In the next few years, Fuquay-Varina citizens will have a chance to celebrate two new middle schools. These schools are vitally important to the future of our town. Middle school children have learned how to read, write, and do arithmetic, but have not yet formed their identities of who they will become in their careers, communities, or even as family members. So how should we challenge our middle schools to help us create innovators, citizens, and caretakers? I recently got inspiring answers to this complex question by connecting with Kris Clark, the new principal at our old middle school. No matter what our personal challenges are, we all can learn from his answers.
The setting for the story is the century-old building that serves over 1,100 children in grades 6, 7, and 8—so many students that the 300-seat auditorium cannot even hold one whole grade. Assistant Principal Paige Elliott joined us in Mr. Clark’s office to help convey the character of the school. Compared with other Wake County middle schools ours is more family oriented. It has more of a small-town atmosphere. Ms. Elliott explained how this works both ways. The Parent Teacher Student Association provided new laptops and collaborative furniture, teacher grants, and an angel fund for students who did not bring lunch money. In turn, the Student Council and Beta Club (an honors group) contributed to food and clothing drives.
Even with some remodeling in recent years, the facilities need the upgrades that the new locations will provide, but the school’s family-like character is as important as the facilities. Mr. Clark was previously assistant principal at our high school and a protégé of its very popular Mr. Enns, recently Wake County’s Principal of the Year. As the new middle school principal, Mr. Clark learned about the school’s character by holding 15-20-minute interviews with every one of the 68 teachers and many more staff members.
When a child is born, we give her or him names simultaneously grounded in the past and infused with our vision for their future. All culture builds on the past but relies as much on visions for the future. Mr. Clark’s vision has such depth that not only can teachers and staff use it in the school he leads, but people can use it in their careers, communities, and families. After he explained it to me, first by examples and then by its clever slogan, I returned on another day to do an in-depth developmental interview—the kind of interview I have done with hundreds of seasoned educators, which unmistakably reveals the depth of experience and understanding with their ideas. When I finished, I could hardly wait to share his vision with our whole community through our Suburban Living that reaches all of us.
“My vision,” Mr. Clark explained, “is to celebrate each student’s unique talents and recognize them as people, regardless of the demographics, to know they are challenged academically, creatively, and behaviorally so that they are prepared for college and life, and to connect to an adult on campus, so that every student is so visible in their classes that teachers can bring their interests into their lessons.”
The slogan is “Celebrate, Challenge, and Connect” and it applies to every student. The deep question, of course, is how do the people in the school do this? And that question comes alive when we know how people develop skill in doing it. Where do they begin? What do they need to explore in order to make it meaningful? How do they make it so much a part of their daily work that it becomes a sustained part of the school’s culture? And ultimately, what can they innovate or discover that inspires many others to think and act on these ideas in daily life?
Celebrate, challenge, and connect are three dimensions of teacher practices, four if we distinguish behavioral from academic challenges. The development of practices rarely occurs in a lock-step manner, but people’s first performance of simpler practices comes before they do more complex ones. The sequence of four modes of practice—begin, explore, sustain, and inspire—indicates their level of complexity. Beginners just take a few minutes to try the dimension. Explorers vary what they do, often making mistakes. Sustainers use it while earning their livings. Inspiring users make discoveries or innovations that others copy. These are rough similarities between different dimensions of any expertise. For every dimension, the modes are different.
Therefore, we use a unique name to describe each of the four modes of practice in each dimension:
When we celebrate our students, we first imitate, soon afterwards we personalize, next we associate, and ultimately, we inquire how to celebrate with them.
When we challenge students academically, we comply, then distinguish, next assess, and ultimately empower them.
When we challenge them behaviorally, we first assume, then model, next elucidate, and ultimately convey the desired behaviors.
When we connect with our students, we first just attend classes, then welcome them, next care for them, and ultimately grow with them.
Mr. Clark’s detailed meanings for these terms are in the table at the end of the article. It is good reading for anyone who wants to know how well developed they are at celebrating, challenging, and connecting within their community. Of course, you are likely also to find new ideas for doing these important practices.
Assistant Principal Elliott described how the school periodically does a student perspective survey filled out by very nearly all the students. They answer questions like “How do you feel about school?” and “Who do you turn to if you have a problem?” The teachers continually reflect on what they can do to reach every single student. Principal Clark added enthusiastically, “Ms. Elliott made a great point. We make a house a home regardless of where we are living. Our school is like a tight-knit family. The building can aid that with its programs…. But here we are restricted. The athletic fields are co-owned by the town and shared with them. Football and soccer must be played at the same time. The high school can offer dance, because they have dance room, but for now, we cannot.”
After my interview with Mr. Clark and Ms. Elliott, I had the opportunity to sit down with Betty Parker, Director of Real Estate Services for the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). Ms. Parker presented a list of options at the Fuquay-Varina Town Board meeting in November. She told me about the WCPSS program for Space Needs Analysis, and Prioritization (SNAP). Seats for children always come first, but there are less essential, while still important needs that can be filled when opportunities present themselves. The SNAP planning means that, as Ms. Parker explained, “When need meets opportunity, we can move quickly.” Various WCPSS departments submit needs which the planning group assesses related to the space, functions, costs, and programming necessary.
There were seven items on the WCPSS list presented to the town board, but there is still time for the community to have input on this planning. The seven include (1) a pre-K center for Title 1 and special education populations, (2) an elementary school to address capacity needs, (3) an intercession track-out program to provide cost-effective track-out camp services with educational programs to support child care for families assigned to year-round schools, (4) before-after school care, (5) Second Chance Online Resource Education (SCORE) to deliver education digitally through on-line face-to-face and any-time interaction, (6) a regional ready-to-learn center to prepare children and their parents cognitively, emotionally, and socially for school, and (7) a career and college technical education academy in collaboration with Wake Technical Community College.
The upcoming availability of the historic middle school creates many such opportunities. Ms. Parker mentioned that it is “important for people to understand what the options are and if there are other ideas, we welcome them.” On the other hand, she noted that while community input will be very valuable in understanding community needs and gauging interest in various program options, final responsibility for program selection will rest with the Board of Education. The system plans to contact Town Manager Adam Mitchell and Mayor John Byrne, so people should look for opportunities for input that our leaders provide for us.
There will be a few years to plan the new building. In the meantime, the town continues to grow rapidly, which will affect the plans as they are being made. And the school’s people—its students, teachers, and other staff—will also grow in the sophistication of their celebrations of each other, their challenges for both academic and behavioral development, and their connections with each and every person in their school. That is a worthy vision, not only for our schools, but also for our families, workplaces, and community.
