Be Like Bennett!

Saturday morning I was driving to Barnes & Noble to do some Christmas shopping. As I was waiting at the intersection of Kennedy and Dale Mabry, I saw a man holding a sign (it was not the guy with the viking hat, encouraging me with his spinning air guitar to turn in for the lowest prices on mattresses!)  Instead, this man was holding a sign that simply read, "Just Hungry." Usually this would present a dilemma for me since I never really know what the right thing is to do --I hesitate to just hand out money (which usually isn't a problem since I rarely carry cash); I never have food in the car; and I feel there is always more I can do than just pray. This Saturday, I did not have any of those issues, though. I reached under my seat and gave the man a Bosco Bag.

Bosco Bags were the idea of CKS 8th grader Bennett Andersen and his mother, Dana. Each bag contains a water bottle, several snacks, and a card with resources on one side and the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-16) on the other. Bennett is on the Executive Committee of our middle school service organization, the Sean Devereux Club. He brought the idea to the committee and they spent hours before and after school putting together these bags for adults to have in their cars and distribute as needed.

As we close the first semester and head into Christmas break, I can think of no better example of what a CKS student can accomplish. My hope for all of our students is that they see a need in the world, look for possible solutions, and when found, organize others to take action. I am proud of all our CKS students and their accomplishments this semester. I look forward to next semester and continuing to Be Like Bosco with our school community.

Merry Christmas!

Rescue Me

Leading education research on student success is currently focused on mindsets, grit, and toughness. To oversimplify, the theory is that a child's attitude about his/her ability to succeed and the capacity to persevere through a challenge are among the most important indicators of future success. 

To help foster resiliency and toughness, some schools have gone as far as instituting a "No Rescue Policy" which asks parents NOT to bring forgotten items from home to school in order to teach students about consequences, responsibility, and resilience.  These policies have less to do with cognitive skills (academics) and more to do with non-cognitive skills (responsibility). They also have everything to do with us, as parents, and how we "support" our children when they struggle (i.e. struggle to remember something for school). 

I have seen the numerous return trips to the office in the morning, and I have unlocked the front doors after school for many of you making the return trip in the evening. I understand that a policy like this can be hard to digest, but I have a confession. During the month of October we did some tallying of all the forgotten items brought to school by our parents for students. Here's what we found:

62 forgotten lunches/snacks
17 forgotten bags of PE clothes
45 forgotten Chromebooks, notebooks, and book bags
1 forgotten pair of socks
125 return trips to school for parents

We did not even count the return trips after school for forgotten books, folders, or lunch boxes. We only have 550 students in the school, so 125 trips means approximately 23% of our students forgot items in October. While I know that some of the items represent the same students, they also represent 125 different disruptions to class for teachers and assistants to distribute these items.

As parents, I know we want to support our children and that means making sure they have the items they need to be successful. However, we also need to think about the long term effects of our immediate decisions. So what should you do when your child has left for school and you discover the lunch box is still sitting on the kitchen counter?

1. Take a deep breath--seeing the forgotten item just reminds you how many times you reminded your child to grab it before leaving. Irritation sets-in and few of us make good decisions when we are irritated. Taking a deep breath keeps us calm. 
2. Trust us--the school is not going to let your child starve (we give out emergency lunches every day); we are not going to resort to cruel and unusual punishments if they left a notebook at home; and they can still participate in PE without gym clothes. 
3. Think about consequences--while many of the forgotten items will pose an inconvenience to children, none of them, aside from necessary medications, will keep them from going on with their school day. 

As educators, we want all of our children to succeed, and sometimes success comes later from consequences experienced today. While I don't see us instituting a "No Rescue Policy" yet, I do think as parents it is worth thinking about leaving the next forgotten item where it lies. Supporting children to accept the consequence may be a greater factor in their future success than supporting them by bringing them the item.