In order to fly, you have to let them go!

Today was another monumental day at school. For the first time, students were brought together to create the policies and consequences which they will follow in the upcoming year in the areas of attendance, lates, cellphone use and leaving school during the day. Areas, which up until now, had been the sole domain of the teachers and, usually, the principal.

When I arrived to take over the principalship almost 4 years ago, attendance was an issue particularly relating to students arriving for school, and class, late. It was particularly bad in grades 11 & 12. Being my first year, I watched and tried to figure out some way that this might be addressed so that the problem might be reduced to occasional occurrences not daily happenings. Over the next three years, I drew up different policies but they just didn’t work as a result of a number of reasons on all sides. This year, instead of coming up with a new policy, I tossed it back to the teachers telling them that they needed to solve how to handle the lates in their classes. That didn’t work. We continue to deal with a number of students who, for no other reason than they can, arrive late for classes in the morning and after lunch and, for some of them, in between.

As an administrator, it was starting to feel like the problem was unsolvable – the will just wasn’t there. Then, through a series of unfortunate events, I was left feeling that, if we weren’t able to deal with these issues, we certainly wouldn’t be able to deal with the bigger issues of drugs, student mental health, bullying and all those others that land in our hallways. So, I took a leap of faith and went to the people with whom these policies needed to work – the students.

Today, after lunch, I had the students in grades 9, 10, & 11 assemble in the library. I then explained my plan. They were going to set the boundaries for the following areas: students being late, students skipping classes, students leaving campus without signing out and cellphone usage. I explained that for three years these problems had continued without there being any real improvement. We’d tried a number of things and none of them worked. I needed them to identify what was acceptable in these areas, give boundaries for students and suggest consequences that students would have if they didn’t comply. I explained that these things we were talking about were mostly part of the Education Act, except for the cellphone use. These were areas that were part of the law and needed to be addressed. As with cellphones, we needed to come up with something that worked for them and for teachers. I spoke about how this was something that few students in schools get an opportunity to do and, depending on how things worked out, could be the start to many different issues that were part of how the school functioned. I trusted them, I explained, and was willing to give them the chance to demonstrate that they could do great things, “they could fly”. I then turned them loose with chartpaper and markers. 65 minutes later the last group handed in their ideas.

I’ve only had a few moments to go through their ideas but I can tell you that they took this very seriously and, without an exception, have come up with some great ideas for each area. Combining the ideas of the groups will result in something that is very clear to the students and very powerful. The one area that really struck me was the use of cellphones. Without an exception, each group agreed that they wanted to be able to use their phones during breaks but, once in class, they were to stay away unless called upon (calculator or agenda) and no texting was to take place. They gave consequences that were straightforward and reasonable, for the most part.

This type of thing happened for the other areas although there were some that were a bit “too strict” and some a bit “too wide-open”. However, it was clear that the students were wanting to be part of creating a solution. After this was done, I didn’t have time to talk with staff and won’t tomorrow because I’m at an all-day meeting. However, I’ve had some conversations with students and all of them have stated that the only way that this will work is if EVERY teacher follows through and doesn’t allow exceptions for particular students. This was mentioned for each of the grades that were represented. They wanted what they did to have meaning but know that all teachers must be using the guidelines. They expressed frustration with what they saw as double standards and were using this opportunity to voice their frustrations. They don’t want me to be the only one who goes about trying to implement their ideas.

They’re right. All teachers must be willing to embrace the chance these students have taken. I thought I was the only one taking a chance but, really, they were also taking a chance – a very big chance. They were willing to seriously consider what might be done about these things and they want those people who have the authority to follow through to do just that – to honour the work that they have done.

As a parent, I am always so proud when I see my children do something that I know has caused them some great inner struggle. Well, today I was very proud of these youth. They demonstrated that, given the opportunity and guidance, they can discuss, debate and deliver on a task that, up until now, has been difficult for staff to agree upon and follow through.

It’s been that kind of year

This year our school has taken the first steps toward having students being functioning members of the learning community and not just the beings that show up after we, the adults, have decided what should happen. They have had equal input into our school Code of Conduct, they have representatives that sit on our School Community Council who give us advice on particular ideas and they have now taken the first steps toward creating a true learning community, where all partners are part of the process. The crucial part will be getting teachers to work alongside the students – being there to help and guide them, assist and question them and, if need be, provide the discipline that is needed to help them. We’re a long way away from some of those schools that make headlines and are model schools and only time will tell if we can take what we did today and improve upon it. But, I am encourage and excited about the possibilities, seeing such things as our School Representative Council becoming more than a body that plans pep rallies and spirit days but instead being a place where such things as class trips are discussed and planned, electives for senior classes are explored and major decisions about how students act and interact are drafted.

We’re not done!

To add to this, on Thursday evening there is a meeting scheduled for staff, parents and students to discuss what types of electives they would like to see offered for our seniors. For the first time, instead of deciding what we will offer, we are going to have parents and students give us their ideas about what they would like to see happening at the school. Another huge step toward bringing all members of our learning community into the learning process. We’ll see how that turns out!

It made me cringe but led to an “aha”

It’s Sunday afternoon and I’ve just finished putting away all the things from our second Ultimate Youth Night. This night is a opening evening for youth in our community to come together in a safe and supervised setting to enjoy movies, games, gaming and music. Our first event had about 50 youth attend from 7:00 to midnight. For last night’s event, it was decided to try to include some of the younger students in the school so we had two different parts to the evening. The first part was from 6:00 to 9:00 and was for any students from K to 5 accompanied by an adult. For a first time try, it was okay with about 15 kids attending with their parents.

The second part of the evening was for youth from grade 6 to age 18. For this portion of the evening, we had about 55 youth come out and play games and hang out. When I left at 9:00, after my 6 hours of setting up and getting all the things organized, the place was rocking with Wii, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Baseball, SceneIt, a the board games NHL Monopoly and Clue being played. We sold pop for a $1 and had free chips and such. This round we had many more girls attend and participate. We’re happy with what is happening but now we know it is time to make this a sustainable project – one that is run by youth with adult assistance. Our plan is to create a committee of 10 or 12 youth and have them appoint a chairperson and organize these evenings with input from the overseeing committee, of which 3 of the youth will sit on.

So, what made me cringe? Well, it wasn’t this. It was a conversation that I had with a grade 11 student on Friday who, during our discussion, told me that we were equals. I’ve spent the entire weekend thinking about that comment. Now it makes me cringe for a few reasons. First off, it creates a false sense of being equals in a manner that is not possible. As much as schools need to open up and allow students to be part of some of the decisions, there are still responsibilities that youth, even those who are mature, should not be made to shoulder because they are still youth. A second thing that came to mind is the false sense that there is an equality of decision-making ability that just isn’t there. Schools are responsible to every help every student to do their best given the tools and personel available to them. As an administrator, part of my mandate is to try to ensure that this does take place and, if necessary, to take the steps to bring this to fruition. Lastly, it creates unattainable goals that no matter how much we, as educators, do, we won’t be able to meet. As much as I would like to see schools change, there are some things that youth should not be made to deal with as they navigate the path to adulthood because, to tell you the truth, I’m still learning and growing into after 17 years in education.

While I spent time setting up for the youth evening, I began to realize that the wrong person was doing the setting up – this event needs to be organized by the people who know what they want to do. Instead, as the adult, our group needs to take care of the things like accessing grants, finding a permanent storage place for the equipment, accessing facilities, organizing chaperones and so forth and leave the actual setting up, doing and taking down to the people who are participating. Last night we had 5 game machines with projectors being played while music, games and other activities were taking place. This made me think that maybe I’d been going about things at my school all wrong.

Application to Education

For the past 3 years, the staff has been trying to figure out how to deal with a number of issues that have been constant problems. We’ve tried a few different things but usually end up at the same place we began. As I thought about what this student had said to me, I realized that there was a lack of information on the part of the students. Instead of explaining and discussing the workings of the school with them, we’d been telling them how things worked and what was going to be expected of them. This sometimes worked and sometimes caused problems, especially for me. Just recently I’ve been running into all kinds of difficulty with students being late and cutting class. Suffice to say, not everyone is on the same page.

Here I am trying to enforce rules that students have no input into. Now, some of them are from our provincial Education Act and are part of the law. Actually, all of them are related to this. My plan, fool-hearty as it is, is to dialogue with students from grades 9 – 11 and have them set out the parameters for their behaviour while at the same time putting the responsibility for classroom management of these things fully in the hands of the teachers. To do this, I plan to bring these students together for an afternoon this week to work in groups, with a teacher in each group, to suggest ways to deal with the issues that result from the rules that are given to us.

I plan to divide the students into groups, having each group brainstorm ideas for dealing with the problems making it clearly understood that this process is a way for them to take ownership for themselves and create the expectations for the school. I know that this is a huge gamble and could turn into complete chaos but I trust that the students, once they realize that if they take this seriously, will be taken seriously. The final expectations will be organized and voted upon through secret ballot. Of course, I will have veto power over any unreasonable suggestions but I’m hoping students will monitor themselves.

I’m not sure if this is an “aha” or an “oh-oh”. However, I tire of the way things are working – trying to have students accept responsibility for what they are doing. Hopefully, this way, they will buy into what is going on. What do you suggest?