Look for the helpers

While listening to This American Life, I thought of a quote that is often cited after horrific events:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” ― Fred Rogers

The coverage of the daily life and realities of staff and students at Harper High School was emotionally exhausting, both depressing and inspiring at the same time. The families, the students, the teachers, and the staff are swimming against an incredible current of violence and poverty.  Some drown while others are fighting against it constantly, looking for someone to somehow help them out.  Students look to staff.  Staff members look to administrators. Administrators look to the district, state, nation…whoever can offer some glimmer of hope.  They actually received financial help from the district to try to turn things around at Harper High and there were changes starting to happen through additional staff and services.

The perseverance to keep waking up and trying to make a difference in such an environment is amazing and admirable. Principal Sanders and the staff ‘get’ the odds of what the kids are up against and how the school can help the students see a different future. I was taken aback by the incredible decision that had to be made of whether or not to move forward with a homecoming game and dance. That is something that most schools simply schedule and may have some discussion or an assembly about drinking and driving, but to think about having one or more of your students killed puts that decision in a whole different light. The dedication of the staff members, who chose to put their outside commitments on hold and stay at school for 14+ hours so that day could end in an unremarkable way was truly a testament to their dedication to the students well beyond  raising test scores.

In the section of chapter 9 entitled “Schools Organized for Student and Teacher Learning” Darling-Hammond noted that schools in high-need communities do more for students when they are providing ‘wrap around’ services, which include early intervention, parent education, health care, and social services. This makes sense. When one compares the community services and expectations that students in higher SES communities have, those things are already in place. When we looked at countries whose school systems that are outperforming the US school system, those services are part of life for their citizenry. What doesn’t make sense to me is that we keep trying to leave this to a system of haphazard levels of effective decisions at the local, state, and national level without the authentic input of teacher expertise, but blaming the schools for so many failures in our society.

Harper High School was starting to make headway in their difficult situation and then what happened? Funding went away. Maybe someone made a decision that a turnaround should be able to happen in three years or maybe a grant for ‘innovation’ only lasted a few years or maybe the ever-swinging pendulum in our education system swung toward another pet project. Whatever the reason, those teachers and staff were given a glimmer of hope, only to have it taken away. As a result of the NPR story, Harper High was able to establish a fund for listeners who wanted to donate  to the school. I applaud this generosity in response to a story that pulls on the heartstrings. However, when the story fades to distant memory, the donations will fade as well. This is no way to develop an educational vision or fund our schools. Without consistent, equitable funding for teacher training and student services, along with educational vision, there will continue to be Harper High Schools all around our country.