Class of 2000; No. 3

<v Speaker>You've probably heard this phrase more than a few times in the last couple of years. <v Speaker>It takes a whole village to raise a child as people talk increasingly about the <v Speaker>challenges facing education and the raising of children in our difficult society. <v Speaker>They concluded that all of our children are the responsibility of all of us. <v Speaker>For the next two hours, we're going to look at things that work, projects that are <v Speaker>happening inside the schools and in the surrounding communities at Hampton Roads that are <v Speaker>solving specific problems and educating children in difficult circumstances. <v Speaker>I'm Chris Tekin. Welcome once again to the class of 2000. <v Speaker>[music] <v Speaker>Here in our studio, we have brought together students, teachers, parents, business people

<v Speaker>and others who are responsible for implementing ideas that are helping kids ranging <v Speaker>from preschool to senior high in all cases. <v Speaker>They involve the help of others in the whole village. <v Speaker>Before we begin, let's review. <v Speaker>When we started these forums in education last September, we heard this exchange about <v Speaker>the relationship between schools and the communities in which they do their work. <v Speaker>When you have a diverse society doing the things in the same way <v Speaker>that you did when that society was homogeneous doesn't work anymore. <v Speaker>And so it isn't really that we're doing things a lot worse. <v Speaker>Is that the same things that we're doing now don't work in the same way. <v Speaker>And that's true whether it's in the individual classroom where teachers have to face <v Speaker>more violence or or more potential problems. <v Speaker>I mean, the issue of diversity is one that I think we're gonna <v Speaker>have to deal with in a much more central way within the school and in the interface <v Speaker>between the school and the society. I think there's no escaping that.

<v Speaker>Let me make one more point, if I might, and build on that. <v Speaker>There is the inference in your question, Chris, that <v Speaker>that all of this has to be solved in the classroom and has to be solved through through <v Speaker>with the development of of very enlightened curricula. <v Speaker>I think that there's a much larger component of education that is routinely ignored <v Speaker>and that is a cultural or community component of education. <v Speaker>The entire educational enterprise and its relationship to every aspect of <v Speaker>the community must undergo a change. <v Speaker>It takes a whole village to raise a child. <v Speaker>And that means that in the future. <v Speaker>To get back to your question, teachers need to be prepared and school systems <v Speaker>need to begin to learn how to work with the rest of the city. <v Speaker>All of its social service agencies, all of its parents, the walls of <v Speaker>the school building have to cease to be the barrier between what goes on in other sectors <v Speaker>and what goes on for kids in terms of teaching and learning. <v Speaker>We heard Carlton Brown of Hampton University say there that the entire educational

<v Speaker>enterprise and its relationship to the community must undergo a change. <v Speaker>The discussion we're going to have is going to demonstrate that idea in action throughout <v Speaker>the region. We'll begin here at Bowling Park Elementary School on Princess Anne Road <v Speaker>in Norfolk. The principal teachers, parents and members of the surrounding <v Speaker>community have made a concerted effort to tear down the walls of the school building <v Speaker>as a barrier between education and the lives that kids lead in their neighborhoods. <v Speaker>Dr. Herbert Clark is principal at Bowling Park. <v Speaker>Leonard Leonard Parker is the father of a bowling park student. <v Speaker>Reverend Jeffrey Gunn's is pastor of Second Calvary Baptist Church in the neighborhood. <v Speaker>And Diana Berry teaches at Bowling Park. <v Speaker>Dr. Clark, what causes a principal to think about tearing down the walls between <v Speaker>the school and the community? And when he or she does, what philosophical gambit <v Speaker>does he use to do it? <v Speaker>Well, first of all, when we try to educate the whole child, it's imperative <v Speaker>that we go beyond the walls of the school.

<v Speaker>The whole child deals with the social aspects of the child as well as the educational <v Speaker>apart. So when we look at that child's background, we need <v Speaker>to know what the home life is all about. <v Speaker>We need to know the disadvantages facing that child in his home, in his community, <v Speaker>and was we can become a part of that and help that child survive <v Speaker>in that kind of community. Then he's gonna be a better person once he gets inside <v Speaker>the school walls. <v Speaker>Is it a hard decision to make, though, to say that somehow we're going to bring the <v Speaker>community to the school and put the school after the community and get a change from the <v Speaker>past? <v Speaker>For you, Chris, I'm a risk taker. <v Speaker>I will. I don't look at anything. <v Speaker>It's been hard. That word doesn't even come into my <v Speaker>form of dictionary here. <v Speaker>If I think it can work for the CHA, then I'm going to try and force <v Speaker>it to have my staff with me with that same vision. <v Speaker>We're going to just go outside, bring the community and to us. <v Speaker>And if the community doesn't come, we'll go.

<v Speaker>And just then the community and to have a community. <v Speaker>COLMES Reverend Guns, you're in the community. <v Speaker>Is it that the community just hasn't been interested in the school <v Speaker>or has the community felt that that there has been that that barrier they're <v Speaker>up to now? <v Speaker>Well, I think that one of the problems of Barry is that <v Speaker>that that the community has to overcome or that the school system probably has to <v Speaker>overcome is the barrier. <v Speaker>Whether or not the the the educational system <v Speaker>is interested in having the community or the parents or the family <v Speaker>involved in the educational process from. <v Speaker>From an African-American perspective, and at least our perspective, we believe that <v Speaker>that there is no separation between church and state, between <v Speaker>life and the community, between the secular <v Speaker>and the sacred. And therefore, because we don't see any any separation between

<v Speaker>that, we believe that it is important that we we be involved in <v Speaker>the total life of the community. <v Speaker>Well, doing Dr. Clark came to you. Let's say he came to you and said Reverend Guns. <v Speaker>We'd like you to become involved in this work. <v Speaker>What did you say? What was the answer, Chris? <v Speaker>I didn't that go to the reverend? <v Speaker>Even though I probably would have. <v Speaker>The good thing about it is the reverend came to me and he saw that <v Speaker>there was a need for his church to be involved in our school. <v Speaker>And he came and volunteered verse to see what it was all about. <v Speaker>Then went back to his congregation. <v Speaker>I'll let you take it from there, Reverend. <v Speaker>Yeah, I was really concerned about the the test scores of <v Speaker>kids in the in the public schools, particularly in the Bolden Park, because <v Speaker>the school is within walking distance of our church. <v Speaker>And I felt that I needed to do something as a community leader <v Speaker>to at least have some kind of presence in the school. <v Speaker>So I went to the school and just happened to be there the day that they were having such

<v Speaker>a recognition for partners with the school in and offered my own services. <v Speaker>And as a result, that members of the congregation involved probably about <v Speaker>four years ago and they've been involved ever since. <v Speaker>Mr. Parker, what did your child need that he or she had? <v Speaker>I don't know. Which was it, wasn't it? <v Speaker>What did your son need that he wasn't getting? <v Speaker>Before all of this, we had a great concern about for my son. <v Speaker>So my wife stopped working so that she could be with her, be with him. <v Speaker>And so she went to football and park to volunteer. <v Speaker>And she got so excited when she found a program, a ball in park. <v Speaker>And then I got involved football and park reminds me of <v Speaker>when I was in school, when the whole neighborhood was involved <v Speaker>in Bowland Park. Nobody is lost in the cracks. <v Speaker>Everybody cares. And Dr. Clark, make sure that nobody <v Speaker>is lost. They have a program where they adopt the students.

<v Speaker>Is this a program where you know that someone loves you, <v Speaker>that there are programs for the parents and there's just so much going on the ball in <v Speaker>part? <v Speaker>Do I understand also that the children at the school come to school dressed <v Speaker>every day? I mean, I agree with ties. <v Speaker>Is it uniforms or is it just. <v Speaker>Well, third, fourth and fifth graders wear special uniforms to school. <v Speaker>I had a discussion with the parents and it's my belief that kids act better. <v Speaker>They feel better. They have a higher self-esteem when they are dress. <v Speaker>So the parents believe what I was saying and the kids like <v Speaker>the idea. So we got together and the parents were not able to buy <v Speaker>the uniforms, the school purchase the uniforms for the kids. <v Speaker>We have a washer and dryer. We can keep the uniforms clean. <v Speaker>We hanging them up in the classroom. <v Speaker>And every Wednesday when they wear these uniforms, they take so much <v Speaker>pride in themselves.

<v Speaker>Are you also segregating the sexes in some class? <v Speaker>Yes. That's a controversial idea. <v Speaker>How you doing? <v Speaker>Well, again, I think we need to keep kids on focus. <v Speaker>And I found out that when girls are working in a classroom with girls and boys <v Speaker>with boys, we find that they are better stand on task. <v Speaker>And we have found now our test scores have significantly improved. <v Speaker>We have found out that behavior is not a major problem. <v Speaker>And we don't have that spring fever of girls writing letters to boys and <v Speaker>vise versa. And the kids love it. <v Speaker>Diana, very. Has that been your experience in the classroom? <v Speaker>Does that kind of segregation and be, well, dress and all those good things make it <v Speaker>easier for you to do your job? <v Speaker>Yes. As a matter of fact, I have experienced having an all girl class <v Speaker>and I I found it immensely positive. <v Speaker>The girls were more able to be <v Speaker>less than in an inhibited.

<v Speaker>They were able to just be themself. <v Speaker>And they knew that they basically feel the same about different <v Speaker>things. And their self-esteem was a lot higher. <v Speaker>They were much happier. <v Speaker>And plus, I could focus on things that interest girls <v Speaker>when I approached different things that I was teaching. <v Speaker>And they were they really enjoyed being in that situation. <v Speaker>What's the reason measureable yet the academic result of what we're seeing <v Speaker>in terms of let's forget about behavior for a while, but what children are learning or <v Speaker>are they learning better or are they learning in ways that it will stay with them as they <v Speaker>go on to middle school and high school? <v Speaker>What's your experience or can you measure it? <v Speaker>I haven't seen gender classes, but the whole thing, all that you're doing? <v Speaker>Well, I believe that in the first month of school, <v Speaker>September, when that really stress in academics as such <v Speaker>with stress and looking good, feeling good, being

<v Speaker>somebody special, having self-respect. <v Speaker>All of these social. Races, and I believe that if a child <v Speaker>feels good about himself, like coming to school, then <v Speaker>that academic will come. <v Speaker>But the test scores have improved. Go over to all the other all black <v Speaker>elementary schools in the city at Bolton Park. <v Speaker>But there are those people who would say that, no, we've got to pay attention to the <v Speaker>basics first. The three R's put all this other stuff on the back burner. <v Speaker>What's your response? <v Speaker>If I were to stay in the form of history, we already <v Speaker>have seen in our society that test scores have gone down. <v Speaker>So we need to make a change. Are we going to be complacent knowing that that's a fact? <v Speaker>No, I said we need to make a change. <v Speaker>And in making this change, the kids are going to have to do for themselves. <v Speaker>We can put everything before them. But unless the child feels as though he or she wants <v Speaker>to make a difference, it will not work.

<v Speaker>So using that month of September to let the child know you are special, <v Speaker>you can do and everything's said and done is done on a positive <v Speaker>mode. <v Speaker>And we found out I was just going to say that when you look at <v Speaker>children who come from, say, an inner city community, <v Speaker>the models that are oftentimes developed for education <v Speaker>are developed with a € century middle class white <v Speaker>America background. <v Speaker>And that model doesn't always work and interest in it. <v Speaker>In an inner city school, you have to understand that children <v Speaker>who come from that background are first off, they're ethnically <v Speaker>African-American. And because they're ethnically African-American, <v Speaker>they think differently, they learn differently, they respond differently. <v Speaker>And we are an intensely, deeply spiritual person. <v Speaker>So the approach that Dr. Clarke takes, I think, is a very valid one to help

<v Speaker>the children, to understand who they are, to feel good about themselves, <v Speaker>to develop a sense of values, of what's right, what's wrong. <v Speaker>So when you have an environment where there's drugs, violence and a whole lot of other <v Speaker>things going on, you come to school already depressed and beaten down <v Speaker>by the environment. And so if you go into a school situation where <v Speaker>you have a middle class teacher who comes from a middle class neighborhood, <v Speaker>who doesn't understand what it's like to live in that environment and seeks to impose <v Speaker>their values upon you, then that causes a rebellion in the classroom. <v Speaker>And until the teachers and I think Dr. Clark and his staff do a very good job of <v Speaker>helping the teachers, first off, he helps the teachers to understand that this is a <v Speaker>special environment. It's not suburbia, suburban Virginia Beach. <v Speaker>We need to move on. <v Speaker>It's generally understood that you can do all kinds of good things to help elementary <v Speaker>school children. But if they don't learn to read, well, all might be lost at Magruder

<v Speaker>Elementary School in Newport News. They're using an idea that was developed in New <v Speaker>Zealand, as I understand it, which has two thirds of MacGruder first graders reading <v Speaker>at or above their grade level. <v Speaker>That's an accomplishment these days. <v Speaker>Michael Williams Hickman is principal of Magruder Elementary and Linda <v Speaker>Husbands is reading teacher. <v Speaker>How important is reading to efforts like the kinds of things we just heard at <v Speaker>Bowling Park? Is it is it at the center of all that here? <v Speaker>Oh, it certainly is. We we certainly know that children cannot succeed unless they <v Speaker>are able to read. Our primary mission at Macoute Primary School is to enable <v Speaker>all of our young sergeant to be successful last lifelong learners and to accomplish <v Speaker>this. We feel that it's important that they learn to read. <v Speaker>It's very interesting that we should sit on a panel today with my friend Dr. Clark, <v Speaker>because I visited his school two years ago and after visiting his <v Speaker>school got many of the ideas, the feeling tone in his school is very positive <v Speaker>towards youngsters learning. And we were at a crossroads at Magwood at a time where we

<v Speaker>needed to make a difference in our community with the boys and girls that we had. <v Speaker>We were very fortunate. Two years ago, to have the reading recovery program <v Speaker>bought our school, as well as some other initiatives that we have been involved in. <v Speaker>We also have found that we must involve our community in order to make that positive <v Speaker>difference. We have lots of parent workshops that we conduct throughout the year. <v Speaker>And from that, the boys and girls are seeing their parents come into the schools feeling <v Speaker>good about their parents being in the schools. <v Speaker>And that has been a very positive influence on. <v Speaker>They really recovery program specifically in just a couple of cities. <v Speaker>If you can or you. How does it work? <v Speaker>I understand it came from New Zealand. <v Speaker>Well, this is a very excellent reading recovery teacher, and I'm certain that she can <v Speaker>tell you about what happened. <v Speaker>Reading Recovery is of early intervention program for at risk first graders <v Speaker>through reading recovery instruction. <v Speaker>They develop strategies for reading, become independent. <v Speaker>Readers and reach average levels of classroom

<v Speaker>work. It was developed in New Zealand by Dr. Murray Clay, <v Speaker>who not only was an educator but was a psychologist, and <v Speaker>she developed it through observation and the first two weeks of <v Speaker>any child's reading recovery program. <v Speaker>We do know teaching. We observe the child and we take the child <v Speaker>from what they know to the next level. <v Speaker>We don't look at a child and say, well, they don't know this and they don't know that. <v Speaker>And that's what we have to teach them. We take them from what they know and build on. <v Speaker>That is why is it so revolutionary? <v Speaker>It seems to make sense as a revolutionary idea. <v Speaker>Well, I get that. And first of all, and also we uncover <v Speaker>sort of stops the clock for at risk children and gives them a chance <v Speaker>to succeed before they've entered a cycle of failure. <v Speaker>And that's why we work only with first grade children. <v Speaker>I'm curious, how does something that start in New Zealand end up in Newport <v Speaker>News, Virginia? And I understand it made a stop in North Carolina.

<v Speaker>I think that your teachers went to a training session in North Carolina <v Speaker>to learn how to do this and then brought it back here. <v Speaker>Is that the way it works? <v Speaker>As we all in education are trying to find successful ways of unlocking <v Speaker>the minds of youngsters to enable them to learn. <v Speaker>We had someone in Newport News to, I think, observe in Ohio <v Speaker>and they observe the Reading Recovery program in and in session. <v Speaker>The success rate was another interesting factor. <v Speaker>Eighty five percent of the youngsters in the program successfully completed the program <v Speaker>and would never need remediation again. <v Speaker>That was the promise of the Reading Recovery program. <v Speaker>And we found that to be true. We had 91 percent of our first graders last year <v Speaker>successfully complete the program. <v Speaker>And of those 91 children who completed the program, 100 percent of them are <v Speaker>at or above grade level in second grade. <v Speaker>Just quickly, Dr. Clark or Diana Varia, is that something similar to what you might be <v Speaker>doing in Bowling Park or should you be taking some ideas from them? <v Speaker>Yes. We've started reading Recovery this year, too.

<v Speaker>I think we have several schools in Norfolk haven't really recovered. <v Speaker>And as Mrs. Hickman was saying, it is a good program for first <v Speaker>graders and it's going to reduce the failure rate in those <v Speaker>primary grades. <v Speaker>All right. As we have just already heard, especially in the case <v Speaker>of Bowling Park Elementary School in Norfolk, we've got to think of solving educational <v Speaker>problems in the context of the whole lives of our children in Hampton. <v Speaker>And there is a project associated with Tyler Elementary School which literally works with <v Speaker>the children, where many of them live in something called the Partnership for Educational <v Speaker>Triumph, known by its acronym as the PET Project here at Tylor Elementary School <v Speaker>in Hampton. <v Speaker>The School Day. It for all of its students when the last bus is pulled away for the <v Speaker>afternoon. Many who go to Tyler live in this lower income neighborhood off King <v Speaker>Street near Mercury Boulevard. <v Speaker>And after the school closes its primary location, it opens up again for those who want <v Speaker>to come in this apartment donated by the management of Sinclair Gardens on West Gilberg

<v Speaker>Street. The Partnership for Educational Triumph PETT for short runs <v Speaker>an after school program with the help of volunteers. <v Speaker>Diane Green, school counselor at Tyler, says it was created when the Hampton School <v Speaker>system began to look for ways to better integrate the schools into the communities they <v Speaker>serve. <v Speaker>The parents and children as well wanted to make a closer <v Speaker>or stronger bond and connection between the school and the community. <v Speaker>We spend a great deal of time with the students who come to our building and <v Speaker>once they leave our building, they're back in the community. <v Speaker>We needed to make a home, a home school connection with that. <v Speaker>So parents had asked for a way in which the school could come out to the community. <v Speaker>And from that charge, we basically the staff, <v Speaker>some a parent component, also met and <v Speaker>came up with the idea of having a community based center every Monday <v Speaker>through Thursday from 3:30 to 5 students.

<v Speaker>Some parents and volunteers get together informally to work on homework, help children <v Speaker>to explore new ideas, or just to hang out together. <v Speaker>Parent and volunteer for a day like Marty thinks that these kids first needs <v Speaker>something very basic and she's prepared to provide it. <v Speaker>This kids in need, a love and a lot of tension. <v Speaker>It's an space that I was a from an <v Speaker>earlier age and I wish I had it earlier. <v Speaker>Take up teaching, which is Monday. <v Speaker>But I love kids. <v Speaker>Johnny Theodore is a psychology major at Hampton University. <v Speaker>He's been helping to teach things to these children, but he's learned something back from <v Speaker>them, something about children that doesn't seem to reach its full potential in today's <v Speaker>society. <v Speaker>The most interesting thing apalling about is how children learn. <v Speaker>And it's incredible because a lot of people don't understand or don't <v Speaker>play, so a lot of value into how quickly and how smart children really

<v Speaker>are. <v Speaker>They are quick to learn and they like sponges and solve everything <v Speaker>in the view of the folks at Tylor Elementary and the pet project. <v Speaker>These young sponges can be helped by all of us. <v Speaker>For Diane Green, what happens in this tired old department has helped to bring the school <v Speaker>and some of the rest of the community together. <v Speaker>The center has helped serve the purpose of letting <v Speaker>the community, letting other schools, and especially the children, realize <v Speaker>that schools are a good place to be. And we want our boys and girls to like coming to <v Speaker>school and to know that they're there for good reason. <v Speaker>And that reason is to learn. <v Speaker>We wanted the community to know that Tyler is not just a building <v Speaker>tower elementary schools, a place where children learn and that we are there, <v Speaker>the staff is there to help the parents do the best job they can <v Speaker>to raise their children. <v Speaker>But for Marty thinks that all of the effort by everyone else won't be fully effective <v Speaker>until more parents show their kids that they care about their education and that they're

<v Speaker>willing to do something about it. <v Speaker>I guess most of the parents want to stay home or watch TV. <v Speaker>They don't want to get involved. Take this plane. <v Speaker>They want to get involved and they should. <v Speaker>It's very important for them to be in school. <v Speaker>Susanna Roberts is coordinator of the Pet Project and Aaron Kinnard <v Speaker>is a teacher at Tyler Elementary School. <v Speaker>We heard that Lisa Martella meant the lack of involvement by parents. <v Speaker>Is that the problem that something like your project is trying to do is to replace <v Speaker>the parents or to be for the kids after school or the parents isn't? <v Speaker>Is that what you're doing? <v Speaker>Not trying to replace them? We're trying to involve them. <v Speaker>That's why we're in sort of their community. <v Speaker>I think when they see that the school cares enough to come inside their community, <v Speaker>they're willing. You get to know the children and the families. <v Speaker>And on a different level. And when they say that you care, then they're more willing to <v Speaker>get involved. But we're not trying to replace them.

<v Speaker>OK. <v Speaker>What do you think is the problem, though, with parents who are Maday <v Speaker>said they'd rather sit home and watch television. <v Speaker>Is that indeed what it is? <v Speaker>A lot of it is. The economy is a lot of it. <v Speaker>I think a lot of times they're insecure and they feel like they don't have anything <v Speaker>to offer. And we offer a lot of parent programs, plus children program. <v Speaker>We tried to emphasize no matter how large or small, whatever you can <v Speaker>offer counts. OK. <v Speaker>And I just think the economy has a lot to do with it. <v Speaker>And they just feel like that they have nothing to offer. <v Speaker>You told me when we were up there also that a lot of the parents and kids in your <v Speaker>neighborhood come and go very quickly so that they don't because of economic reasons, <v Speaker>looking for jobs and that kind of thing. So they don't have a chance to set down roots or <v Speaker>rather involved in the school. Is there anything you can do about that to make people <v Speaker>more involved? Maybe a temporary kind of basis? <v Speaker>No, there's I don't.

<v Speaker>We just have to take them while we're there and do our 100 percent best. <v Speaker>There's nothing we can do to keep them. <v Speaker>We can educate them through our parent classes that we offer, <v Speaker>but we can't hold them there. <v Speaker>Aaron, can I? What's the effect of what she's talking about, about lack of parental <v Speaker>involvement in helping you to do or hinder you in doing your job? <v Speaker>Right. <v Speaker>Well, I'm the doctor. <v Speaker>I sit in the classroom with my students. <v Speaker>I feel that my students have really benefited from the program. <v Speaker>It's it's been a really good place where they can go and get their homework done and <v Speaker>just they can gain a lot of self-esteem from a supervised center that they can go to <v Speaker>after school and spend time playing games and doing crafts. <v Speaker>But what would you like to see more parents of your children coming to your classroom, <v Speaker>knocking on your door and asking you questions? <v Speaker>Oh, definitely. <v Speaker>Definitely. I'd like to see the parents being involved in the classroom and

<v Speaker>coming in and sharing the experiences with this day. <v Speaker>What do you think is the effect on the children, on your students when they're parents? <v Speaker>We're trying to make a case to parents who are watching right now, who are perhaps kind <v Speaker>of apathetic about this, makes a case for their involvement. <v Speaker>From your perspective, as a teacher? <v Speaker>Well, I just think it's very important that the parents are involved with the students, <v Speaker>that they come in and they. <v Speaker>Can just be a part of their children's lives, and it's hard because <v Speaker>a lot of the parents are working and they're not available <v Speaker>to be there with the students all the time. <v Speaker>But it is very important that they are. <v Speaker>You seemed do you see a difference in the result for those of your kids who do something <v Speaker>like the pet project to those? <v Speaker>You. How do you watch differently? How do you quantify that? <v Speaker>In her class? That totally turned around. <v Speaker>I had two students that are regular. <v Speaker>They go to the center every day and you know, before the center, they weren't bringing in

<v Speaker>their homework. They weren't, you know, too active in the school. <v Speaker>But since this since they've been going to this center, they are doing their homework. <v Speaker>And they they really take it as a personal. I mean, they love this center. <v Speaker>It's their place where they can go every day. <v Speaker>And it's it's just like their second home, Suzanne. <v Speaker>What's really going on here? I mean, you're doing obvious things like helping with <v Speaker>homework and taking the kids under your arm and helping them to socialize and so <v Speaker>on. But what do you think you're really giving these these kids that shows up in a <v Speaker>different classroom? <v Speaker>Well, the first thing getting back to the first panel, I don't emphasize grades. <v Speaker>That to me to start off does not matter. <v Speaker>The main thing I want, these children have never had anything like this. <v Speaker>So I wanted to emphasize self-esteem and that they are somebody I <v Speaker>did that through a lot of reward programs when they saw that they could accomplish. <v Speaker>I had perfect attendance programs, reading programs. <v Speaker>Also, I work at the school, so I'm able to take these children. <v Speaker>If I see needs, I can go communicate.

<v Speaker>Like if I saw Miskin Norge student needed special help, I could go right to that school <v Speaker>because I work there and I can say, look, this child, is there anything I can do? <v Speaker>Give give me some work or give me some advice. <v Speaker>And we work together. <v Speaker>But after that, after we got the self-esteem built up, <v Speaker>then the great started coming up, because these children say someone cares. <v Speaker>They see I'll pick up the phone in a heartbeat, call their parents because I'm inside <v Speaker>their community. The apartment complex donated the apartment. <v Speaker>They're showing the community is working with the school. <v Speaker>If I need to call parents or I can walk right across the street and go to their home and <v Speaker>get involved that way also. <v Speaker>Finally, very quickly, I was very intrigued. The idea that in a big housing project <v Speaker>or apartment complex, the this is a privately owned apartment complex <v Speaker>or is not public housing. The management gave you one of their apartments. <v Speaker>Was it difficult? Was it their idea? Your idea? <v Speaker>How'd you get them? <v Speaker>They saw a need. And our principal contacted the manager

<v Speaker>and they saw a need and they were willing. <v Speaker>That's where the title comes from. <v Speaker>It's everybody working together and they didn't mind at all. <v Speaker>And they have they're willing to donate it up through the summer and through next year <v Speaker>because I've seen the difference that it's made. <v Speaker>OK. During our first class of 2000 program last September, we heard the president <v Speaker>of Virginia Natural Gas Company say that businesses like his. <v Speaker>Absolutely. Had to help out with public education for a lot of reasons, <v Speaker>not the least of which was the creation of the well educated workforce that all <v Speaker>businesses need to put its money where its mouth is and help to create <v Speaker>the pipeline to the community preschool program that involves Virginia <v Speaker>wisely in college. Newtown Road Elementary School in Virginia Beach. <v Speaker>And BMG working in partnership. <v Speaker>Ginger Ferris is an assistant professor of education at Virginia Wesleyan <v Speaker>Private Tour. Jay is principal at Newtown Elementary School. <v Speaker>Marty Ive's is a public affairs officer for Virginia Natural Gas Enjoy Spending

<v Speaker>is pipeline coordinator at Newtown who initiated this partnership <v Speaker>and why? Who took the first step here? <v Speaker>Someone volunteer. We just we just all took credit for it. <v Speaker>If I could just start, because I think that it was kind of an interesting evolution of an <v Speaker>idea. Newtown has been in partnership with Virginia Wesleyan <v Speaker>for six years in the Adopt a School program. <v Speaker>And we've been searching for a word to talk about what kind of relationship we have. <v Speaker>We think it's kind of symbiotic. So I guess that we sort of had the same idea at the same <v Speaker>time. And then enter Virginia natural gas. <v Speaker>There was a relationship between a professor at Epigenome West and <v Speaker>and the president of the company. And he said, I have some money to spend in education. <v Speaker>Where might that be? And of course, they said only at Newtown. <v Speaker>So we were delighted and pleased with that. And so we got together and had a roundtable <v Speaker>discussion about possibilities. <v Speaker>I mean, I think people who are who are watching out there, who might be thinking that <v Speaker>things like this mean, did you all bump into each other in the street one day, say, hey,

<v Speaker>let's do this? Or did someone had to make someone have to make the first step they cut <v Speaker>from where they came from? <v Speaker>Well, I think it came from the G to Virginia Wesley, and they were interested in <v Speaker>a project that would affect education and came to the education <v Speaker>faculty at Virginia at Virginia Wesleyan and said. <v Speaker>What would you like to do and because I have been the coordinator with Newtown <v Speaker>Road, I said, Bill, I think we'd like to do something at Newtown Road. <v Speaker>And. And so we just sat down and talked about it. <v Speaker>And that's how it began. <v Speaker>What does it take for a company like BMG to decide to get involved in something like this <v Speaker>and you have to have the board get together and talk about or could someone just make a <v Speaker>decision to say, hey, let's do this? <v Speaker>President made the decision. He's committed to education. <v Speaker>He's committed to the communities that we serve. <v Speaker>It's an important issue that affects not only my company, but everyone else in the area. <v Speaker>And we decided get involved. <v Speaker>Joyce, what's the educational goal here? What are you trying to accomplish? <v Speaker>We're trying to first involve parents in the total education

<v Speaker>of the children. We want them to know that they are the first teachers. <v Speaker>We hope by giving the children at a very early age at preschools <v Speaker>and giving the parents an opportunity to become more, <v Speaker>I guess, effective in their parenting skills and being involved in the children. <v Speaker>So when they come to us at kindergarten first grade, they <v Speaker>have that basic foundation of the importance of school and that we <v Speaker>are it makes the job of the teachers easier to reach them and to start that <v Speaker>academic process. <v Speaker>Is your view of parents the same as hers is, or what's <v Speaker>what's the problem with parents from your perspective? <v Speaker>I think parents have for a very long time have felt that <v Speaker>they were not a part of the school system, that <v Speaker>they had no r no right or no responsibility <v Speaker>to quote, educating the children.

<v Speaker>I send them to school is the teachers, the educators job to teach to children. <v Speaker>And we've found that the parents are very concerned about their children. <v Speaker>I've actually gone into the homes and talked to the parents one on one, and <v Speaker>they are very much concerned about their children. <v Speaker>But for some reason, they have not had the opportunity or have not felt <v Speaker>that what they that they work of worth are needed in the educational <v Speaker>system. So by doing this, we're bringing them to the school along with the children. <v Speaker>We got two things going on here. Even we're hearing that the parents are apathetic and <v Speaker>they don't care. We're hearing that maybe they're intimidated by dealing with this for <v Speaker>it's the school, it's a bureaucracy, or perhaps they feel inadequate themselves in <v Speaker>all of this is because really when talking to them on a one on one. <v Speaker>And that's when I actually go into their homes and spend time with them. <v Speaker>They are very concerned about their children. <v Speaker>But really, they just feel that I don't have the know <v Speaker>how or that what, Mike, our presence

<v Speaker>is not needed or in point is that we have to change that and let them know that they <v Speaker>are very, very important and that if we don't let them become <v Speaker>a part of that early training, that we're really losing the children <v Speaker>when they come to us. We know we have that much more to to do to overcome this. <v Speaker>So far, we've heard about parents since the beginning of our discussion. <v Speaker>Do we need a school for parents? <v Speaker>Because those parents have come through the same system that we're now trying to repair. <v Speaker>Part of what we are. We're a parent education child stimulation program. <v Speaker>So we bring the parents and the children to school together on the yellow school bus. <v Speaker>And the parents have a discussion group about child related issues in school while <v Speaker>the children have activities that are age appropriate and developmentally <v Speaker>appropriate with Virginia Wesleyan students working on a one to two ratio. <v Speaker>So these children for two hours get a lot of attention in a developmentally <v Speaker>appropriate program for them as well as their parents

<v Speaker>talking about what's happening with them in some interaction between the two groups. <v Speaker>I think it's more beneficial in that sense because the children and the parents said they <v Speaker>act together. It's not like the children come home and say, well, and the parent, what <v Speaker>did you do today? What was school like? They know they were there. <v Speaker>We were a part of that. And it makes it that much more meaningful for them. <v Speaker>And they have an opportunity to really share and have input. <v Speaker>And this is what I need to know to do to work with my child. <v Speaker>Help me. <v Speaker>Barbara Taussig, very quickly, is do you have a result for this statistically or figures? <v Speaker>Can you? Can you show some progress with your kids? <v Speaker>Because actually, Virginia Wesleyan took responsibility for the assessment piece. <v Speaker>But from a school point of view, one of the things related to the parents is we're <v Speaker>finding that our pipeline parents are enthusiastic now about getting involved already <v Speaker>because they say, I feel that I already have a sense of home now. <v Speaker>And we have a lot of involvement from those pipeline parents already before the children <v Speaker>actually enter as a kindergartener. <v Speaker>OK. Yeah. From a college helping perspective, elementary school students to

<v Speaker>elementary kids being prepared for college. <v Speaker>It's happening in Newport News in a project called the. <v Speaker>Achievable dream at after school and summer enrichment program for disadvantaged <v Speaker>students aimed at heading them for higher education. <v Speaker>The project will get its own magnet school in the fall. <v Speaker>Businessman Walter SIEGEL off is the force behind it. <v Speaker>And Robinson is its director. <v Speaker>And Jacob Wilson will be principal of the Achievable Dream Magnet School. <v Speaker>Mr. SIEGEL, off. I want to use you as an example. <v Speaker>How does a mild mannered business man become an educational activist? <v Speaker>What did you have to do? What got you started? <v Speaker>Why do you do it? <v Speaker>Well, our projects, our program started two years ago in June of 92, but for <v Speaker>probably I don't know how long, six months, a year or 18 months before that. <v Speaker>The problem just kept eating at me and eating me. <v Speaker>And that is that the people we were hiring, the products of the public school system were <v Speaker>not kids, not what we needed. <v Speaker>They were not trained properly. They didn't have the right work ethics.

<v Speaker>They didn't have the right integrity and honesty. <v Speaker>And we just were unsatisfied as a business community in Newport News. <v Speaker>And this was something we discussed. <v Speaker>But this wasn't because you had children in the schools necessarily. <v Speaker>You just that you and some others were looking at this. <v Speaker>And this was the that's if you came to. <v Speaker>That's right. And what did you do? How did you start this? <v Speaker>What would you say you a letter to the editor? <v Speaker>I mean, what would you know? <v Speaker>I realized that you can't do anything on a global basis or even a state wide basis <v Speaker>at which the problem is national. <v Speaker>And I said, I can make a difference here. I can make it. <v Speaker>We this program, we could develop a program that would make a difference in one hundred <v Speaker>kids and maybe 500 kids lives. <v Speaker>And that would be significant that if we could take a mainstream from this population <v Speaker>of. And this has nothing to do with race. <v Speaker>This is a this is a problem across both throughout the entire community <v Speaker>that our goal, the achievable dream, would be the dream portion of it, <v Speaker>that we wanted to see the children who met a standard and a parent who met the standard

<v Speaker>contract with us, which requires a C plus average crime free, drug free, <v Speaker>pregnant free. Hopefully we'll get a college education paid for by the state. <v Speaker>And we're working at both ends of the spectrum. <v Speaker>We started the third grade and trying to move our program along through the 12th grade <v Speaker>eventually, and that the child can have a trade school or junior college <v Speaker>or for your state school paid for by the state. <v Speaker>And really, what's the specific problem here with these kids, in your view <v Speaker>that you so far insofar as you can solve it? <v Speaker>What's the first thing you have to do with them? <v Speaker>Well, I think as laymen, Walter and I were in and we're aren't we're businesspeople. <v Speaker>And as laymen, we felt like, as he said, that the problem was going through the school <v Speaker>system when a child got out of high school, unless they did <v Speaker>go on to college. And that was not their goal. <v Speaker>They were not prepared to go into the workforce. <v Speaker>They didn't have a certain ethic, a certain conversation, a certain ability <v Speaker>to get the jobs of today.

<v Speaker>Someone that works in a for mechanic. <v Speaker>Now that what used to be perhaps less than a blue collar job years ago now <v Speaker>has to be a computer maven. They can't work on an automobile without having computer <v Speaker>skills. So the whole world has changed. <v Speaker>I think this has a lot to do with the problems with parents. <v Speaker>They feel somewhat helpless. The world has changed so much that now just simple parenting <v Speaker>is a very complicated thing in the life we live in. <v Speaker>So what we decided to do was to take the problem of associating <v Speaker>education with success and associating school with getting <v Speaker>somewhere. And we tried to do that with encouraging children to like to go to <v Speaker>school. And I've heard this before, want to go to school. It's fun to go to school. <v Speaker>I learn something. It's exciting. <v Speaker>And once they get into it and the parents find out that it isn't a frightening <v Speaker>thing, but it's a fun thing, it's encouraging that eventually you almost trick the child <v Speaker>into getting to the place where they learned. <v Speaker>Mr. Jacobs, is does this go on? <v Speaker>You're an educator. Their business, private sector people do just what they're

<v Speaker>talking about. Fit in with what educators try to do. <v Speaker>When you do the two things work together. <v Speaker>We utilize the information that we give my business community. <v Speaker>And as educators, we take that information because they are looking at the end result of <v Speaker>all of our efforts. And we try to use that information to better prepare <v Speaker>youngsters for that workforce, for college, for trade school. <v Speaker>Our program is really targeting the youngster that has the ability, <v Speaker>but for various reasons may not be being as successful as they might be. <v Speaker>So our efforts are really geared toward making those students successful and giving <v Speaker>them the work ethic, the study skills, <v Speaker>giving them the self-esteem necessary to work hard in school and realize <v Speaker>that they can have a dream and that dream can be college. <v Speaker>That dream can be to be a president of a company to own their own business. <v Speaker>We try to give them a dream. <v Speaker>And that seems to be really working for what we're hearing so far. <v Speaker>We'll continue to hear it for the rest of this discussion is almost a one on one approach

<v Speaker>to. Dealing with with young people, you taking them in your arm and saying, here, <v Speaker>I'm going to help you in this way. Is that what we need to do? <v Speaker>Or is that what these kids need? <v Speaker>That's what these kids need. <v Speaker>We're finding out. And I like that statement. <v Speaker>It takes a whole village to raise a child because it's so true. <v Speaker>And I think as you look back throughout history, you'll note that years ago <v Speaker>that happened in schools. <v Speaker>If something happened in school, parent was called, parent was involved, the teacher <v Speaker>might walk home and take the child home and help solve the problem. <v Speaker>It was a real community effort. And I think as as the country has become more complex <v Speaker>and as we have people not staying in their own community or raising their families <v Speaker>with their other extended family, we're finding that that that has <v Speaker>ceased to happen. And so we're trying to recreate that kind of situation where the <v Speaker>community is in the school. I think all the things you're hearing today kind of allude to <v Speaker>that that idea was just single. <v Speaker>I'm curious, as a businessman.

<v Speaker>Did you take a business approach to this problem? <v Speaker>Was it like finding the right the best marketing plan for a given product or service and <v Speaker>then going forward so that education is nothing but a business? <v Speaker>It's just I yes, that's exactly. <v Speaker>We use nothing but what we think are good business practices in <v Speaker>our approach to the achievable dream program. <v Speaker>And we have very fast paced. <v Speaker>And we're if we've gone from a summer program in June of 92 to <v Speaker>our own magnet school in in in June of 94, you can see we're fast <v Speaker>paced and have had hard results to back us up. <v Speaker>Business tries to sell products or services to consumers. <v Speaker>In this case, are the consumers, the kids, and that is the product, the the education <v Speaker>that's available to the kids and the families. <v Speaker>And the parents are the market. <v Speaker>And yes, they're the ones we're marketing to. <v Speaker>We're marketing education, self-respect, self-esteem, a social equalizer <v Speaker>in our sport, that we use tennis, that these kids are special, that <v Speaker>the only kids in the world with that set of fingerprints.

<v Speaker>And we use all of these things that are marketing tools to get these kids to feel good <v Speaker>about themselves and who want to succeed, as I mentioned. <v Speaker>So this is a case where an idea that came from the private sector <v Speaker>say eventually ended up being created as a public school. <v Speaker>I got that right. That seems a little bit extraordinary in this day and age. <v Speaker>I mean, or is it? And if and if it is, why did that happen? <v Speaker>And do you think it's gonna be happening more and more around the country? <v Speaker>Well, our program was achieved would mean program was originally a summer <v Speaker>eight week program and extend it until the after school program. <v Speaker>And in Newport News, we have lots of students that move from school to school. <v Speaker>As I'm sure you know, that's the case in many school divisions. <v Speaker>And we found that students that would be in our program in three or four schools would <v Speaker>end up in 13 or 14 schools over a six to seven month period. <v Speaker>So the logistics of the program, that part really got to be a <v Speaker>real nightmare for us. And the the magnet school concept allows

<v Speaker>us to solve that problem and also allows us to create a complete <v Speaker>educational atmosphere that that targets the kind <v Speaker>of strategies that we'd like to use and targets the kinds of ideas that we want to impart <v Speaker>on the kids in one environment. So it was it's a good <v Speaker>plan of action and we hope to see it continue to grow. <v Speaker>You know, other areas will take that kind of approach. <v Speaker>Okay. <v Speaker>The next stop after elementary school for most kids is middle school, where <v Speaker>the idea is to help fifth seventh graders through the passage from childhood to <v Speaker>adolescence. Almost all of us will remember that as a tough time. <v Speaker>And these days, the society in which our children live has made it tougher. <v Speaker>At Northside Middle School in Norfolk, they've been combining education with other forms <v Speaker>of support involving students, teachers and parents. <v Speaker>Betty Lewis has put together this piece about the community of caring and my field <v Speaker>and community service by cleaning up this school. <v Speaker>And I've been to parks, cleaning parks and things like that.

<v Speaker>I went to a nursing home and we threw a party for the nursing home people. <v Speaker>What these kids are talking about in public forums and doing community service <v Speaker>projects is part of their 8th grade education at Norfolk's Northside Middle <v Speaker>School, where they're learning to apply a basic set of core values to their actions and <v Speaker>their thinking. North Side's principal, Dr. Robert Hohn. <v Speaker>What the community of caring is. <v Speaker>It is taking what we do every day. <v Speaker>We focus on basic skills. <v Speaker>We focus on teaching and learning. Well, we incorporate certain components into that. <v Speaker>The ability to care for one another, the sense of responsibility, <v Speaker>family, trust, respect, all of these components <v Speaker>are incorporated into the instructional process. <v Speaker>These core values of the community of caring are integral to classer. <v Speaker>Teaching and extend to community service projects which involve both students <v Speaker>and teachers. Science teachers Minka Taylor and Sandra Cherri.

<v Speaker>I find that when I use the community sharing values <v Speaker>in my classroom, I don't necessarily look at my lessons to see <v Speaker>how I can fit them in. I find that they are needed as everyday lessons <v Speaker>above and beyond what you'd already planned to teach as a physical science teacher. <v Speaker>I like to do a lot of things that involve also environmental science, <v Speaker>and I work with my students in different aspects. <v Speaker>We recently celebrated Earth Day and we did a march for the parks <v Speaker>at North Side Metal. And in the process of not only marching around <v Speaker>and getting the pledges in the way of donations from the community <v Speaker>and staff. We also did a cleanup and in <v Speaker>the process we adopt at Northside Park as a adopted <v Speaker>spot. <v Speaker>Planning and teamwork between the teachers and the input and participation from <v Speaker>the parents are critical to the program's success in the school.

<v Speaker>In the home and in the community. <v Speaker>Flitter Allen is a parent active in the program. <v Speaker>I feel like what this has brought to us is a sense of community. <v Speaker>She is getting more of a community feeling about reaching out toward <v Speaker>helping others in the community. She already has a good base in her in her own family. <v Speaker>But it's important that they understand that they tie into the big picture to <v Speaker>this to the community. So I think that's what it's meant to our family, that she <v Speaker>understands a community responsibility. <v Speaker>And what do the kids think about the community of caring? <v Speaker>Has this intense focus on values made an impact on their school life, on <v Speaker>their family life? <v Speaker>I think before I saw the program, I was I was not as responsible as I am today. <v Speaker>And I I respect my my brothers, my mother and father <v Speaker>little more. <v Speaker>The Feeling of caring program helped me to be. <v Speaker>Who are responsible, and so I think that that will help me.

<v Speaker>To do better in my college years in my career, <v Speaker>Flitter Allen thinks it's been a positive experience for her daughter. <v Speaker>This has been the best experience for my daughter. <v Speaker>I really enjoy this school. <v Speaker>The people are very caring here. <v Speaker>The world of middle-school kids is one of many choices, challenges and questions. <v Speaker>Guidance counselor Catherine Metzker stresses the need for a strong values based <v Speaker>curriculum such as the community of Caring. <v Speaker>And developmentally, these adolescents and pre-adolescent are going through <v Speaker>a world of changes, not only hormonally, but they're also <v Speaker>they're toying with being an adult and making adult decisions. <v Speaker>And some of them are are latchkey kids. <v Speaker>There are making adult decisions. <v Speaker>And I think right now it's just vital that we teach them and that we <v Speaker>reinforce values that they're learning at home, respect and caring and <v Speaker>trust. They go out into the community and make responsible decisions.

<v Speaker>Gentry Kid is lead teacher for the Acuity of Caring program at Northside Middle <v Speaker>School in Katherine Metzger is counselor at Northside. <v Speaker>We hear a lot about values like caring, trust and respect. <v Speaker>But we've just heard there was a big debate in this state last year about <v Speaker>values in education. <v Speaker>Have you gotten any dissension from using that word values and in fact, using those <v Speaker>values in what you're trying to do? <v Speaker>We haven't encountered any at North Side. <v Speaker>We'd like to think of it as an idea that helps <v Speaker>create a positive school environment for our kids to be in. <v Speaker>It's those five principles of the community of caring, our caring, trust, <v Speaker>respect, responsibility and family. <v Speaker>And even before we got involved with this program, which, by the way, <v Speaker>is through the Kennedy Foundation, it before we even got involved <v Speaker>in the program, we called ourselves a family at North Side.

<v Speaker>Anyway, as far as the faculty and as far as the programs that we involve the <v Speaker>kids in. It's a it's an idea and it's something <v Speaker>that I don't think any parent can argue with the fact that a parent <v Speaker>and a teacher are on the same wavelength as far as what they want to see <v Speaker>their children achieve. <v Speaker>We all want to see them achieve academically and in the school setting. <v Speaker>But one thing that's reinforced at Northside is, is that <v Speaker>all the teachers have a caring attitude. <v Speaker>We all expect to be trustworthy, that <v Speaker>we work respectfully and responsibly, and we expect the same <v Speaker>thing from the children. And we see it working really well. <v Speaker>This year, it's the first year we've had it's a national program or it's an idea that's <v Speaker>floating around at the national level. <v Speaker>How do you take a national program like that and localize it to your school on Grant <v Speaker>Street?

<v Speaker>Well, it's it's an idea. <v Speaker>The program is an idea. It's built on concepts like community service. <v Speaker>We just at Norfolk State on May 17th had our first teen forum <v Speaker>where the kids discussed the problems and solutions <v Speaker>for problems that affect them today. <v Speaker>Violence, prejudice, teen health, self-esteem. <v Speaker>And what was the other one? I can't remember. <v Speaker>Oh, it's alcohol and drug abuse. <v Speaker>And they discussed the problems and solutions related to those areas. <v Speaker>And they really came up with some dynamic solutions. <v Speaker>And we're we're working on putting those together in print now. <v Speaker>But those are two of the concepts. And we've worked on getting them involved in in as far <v Speaker>as community service also. We have several programs going on. <v Speaker>I attended a forum at Norfolk State University and I was struck. <v Speaker>And I think anybody who had been there would have been struck by two things. <v Speaker>A lot of things. But two in particular, the facilitator that asked you had about 150 kids <v Speaker>there, right? Right. Asked how many of these kids had friends who use drugs every Isaw

<v Speaker>every year. All right. All next question. <v Speaker>How many of you have friends who have guns? <v Speaker>I saw three quarters of the hands go up. <v Speaker>Now, kids tend to overstate things sometimes maybe. <v Speaker>But as a school counselor, is are they accurate or if they tell? <v Speaker>I think they're accurate. I think they they know of people that carry guns <v Speaker>to weapons they've seen or used drugs. <v Speaker>I think it's an accurate statement that they made there. <v Speaker>I really do. And I don't think we're listening closely enough to these accurate <v Speaker>statements that they're making. They come into my office all day long and I hear it. <v Speaker>So the cynic out there might say, well, it's nice to be carrying <v Speaker>yourself with mutual respect and be nice to each other, but that's a nice, soft, gentle <v Speaker>thing to do. In the meantime, we got guns and drugs out there. <v Speaker>How do the two things on the flip side of that is that if we don't start trying to take <v Speaker>steps to correct the behavior that is behind putting a gun

<v Speaker>in your coat pocket, OK, then the kids are never going to get anywhere <v Speaker>where they're learning anything in the classroom. <v Speaker>And it's it's not that I think that our curriculum should be totally values focused. <v Speaker>This isn't values clarification. <v Speaker>It's it's built on five principles. <v Speaker>And and we reflect that as a faculty and we expect the same from <v Speaker>the kids. And it's something that's an idea that they see for six hours <v Speaker>a day. And hopefully it's being reinforced in the home. <v Speaker>And that's what they have to deal with. <v Speaker>You know, I'm struck that this doesn't mean to put down your program <v Speaker>at all. And I'm struck that a program that comes from the national level, <v Speaker>it talks about teaching kids, caring and mutual respect and all that kind of stuff is <v Speaker>considered to be almost revolutionary. <v Speaker>And we're talking about a television program, because back when I was in school and <v Speaker>marching through driven snow five miles to school. <v Speaker>Like we all did when we were kids in the school.

<v Speaker>That stuff was a given. I mean, what's what's happened? <v Speaker>Our kids go from being with mom and dad in the morning, everybody getting ready to go to <v Speaker>work. Mom's not usually at home with them all day long. <v Speaker>That's a rare exception. <v Speaker>They go to school, then probably go to daycare or being with the babysitter. <v Speaker>Then they finally see mom and dad, maybe five thirty six o'clock at night to have dinner. <v Speaker>They see a whole lot in their school day. <v Speaker>And if we're not reinforcing what the home is teaching them, then <v Speaker>then we're sending mixed messages to kids. <v Speaker>And then the only the closest people they have to listen to at the middle school level <v Speaker>aren't their peers. And the messages that their parents are giving them <v Speaker>evidently isn't the direction that we want them to be going in. <v Speaker>What's the academic result of this program so far? <v Speaker>Can you measure in terms of kids learning and getting better grades and better test <v Speaker>scores? Have you maybe gotten to that? <v Speaker>Well, this is our first year, so we haven't been able to look at that yet.

<v Speaker>We're looking at putting together an exit survey for the sixth <v Speaker>and seventh graders this year just to see how they feel about North Side as an <v Speaker>environment. Because if what we've been talking about so far, <v Speaker>if if kids feel that their their <v Speaker>school environment is positive, that there's somebody there that cares about them as a <v Speaker>person as well as as their family caring <v Speaker>about them at home, then hopefully they're going to get it. <v Speaker>They're going to get the academic part. <v Speaker>They're going to go home with the books that they need to study for the test. <v Speaker>The next day, they're going to come to school with a pencil. <v Speaker>They're going to come to class with the stuff that they need. <v Speaker>And it's reinforced all all through that if you have it coming from from both <v Speaker>sides. <v Speaker>Honestly, Kathleen, can you see specific changes in specific young people <v Speaker>when they are given this kind of treatment? <v Speaker>Do they change in your eyes? <v Speaker>Well, I yes, I think so. <v Speaker>You know, I want to piggyback on something Dr. Clark said earlier.

<v Speaker>And that's when when students feel good about themselves and they feel comfortable in <v Speaker>their environment, they feel good about that environment. <v Speaker>You can't help but see results. You can't help but see behavioral changes and academic <v Speaker>changes because they feel good about themselves. <v Speaker>They put forth an effort and that's seen in everything they do. <v Speaker>It's it's an underlying value system that goes through every area of their life. <v Speaker>And we're going to see the results from that. <v Speaker>Gentry said it's you know, this is the pilot year for this program in our school. <v Speaker>And I think we will see those things happen. <v Speaker>OK. After middle school comes high school. <v Speaker>Of course, increasingly it's understood that if young people don't concentrate on <v Speaker>preparing for college or the world of work early on in high school, <v Speaker>her chances for success in life can be jeopardized. <v Speaker>Here at Kemps Ville High School in Virginia Beach, it's past dinnertime on a nice <v Speaker>May evening. And there is Matt McClain, a volunteer tutor for a project <v Speaker>called Making a Difference. He's leading a few young people through a vocabulary <v Speaker>exercise. Bob, Bob, you LINSKY is executive director of Making

<v Speaker>a Difference. <v Speaker>Charles Payne is Darby High School student who will be going to ultimately <v Speaker>university in the fall. Very. <v Speaker>Hamer is basketball coach at Booker T Washington High School in Norfolk, and he's a <v Speaker>mentor in the program, as is Alisha Brown, who is herself a student of counseling. <v Speaker>Oh, do you? Bob, what's your goal and who's involved in fulfilling it? <v Speaker>Much like the businessman from up in Newport News two years ago, I got <v Speaker>kind of tired of reading in the newspaper about the increase in violence and the <v Speaker>increase in the drugs and also the learning level of kids that I was <v Speaker>seeing coming into the workforce. <v Speaker>But most graphically was the fact that they did not seem to be a wake up call. <v Speaker>Being given to kids is that life gets harder after you graduate if you don't have certain <v Speaker>tools. So our goal initially was to target a group <v Speaker>of kids that we could gain success quickly. <v Speaker>And so we went after student athletes that were prevalent in the newspaper that were in <v Speaker>the at risk category. In other words, they had athletic skills, marginal

<v Speaker>academic skills. And our push was to get them over the hump so they could go to college <v Speaker>and take advantage of scholarship offers. <v Speaker>Now, in doing that, we ended up finding that we wanted the kids to pay a price <v Speaker>for coming for help. So we asked them to bring friends that were also in trouble. <v Speaker>And what went from 13 kids trials, being amongst the original group <v Speaker>from northview High School of 13 kids grew into a program that in two years <v Speaker>has dealt with and worked with over 4000 kids and some 500 <v Speaker>plus seniors are all in college or college bound out of this class. <v Speaker>Charles, I think we just saw you in a little piece of videotape when we were there <v Speaker>was a couple of weeks ago. It really was a real nice May evening, one of the first nice <v Speaker>evenings and into the baseball stadium. <v Speaker>Were the school. We're playing baseball. <v Speaker>There you were doing vocabulary lessons at about eight o'clock in these <v Speaker>seven thirty eight o'clock in the evening. Why were you there? <v Speaker>Well, basically, the you know, the program is

<v Speaker>for athletes and it's also expanded to kids who just maybe <v Speaker>that the school that they go to this may not offered him the help that they need <v Speaker>on the S.A.T. and it's offered three nights a week. <v Speaker>But personally. Wires. Why? <v Speaker>Why were you giving your time to that edge? <v Speaker>That vocabulary lesson rather than being out in a nice evening to achieve the <v Speaker>S.A.T. score to get accepted by the universities? <v Speaker>And that's basically. <v Speaker>Is it? Is that something that you just decided that you wanted to do or what? <v Speaker>Was this a case of this was a goal that you always had and some help came along to help <v Speaker>you do it? Or did they talk you into wanting to go to college? <v Speaker>This this goes back to the beginning in 1992. <v Speaker>We weren't. I was a sophomore in high school and we weren't a football homeroom. <v Speaker>And our coach brought in bomb and he presented the program <v Speaker>to 40 some odd kids in a room. <v Speaker>And the next day came back, he said, whoever's interested come see me across the hallway.

<v Speaker>And only eight of the kids out of the 40 walked out. <v Speaker>And I think only two or three of us <v Speaker>ever really continued and were serious about it. <v Speaker>And I think that that's where that's the seriousness, I think <v Speaker>is where the kids. Maybe they don't care or maybe they think, <v Speaker>you know, they're going to do something else. <v Speaker>And I think that, you know, it might take something else to open their eyes to see that <v Speaker>they really do need help, because, you know, I think it's just basically <v Speaker>self-motivated because I mean, I could easily say and we'll know. <v Speaker>I'll get help.