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Elad Gross writes twice each month about education issues of interest to Clayton and Richmond Heights residents.May 4 was a surreal Wednesday at Clayton High School. The news of Sam Horrell’s dismissal from the football head coaching position was saturating teenagers’ text-message inboxes. The rumor mill was churning at full capacity, unchecked by any official correspondence from school administration. General gossip held that Horrell was caught on tape working out with eighth-grade students at The Center of Clayton, a gym facility connected to the high school that also serves as the community recreation center. These workouts were said to be in violation of Missouri State High School Activities …
The first bell rang throughout an entire school in a state of nervous anticipation. Most everyone in the building knew something was going to happen during third period, but few, I suspect, knew exactly why it had all come to this. On May 6, three days after Sam Horrell was dismissed from his football head coaching position at Clayton High School, a horde of high school students walked out of class during third period and congregated at the front of the school. Teachers and staff stood watching, the vast majority physically distant enough to avoid overtly communicating support for the …
"The box is locked, the lights are on, it’s robot fighting time … in St. Louis!" OK, the gladiatorial gizmos coming to our city won’t sport massive circular saws and seek to destroy one another with the finest death gadgetry that can be activated by remote control, but they can put the nail in the coffin by successfully deploying a poll-climbing mini-bot. Wednesday marked the start of the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Championship, the most important day of the year for kid roboticists from all over the world. And what better place to hold this epic event …
It’s the same routine every time I enter a classroom: I walk around the room, check up on all the latest paperwork, prepare the question I want my students to work on when they arrive and visualize whatever it is I will be doing that day. I could also visualize a group of 20 kids hanging on every word I say throughout a seven-hour school day, but I’ve always liked surprises to be genuine. Maybe some inexperienced teachers go through a similar routine each day because they’re a little nervous. I’m sure many great teachers spend a lot of time on mental and physical setup because they want to …
The School District of Clayton today serves about 2,500 students. But a Missouri Supreme Court ruling would force the district to potentially accept well more than 30,000 kids. In July, the Missouri Supreme Court released its decision in Jane Turner v. School District of Clayton, requiring all Missouri school districts that are accredited to accept students from adjacent unaccredited school districts and send the tuition bills to the unaccredited district. Oh, and by the way: The accredited school districts cannot limit enrollment of transfer students from the unaccredited school districts. …
I have made it a personal tradition to watch the “I Have a Dream” speech during Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s day. A great draw for me to listen to or read older speeches is being able to better understand how the past compares to our present. Most of the time, the differences between our times and those of the speaker are more apparent than the similarities. Read William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech, or watch the speech President John F. Kennedy gave at Rice University letting the world know that the U.S. had chosen to go to the moon, and you’re bound to not only notice the …
Uncertain policy isn't just a problem for people managing personal finances. It's a new year, and while Congress scrambled to pass temporary tax-policy extensions in December, the Missouri General Assembly has yet to provide similar certainty when it comes to education. In these next couple of weeks, children in the Maplewood Richmond Heights and Clayton school districts will be trickling into classes as winter break ends. Most kids had two, maybe three weeks off of school. Over spring break, most kids will be at home for about one week. And shortly thereafter, students will be home for …
Winding through the white halls of Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School, I couldn't help but notice the interconnectedness of the school district. One short descent down a few stairways would take me to the district's main offices. Another path through a handful of doorways opens up to the district's high school. It didn't take much time for me to get lost, nor for a friendly teacher to find me and guide my way. I imagine that many incoming seventh-graders probably feel such bewilderment during their first few days in the middle school. If students were allowed to wander the halls …
The child, one of the older students attending voluntary summer school, pouted visibly. He had that frustrated walk: a varying sway to his step; a progressively leftward lean that turned his walk into a kind of stumble toward the wall; eyes downcast and purposefully shifting away from attempts at visual contact; mouth somewhat sucked in, situated in a slight frown; feet lazily alternating between stomping and sliding on the ground. Why was this kid so sullen? It didn't take long for him to confide in me that he was frustrated because no one had taught him how to work with fractions, and he …
