SINN-CLARK: Good things at our local schools

Last week, people who don’t usually spend much time in our schools were given an opportunity to spend the day at Yargo Elementary, Haymon-Morris Middle and Apalachee High Schools. It was “Community Day,” the idea being to have students show visitors around their schools and talk with them about their experiences in school.

In general, I dread these types of “Rah! Rah! It’s all good here” events because there are problems, challenges and issues and they are rarely addressed at these kinds of things. However, I ended up having a really good day at “Community Day” and the reason was that, even though problems and challenges were discussed, the main impression I got of the three schools was positive. And, so much of that was based on what I saw and heard from the students themselves.

Yargo’s student ambassadors were just precious, in a bright-eyed, polite, still so young and excited way. One of the visitors on my tour said he was impressed by the firm hand shake a straight look in the eye he got from one of the greeters who met him at the school door. Too cute…

Haymon-Morris’s ambassadors were very intelligent, had excellent manners and were well-informed about their school, in that little bit awkward middle school way. One thing that struck me was how much pride they have in their school. They seemed to value the variety their education offers and feel safe within its rather rigid structure. And, they were clearly enthusiastic about the many clubs and extra-curricular activities they had to chose from.

Apalachee’s group of ambassadors was nothing short of fabulous. The mere sight of them lined up, waiting to greet us, made me smile – fresh faces, welcoming smiles - pretty girls in winsome spring dresses (plus one who rocked her JROTC uniform); a young man, also in a JROTC uniform; the other guys, all dressed, pressed and looking their best. High schoolers at the top of their game - this group is clearly headed to high places.

They told us about themselves and their school. They shared some of their concerns and talked about how clubs, groups, teachers and activities help kids fit in, feel safe, learn and succeed. Their enthusiasm was genuine; their opinions were astute. I was very impressed.

It’s easy to criticize the schools when you lump teachers into a nameless, faceless group who is “taking our tax money” and not meeting our expectations. If you actually go into Barrow classrooms, what you see are dedicated, hard working individuals doing their best to help our children learn. You can feel the connection between students and their teachers. It’s clear they are fond of each other; it’s clear they trust and care for each other; and it’s clear they share the common goal that everyone will do their best, whatever that best might be.

Principals know their students’ names and students call out to greet their principals in the halls. There is a palpable enthusiasm and caring attitude in our schools which is surprising and amazing. I don’t remember school feeling that way.

One telling fact about our school system is 60 percent of its 12,800 students qualify for free or reduced rate school lunch – that means their families meet federal poverty standards. It’s easy to be critical of our schools, but it’s fair to put that criticism in context. Over half of our kids’ families are struggling and that takes its toll in the classroom. After all, the poorer the village, the harder the whole village has to work to raise and educate each child.

Test scores is another area where our schools are often said to be failing. No matter the gains, they’re never good enough. Sure, a 5-10 percent failure rate on some standardized test shows much work remains to be done. But, I would challenge you to pull 100 adults from any large store in Barrow County, sit them down with that same test, and have more than 90 of them pass it. My bet is our students are out-performing their parents.

Long story short, before you bash our schools, go visit them. Watch our teachers at work and see how students learn, then get involved. Our kids need mentors and our schools need business partners. There are plenty problems to be solved and simply blogging about them is the easy way out.

Lorin Sinn-Clark is features editor of the Barrow Journal. She can be reached at lorin@barrowjournal.com.