|
“This is
part of our fabric,” says newcomer White. “Things are in
play now that began long before any of us went here.”
Having been
part of the community and neighborhood, both Ward and White
have a sense, perhaps more than most, of the challenges they
face in educating a group of students from a difficult
inner-city background.
“We want to
educate them as to what their possibilities can be,” says
Ward of the leaders’ goal with respect to their young
charges. That mission is reflected, he notes, in the
school’s creed – “We will show RESPECT for everyone; We will
accept our RESPONSIBILITIES; We will develop positive
RELATIONSHIPS with others.”
Nevertheless, while Ward and White find themselves in
familiar surroundings, for them so much has changed in that
community since their youth. Whatever challenges their own
youthful experiences might have presented, these days for
their students, they say, those challenges have greatly
increased.
“Now, when
we are bringing in a student, we have to infuse in him a
respect for education,” says Ward of the type of respect he
remembers bringing to school with him. “That burden is on
educators more than ever. I look on that as a super
opportunity to reach these boys.”
So the
school leaders’ challenges are several fold, they say.
“My
challenge is to educate parents,” says Ward. The objective
within the school walls, he adds, is to inspire a diverse
staff to approach students as individuals.
“How do we
empower teachers to approach the education of each and every
person in this building individually?” he says. “How do we
reach each kid?”
And, how
will they measure success?
“I want to
see a kid nurtured so that as he gets older, he will pass
that on to others,” says White of their standard of success.
“You have to bring that to the table yourself – it’s not
written into the curriculum.”
MLK is an
SEL school – social and emotional learning – which provides
a guideline for the treatment of students.
“We create
an environment in which we care for everyone in the
building,” says Ward.
However,
for educators, say Ward and White, the issue is not one of
‘do you or don’t you care about your students.’
“All
educators care,” says White. “But how do they care?”
Given the
challenges presented by an all-too-often rudderless
inner-city community, “the burden is on educators more than
ever before,” says Ward. These circumstances present a
“serious self-reflection of why you do the work,” adds
White.
The Academy
for Boys, whether at Lincoln, Washington or MLK, has had its
moments of success, and its ups and downs, as reflected in
the State of Ohio Report Card. Several years ago, the school
achieved an “excellent” grade before the scoring system was
replaced by letter grades. The last several years have seen
a dip in grades, with the most recent academic year grade
yet to be announced.
So the
challenges mount for the school leaders – instill respect
for education in their students, educate the parents so that
learning is seamless process, nurture and, above all,
educate in a way that success is measurable.
Ward and
White, friends since childhood, went their separate ways
after leaving Macomber. Ward’s focus had always been on
going into education. He attended Defiance College, majoring
in health and physical education, minoring in special
education.
He coached,
began teaching as a substitute and received his teaching
certificate in 1990 and started working at McTigue Junior
High. He eventually entered the Bowling Green State
University’s education administration program to earn his
master’s degree.
White was
not quite as focused in his youth. He turned to teaching
late, entering Lourdes College (now university) majoring in
history and adolescent education, before joining the charter
school system and rising to the position of school leader.
Together
again, the two administrators are just where they believe
they should be at this point in their lives.
“My journey
keeps moving me where I was meant to be,” says White.
“I want
this to be the type of place where parents in the future
know I was here and here for a long time,” says Ward.
Respect,
Responsiblities, Relationships – the MLK creed that both men
take so seriously is what they expect to guide them in their
approach to their duties as their students come and go
during their time at MLK.
Success,
they believe, will follow that approach.
“A high
level of learning is the bottom line,” says Ward.
|
