and excitement accompanied the 2000 plus students that came through the doors. Teachers were more than ready and received them with enthusiastic smiles and welcomes.  The building had been lovingly prepped for their homecoming - squeaky clean, organized and invitational in tone. It was, and is, the perfect storm. When I used to dream of being a teacher, and then a principal, I always imagined being in a happy school with happy people - one in which all things good were possible and probable. That is how it felt yesterday - the shining moment of a school year beginning.

A friend of mine who is a principal in another state used to say, "The moxie of a school is tested in winter and proven in spring."  I understand.

I wish I could bottle the positivity and hope that characterize the first few glory days of a school year. It is so tangible, one can almost feel it. Authentic school spirit, hope, forward-thinkingness - all of these become the modus operandi at the onset of school. I would love to keep it in reserve for the times in the year where energy and enthusiasm wane - you know, that period of time when no one can imagine the school year ever ending.

We have all been through those times in school - when everything is predictable and routine, when nothing is inspiring or fresh, when it is a matter of showing up and going through the motions. Studies on teacher resiliency and teacher retention have carefully studied the trends in teacher attitude. For veteran teachers, the dip in attitude happens in early November, with ebbs and flows throughout winter. For new teachers, the slide happens more gradually and later, often falling to a dangerous low in February. For students, it varies - dependent on grade, on academic achievement, on personal situations - but it happens.

The challenge is to sustain each other throughout the year.  I know that we have enormous influence on one another and the way we perceive our work and our use of time. The goal is to inject enthusiasm throughout the year through our own conduct and through the subliminal messages we send with our demeanor. Also helpful is to design refreshing and inspirational school projects, initiatives and events during the times most notorious for being "down" periods.  The point is to keep our "eyes on the prize" - student achievement, student learning, student growth - that happens daily, no matter the season. The tactic is to revel in relationship-building through the small moments that come from spending time with one another through familiar and comfortable routines we have created on a daily basis, in good times and bad.

Big plans for the Eagles - all year and every day. We need to value time - no matter the season - and not waste a second or squander any opportunity. Making the most of every moment is our mission, because graduation WILL happen, whether we are ready or not...