Student population and socioeconomic levels of families at George Washington
First Story:
Located in the middle of an old residential area of the large city of Warren, George Washington Middle School serves approximately 450 students, a relatively small size for a middle school. The student population is declining because younger couples are moving to suburban areas adjacent to the city. Over the past 10 years, not only has the student population at George Washington declined; the socioeconomic level of families has decreased as well. Families served by the school don’t have the resources to move to the suburbs; most parents work at a textile mill in the industrial park of Warren. Despite changes in student population and socioeconomic levels of families at George Washington, community involvement remains strong. Working and nonworking parents frequently volunteer to support school activities. The school’s PTA has a list of parents available to help with after-school events, and a few are able to schedule time during the day to participate in a Reading Buddies program for middle school students and to collect and count proceeds of PTA fundraisers. Students participate in three districtwide sports activities: basketball, volleyball, and track. Tryouts for eight cheerleader positions are held each spring. Parents of student athletes and cheerleaders regularly volunteer to collect gate proceeds and to sell concessions at athletic events. The Booster Club president requests the help of four parent volunteers to work each athletic event. Two parents manage concessions, while two other parents collect and monitor gate proceeds. Daniel Stevens is the current principal at George Washington Middle School. He was appointed four years ago and is well liked by students, parents, and teachers. Mr. Stevens works well with parent leadership in the PTA and the Booster Club. Because he doesn’t have an assistant principal to help him with extra duty assignments, such as supervising athletic events, Mr. Stevens relies on parent volunteers to attend and assume responsibility for duties at athletic events. One of the parents who often volunteers to either manage concessions or collect gate proceeds is Mrs. Alice Bowman. Mrs. Bowman has three children—two sons who have completed middle school and moved on to the high school and one daughter who is a seventh grade cheerleader at George Washington. In fact, Lucy, the daughter, is quite skilled in cheerleader stunts and routines. She was recognized as an All-State cheerleader at the recent try-outs held at the major state university. In addition to receiving a plaque and certificate of accomplishment, Lucy has been invited to march with other All-State cheerleaders in a holiday parade in New York. Mr. Stevens proudly reported Lucy’s accomplishments schoolwide one morning during his daily school announcements. The Thursday following Lucy’s participation in the All-State cheerleader tryouts, Mrs. Bowman made an appointment to speak with Mr. Stevens. She arrived on time and explained that she and her husband wanted to request that the PTA fund Lucy’s trip to New York. Mrs. Bowman had investigated necessary expenses and presented a budget of $798 needed to purchase an airline ticket, pay for a hotel room shared with four other All-State cheerleaders from other states, and cover meals for three days. Mr. Stevens reviewed the budget presented by Mrs. Bowman and then explained that he could not support her request. He tactfully stated that while he valued Lucy’s contributions to the cheerleading squad and also was proud of her accomplishments, he didn’t feel it appropriate for the PTA to expend limited resources on behalf of only one student. Mr. Stevens told Mrs. Bowman that PTA monies were raised to support projects that would benefit all or the majority of students. He justified his position by asking Mrs. Bowman how she might feel if PTA monies were used to send only one student to a summer academic camp. Mrs. Bowman pressed Mr. Stevens to reconsider, but he was adamant that her request was outside the parameters of a legitimate PTA-supported project. The next time Mr. Stevens saw Mrs. Bowman was Monday night at the last home basketball game of the season for George Washington Middle School. The crowd was large and met seating capacity of the bleachers. Volunteers collecting gate proceeds and concessions worked feverishly to accommodate the crowd. Mr. Stevens was fully occupied with supervisory duties and unable to oversee money collection and accounting. He reasoned that reliable parents and careful accounting procedures made it unnecessary for him to closely supervise parent volunteers. Mr. Stevens knew that prenumbered tickets and an inventory of concession items made it difficult for funds to be mishandled. He wouldn’t have had reason for concern had it not been for Mr. Will Dumas. Mr. Dumas arrived at the game toward the end of the first quarter. He was a foreman at the textile mill and had cashed his weekly check that afternoon. As he approached the door to the gym, he folded several bills to place in his wallet. “I can see you’re doing well, Mr. Dumas,” Mr. Stevens said standing at the gym door. “Yeah, I just got paid and had to use a $50 bill to pay my way to the ball game tonight,” Mr. Dumas responded. “That’s great,” said Mr. Stevens. “We’ll take whatever denomination you have, because we’re glad to see you here for the last game of the season. It’s going to be a good one!” After the game, Mrs. Bowman handed Mr. Stevens the bank bag with the door proceeds. He secured the gym and took both the ticket and concession bank bags to his car. The security guard walked with him because Mr. Stevens always arranged for security to accompany him to the bank to make the deposit. Following his usual routine, Mr. Stevens opened the concession money bag and counted it in front of the security guard. The concession money balanced with the inventory and was in order. Mr. Stevens then reviewed the ticket accounting sheet before counting ticket proceeds. Mrs. Bowman had written a note stating that tickets 78 though 88 had to be discarded because they were torn. The ticket proceeds balanced with the number of tickets sold minus the 10 reported torn, but the total didn’t reflect the amount that should have included the 10 tickets Mrs. Bowman claimed were torn. Mr. Stevens couldn’t find a $50 bill, the cost of 10 tickets, among the currency in the bank bag.
The second Story:
Barbara Felton glanced at her watch. Both of the new teachers she had hired three weeks ago would arrive in 20 minutes for an orientation. Barbara’s 10th year as principal would begin in three weeks. This was the busiest time of the summer, but she believed that nurturing beginning teachers was everyone’s job, and she liked to orient them to the school and explain her expectations before the year began. Barbara remembered her own first-year experience. She’d been given a key, a calendar, and a handshake. Her principal had explained that good teachers showed initiative and asked someone when they wanted to know something. She had felt so overwhelmed! Felton decided that she’d never treat new teachers that way. She believed they needed more help, not less, and had worked hard to develop the program with her faculty to help beginning teachers succeed. Barbara believed that teachers did a better job in the classroom if they felt comfortable and self-assured in their surroundings. They needed a friendly face and a kind voice to help them through the first trying months of school. It had become especially important to help new teachers succeed since there weren’t enough applicants to fill the vacancies in her district, and finding special education teachers had become impossible! “Your new teachers just arrived,” the school secretary announced as she stepped into the principal’s office. “They’re coming up the sidewalk now.” “Thanks,” Barbara replied. “We’ll meet in the cafeteria. Mrs. Phillips will be here soon; please send her in. I want her to meet Ms. Kowalski.” The secretary nodded and left the office. Barbara followed her and walked to the lobby where Sharon Kowalski, a third grade teacher, and Ed Zimmer, certified to teach special needs students, waited. Barbara led the teachers on a tour of the campus, pointing out the gymnasium, library, playground, and faculty restrooms and lounge and the classrooms to which they would be assigned. They were enthusiastic and asked lots of questions. Mr. Zimmer was curious about inclusion classes at Twin Oaks. “Let’s talk about that when we return to the cafeteria. Honestly, Mr. Zimmer, my faculty is confused about how we can include our disabled students into regular classes.” They returned to the cafeteria, where Barbara had coffee and pastries waiting for them. “Are those ours?” Ms. Kowalski asked, pointing at two stacks of papers on a table. “Yes,” Felton nodded. “Let’s take our coffee to the table and we’ll get started.” Barbara took 10 minutes to explain that being recruited, interviewed, and hired was only the beginning of their induction experience. She said that her goal was to help them to have such a successful year at Twin Oaks that they would want to return. “The next step is to give you an orientation to the school. I know you have a meeting in the central office later this week. Lots of people will tell you about the district and what the system expects of you, but this is where you’ll teach every day, so I want to welcome you to our school,” she smiled. “Ms. Kowalski,” Felton continued, “I’ve asked Karen Phillips to be your mentor this year. She’s been a third grade teacher for eight years.” “Did she have a successful first year?” Zimmer asked, smiling. “Yes, I think she did, and she had a mentor, too. I want you to think of your mentor as someone to whom you can turn when you have questions about what you’re doing with students, or how the school operates, or any other concerns. You certainly may ask me, but sometimes teachers feel better talking to other teachers. The mentoring process will continue throughout the year and involves several planned meetings and discussions so you can ask questions.” “Will I have a mentor?” Zimmer asked. Felton smiled. “Yes, you will. In fact, you’ll have two. Judy O’Hearn is a special education teacher and has been trained to be a mentor.” “Who’s the other one?” “I’ll be the other, Mr. Zimmer, because I think we can learn from each other. I want to know more about inclusion, and I can help you to work with the faculty.” “Fair enough,” Zimmer nodded. “Good. Shall we begin?” As they seated themselves, Barbara removed the top page from the materials on the table and placed it in front of them. “This is an Orientation Agenda,” she said as she gave each one a piece of paper. “As we discuss each item, please check it off. You’ll see a place for your signature at the bottom of the page. Please sign the agenda and give it to me before you leave.” She waited while the new teachers previewed the page.\
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