Graduations, The Final Chapter

“The certainty that you will succeed when even you yourself are not even sure...” Jose Tavares, Graduate of MetEast

June 30th, the last day of the month and the last graduation for our schools this school year. MetEast’s graduation was a memorable one. Keinan delivered a speech from the heart about how much more he learned from his students than he taught. His students would argue differently. What was not arguable was how much more he learned about learning and teaching from being an advisor rather than a math teacher which is where he started out with Teach For America.

This was a graduating class that was questioned about what they do. They had to constantly defend what they were learning. The scrutiny of our schools because we are different is part of what makes us better. It makes our students strong individuals. They learn early what it means to fight for something worth fighting for as they stand up against an establishment and the scrutiny of naysayers. Their graduation speeches made lots of references to their defense of how and what they learned. And because of this scrutiny, they are able to speak and write and perform. These 19 students have beaten the odds of a nation that has low expectations for youth coming from this city. They are off to Rutgers, Temple, Morehouse, City University of New York, state and community colleges. Their projects have received national and local recognition and this little school has become a beacon in New Jersey. It is a little big school.

Tim and his staff and the families of our students deserve lots of credit for their perseverance. Now we have an opportunity to grow in Camden. Funny thing is that our growth all over does not mimic our growth in Providence. As circumstance may have it, the growth pattern may just be the opposite. At the Met in Providence, from the start, it was assumed the school would grow to 6 small schools. The funds were there to build a school. In Sacramento, Oakland, San Diego and MetEast, there are building projects but only after they really proved for years they were sustainable and could deliver a quality program year after year. There’s something to this method that stalls growth but at the same time creates a tremendous amount of accountability. Some of this growth was planned by us. Years ago, we would talk to districts about slow growth, and getting the first school right then, adding more schools. Starting with one school happened in Providence only because we had no buildings to grow into. As we move forward and know more about how to start schools, our strategy may change and we may start moving faster.

Because of Camden there is Newark. I spent time with Charly and Carlos this week doing planning for next year and meeting with the Dodge Foundation in Morristown. We have the opportunity to start the planning for a STEM/green school in Newark. This would be an exciting new project that would take us into the realm of everything green theme. At times there are lapses in our innovative work. We have a design that needs constant tweaking to stay current but the tendency is to stop and believe that ‘what is’ is the way it should be going forward. This type of mission is hard to combat. New projects add value and push everyone’s thinking. The STEM/green school is one such project.

Please feel free to send me your thoughts, comments, reactions, or suggestions. I would love to hear from you!

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