Making the Rounds

(Disclaimer - I know I failed on my mission of a new post every Tuesday, but I did start writing this post on Tuesday. It's taken me this long to finish it.)

First day back after a nice holiday. For some reason, I feel that MLK day has been downplayed. I don't think it's as big a deal now as it was when I was a kid. That could be because I grew up in the South, but it could be because of the multicultural society that we live in today. Maybe people feel as if they don't necessarily have to stress it anymore. I'm not even sure if it was mentioned in my building last week. There's a chance that kindergarten and maybe first grade talked about it, but they may have been the only one's to discuss it. My principal made a point of reminding the kids before they left on Friday to reflect on why they had Monday off.

Maybe that's where we are in 2010. We have a Black (Biracial) president, there are more opportunities for African-Americans, albeit a limited few have access to those opportunities, and there are few incidents of blatant racism. Maybe we've moved beyond addressing MLK in school. I remember asking an African-American teacher in my building what she was doing for African-American History Month. She told me that she wasn't doing anything special because she incorporated the information throughout the year.

Today, I went to two different schools to observe students that I am evaluating. These are both alternative schools, specializing in behavioral and emotionally-challenged students. I was impressed by the atmosphere in each building. On paper, these schools seem like they would be awful places to attend. In actuality, this couldn't be farther from the truth. Both schools--one an elementary school, the other a high school--seem very therapeutic. Each had a very welcoming main office, which is key to establishing a warm environment because it puts one at ease. And I met both principals as I explained that I was there to observe students.

In the elementary school I observed a student that seemed pretty well-behaved. I know that I was only getting a snapshot, but it was promising. It reminded me that his apparent success is the reason why we refer some students to these types of schools. Obviously, this was an appropriate placement for him. While I was observing him, I saw a former student of mine. It was bit depressing to see that he hadn't changed much. He was still rail-thin, his head riddled with bald patches from ripping out his hair during anxiety attacks. He was very meek and looked like he would fold into himself it it was possible. I had hoped that this school would have produced results for him, but it looks like he is pretty much the same. Unfortunately a lot of his psychological inertia stems from the fact that his parents are mentally ill with bouts of depression, paranoia, and anxiety. I'm supposed to reevaluate him before the end of the year, so this will give me more information on how he is really doing. I don't know if he recognized me. Hopefully he just didn't see me. Of all the kids that I saw in this school, he was the one that stuck out to me as being a child that seemed in critical need.

BBC