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To read the article “Who's afraid of ninth grade” by Gil Klein, use the link below.
Gil Klein is a national correspondent in Media General's Washington Bureau. “I think that High Schools That Work has created a certain pride in Mount Olive and it has made us recognize that we're good and we're getting better,” Guidance Director Denise Meehan says. This quote is taken from the article “Reading a proven model,” which was printed in the Daily Record on December 20, 2005. Denise Meehan is guidance director at Mount Olive High School in New Jersey. Dear Dr. Bottoms: Jeff and I just wanted to take a few minutes of your day to thank your staff and you for the work of the Southern Regional Education Board. Almost two years ago, we both transferred to the same high school in the Horry County School District, North Myrtle Beach High School, as it was beginning its first year as a new member of the High Schools That Work, and we have enjoyed professionally being a part of the SREB work again. During that first year at North Myrtle Beach High School (NMBHS), you can imagine how “old” we felt as we listened to the HSTW initiatives being introduced to the staff. Yet our principal, Porter Kennington, is a leader who respects the expertise of others. He has been so generous in sharing my Senior Project experience from Hodgson VoTech in New Castle and he respects the knowledge base that Jeff has on integrated instruction and academies. NMBHS initiated a freshmen academy in 2003-2004 where all the ninth-graders were housed primarily in one area of the high school. (This year that class is more appropriately called Freshman Seminar.) We often have talked about the irony or the good journal article of a superintendent who had cycled from administration to the classroom, an administrator who came from a model freshmen academy at POLYTECH and was sharing that with North Myrtle Beach. Yet Jeff's role is just so much what SREB is all about! In July Jeff and I had the opportunity to share the various parts of Senior Project (SP) with teachers and administration in the Jackson Public School District in a two-day in-service program. It was the end of planning for an initiative that they call “Advanced Seminar” that I have been working on with your outstanding consultant, Lois Barnes. Jeff was brought in to facilitate some situations that needed to be addressed with administrators. As you are probably aware, Jackson was exempting too many appropriate areas - like the vocational students - from the Senior Project requirement, and Jeff is excellent in “firing up” a group about SP for ALL students. We had not teamed together for several years for SREB, but we thoroughly enjoyed the chance to share what Jeff always says is the best initiative in high schools for improving student achievement - Senior Project. We also met another quality SREB employee, Linda Dove, who filled in for Lois during her trip to Germany. This year NMBHS has initiated its Senior Project and a Junior Community Service Project. While I have worked with the development of the Senior Project, I will not be teaching seniors until next semester. Yet this semester I have worked with juniors at all academic levels on the Junior Community Service Project in place at NMBHS, the Senior Projects should be even better next year as the program develops. One of my favorite comments came from a junior Friday who said in his oral presentation: “I have never worked so hard in my life. I worked all one Saturday on a recycling truck in North Myrtle Beach, but I really liked it and I am going to keep doing it even though I do not have to now.” Such comments from my students are what the goals and objectives of SREB and High Schools That Work are. While Jeff is finally deciding to retire again, we still wanted to take a few minutes as we begin 2005 and thank your organization and you for all that you have given to others and us. Jeff knows the beginning of SREB much better than I, so he especially enjoys seeing that “seed” continuing to sprout and grow. From teaching at Hodgson, from parenting at POLYTECH with a SP child, and from being Jeff's wife while he was at POLYTECH and the Academy, I know too that integrated instruction and Senior Project will grow and blossom. Yet if SREB did not work as hard as it does - providing resources, serving as a model, having the highest expectations, and being the best practice - none of this would have developed and survived. Jeff and I want to thank you for helping all of us to have that point of celebration in our professional lives. We are so blessed that we have been able to be a small part of the good works of SREB/High Schools That Work in Delaware and here. We thank you for what you started many years ago and have kept going. Sincerely, “Thank you for your efforts in Arkansas. Our children are benefiting greatly from SREB.” Fondly, Dear Dr. Bottoms: Once again I want to express my appreciation for the opportunity to work with you and all of your staff at the annual HSTW conference in Atlanta. I never cease to be amazed at what a monumental undertaking that this particular conference is and how smoothly and trouble-free everything seems to run. The best part of the conference for me is always speaking to the educators. Everyone who comes to that conference is an educator who is dedicating to achieving higher levels of success. Their positive energy and attitudes permeate the entire week. It is an honor for me to be able to participate. I want to thank you for the opportunity once again. I look forward to working with you again in the future. Sincerely,
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