Today, my toughest day as Principal

The fact that you have made it to this word in this post means one simple fact, you can read. Because you can read, you don't have to exert effort in reading text that you are presented with. Gone are the days we you saw letters as individual shapes, your a reader so you don't see letters, you see and read words.

Today, my emotions over ran me in a casual conversation with one of my frequent flyers to my office. I have known all year that he had deficients in reading. I have put in place extra tutorial during the day and often spend time during lunch to help. But today, it was just overwhelming.

After his second visit to my office today for misbehaving (he averages about 4 trips per day) I had begun to give him the riot act and my Joe Clark sermons. I was letting him have it, with love of course. I then broke my cardinal rule and asked about his dad...........................

As a young principal, I made this mistake out of lack of experience and was often shocked my the responses students would give. I quickly adjusted my tactics and would preferences my Joe Clark rants with, " Who do you live with?" After their response, then I knew how to prepare my subsequent questions.

When you break your own rules, get ready!

So my student answered, " I think his name is ..." I heard he lives.... He gave me $130 for Christmas when I was 3 (the boy is 11 now).

Me: Do you know his name? " I think its....., I think my middle name is his first name.....I don't know his last name....

At this point, I emotionally boiling, crying, furious, saddened. Just a basket case. My day declines from there and I can even share with my AP the conversation without being overcome with emotions.

Why? This 11 year old, black male, who has perfect attendance, CANNOT READ HIS OWN NAME!!!!!!! HE DOES NOT KNOW THE 26 LETTERS IN THE ALPHABET WITHOUT SINGING THE SONG. This is a condemnation upon the educational system of not so foreign country but the one I live in. Further, his father (whom I'm trying to reserve judgment at the moment) apparently only lives 3-4 exits from my school.

Do you know what this student said when I asked him about does his dad work? "He be working by that convenient store they call the TRAP" Ok, really, this absentee, mirage of a father son's only knowledge of his father is that he works at the TRAP. Di you hear me say that when this student sees a word like " brown", he starting sounding the word out by starting with " ah-bb-caca". Yes he goes through the whole alphabet trying to match a sound that he thinks is the sound of the first letter, which he has no clue of what it is.

There are so many emotions I experienced today dealing with this travesty. I just had to get this out.

And you know me. I called his momma, I got dad's name. I rode the area. I put the word out to the trap boys. I'm gonna find.....
If I have to pick him up from the TRAP everyday so he can see the pain that his boy is experiencing from his absence. I'm not talking about no adult relationship issues, I really care less about what momma did he did, don't care. This child is beyond neglect. He is the poster child for the next evening news segment about kicking in doors, robbing people on the train, stealing cars, smash and grabs, etc.

Do you understand the joy I get after a hard day of work and as soon as I crack the door i hear the pitter pat of my children running to the door to give me a hug or kiss.

My boy at school has NEVER had a hug, kiss, movie, piece of candy, good joke, NOTHING from his father. This man is not dead, but in this child's life he does not exist.

Pardon the non structure of this post. It just really hit hard today. But guess what, in my building, I can repeat this same story over at least 175+ times. It is a shame, a pain, and a travesty.

No matter, I'm gonna save them all one at a time. I'm gonna teach this boy how to read, how to excel, how to dream and how to make his reality real.

Life is the best teacher because everyday the is a lesson or two or three to learn.

I Can, I Must, I Will.

Mom's love your children. Dad's Be their Hero.

See you in the TRAP