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Public Affairs coverage from our award-winning staff |
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The Education of Rodney Thomas
Produced by Julia McEvoy on Thursday, February 19, 2009
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Photo by Carlos Javier Ortiz. |
When central office sent Rodney Thomas to Chicago’s Robeson High School he felt sure he could help keep kids in school. He knew the stats at this troubled school: lots of homeless students, pregnancies, kids going through juvy court—a third of the freshmen reading below the sixth grade level. But Thomas believed he could reach troubled kids and save them. So far this school year, despite all his efforts, 140 freshmen have already missed 18 or more days of school. Not what the Chicago District had in mind.
Related: 50-50: The Odds of Graduating
“All it takes…all they really want is to know someone really cares!” --Rodney Thomas
Sound of hallways…
You can find Rodney Thomas’ sanctuary for troubled boys on the second floor of Robeson High School. Door opens and closes. Of course no one really calls it that. But it’s fair to say that’s what it is.
THOMAS: A lot of kids who come through here are looking for something. And that something is they really don’t have that support.
Thomas’s space is a tiny, windowless room hidden away behind the school lockers. There is no sign on the door, nothing welcoming about it at all. And yet throughout the day guys like Darrius Frazier drop by.
THOMAS: How did everybody else get..?
FRAZIER: Well I was caught in the midst of it. They was already fighting and when I came back security was coming…
Today, Darrius stopped by for a hall pass. But he comes by everyday, for lots of things.
FRAZIER: I’m dealing with a situation where it’s me and my two sisters, we don’t come from a wealthy home, we’re REALLY not wealthy so when I come to Mr. Thomas and ask him for help, he provides for me and my sisters. Not just are your grades on track or how you doing in school…he wants to know about YOU.
Sound of halls.
Since the day they hired him and his partner Querida Flores, to work this pilot project a year ago, Chicago Public Schools has expected Rodney Thomas to hit one goal: catch Robeson’s freshmen girls and boys at risk for skipping school, or failing classes and get them the help they need so they won’t quit.
CPS is measuring the progress. It’s called the “freshmen on-track rate Thomas and Flores have until June to figure out a way to improve on this.
THOMAS: When I first started I was new, and fresh and you know I came in with all these great ideas…
Thomas is a former corporate HR man. He’s always calm and controlled-- even when things around him get chaotic. A lot of students are drawn to this . And at first Thomas thought he could save them, one by one.
It’s a reasonable idea. Research shows if you give a student a caring adult in the building it can make a big difference.
THOMAS: I really didn’t understand the depth of it…until I got into this. Thomas got a list of all the 9th graders likely to drop out, based on bad grades and attendance. Robeson has a lot of freshmen, over 400. And of that number, 150 are on this watchlist.
So Thomas starts looking at freshman attendance. And what he finds is that it’s pretty normal for over a hundred freshmen to miss 2 or more days of school each week.
THOMAS: And then these are the ones who are consecutively missing so they’re not here, even for the weekly intervention. Looking from the outside in, I would think if I wasn’t in this, ‘What the hell are they doing? Can’t they go to the home and talk to the parents?’ It really doesn’t matter, it’s just like we get there and tell the parent your kid has missed this, this, this and this and they still don’t show up. And it’s like what else can we do?
THOMAS: How are you doing? Student: I’m healing. I got shot on my hand, my arm and my back….
THOMAS: We had a kid we went to visit his home. His mom was battling with drug abuse. So how can she tell this kid, ‘school is important, get to school’ when he doesn’t even respect her because of the drug abuse? So he’s going to do whatever he wants to do anyway.
One of the students on Rodney’s “watchlist” is 15-year-old Dahvie Holmes, flagged for poor grades and attendance. But Rodney doesn’t meet him until real trouble hits.
DAHVIES: I was a good student. I had my moments and I acted out a bit but as far as getting my work done I always did that first.
Sound of Ms C teaching.
Dahvies algebra teacher, Ms Ciesielski agrees Dahvie started out the school year doing pretty well.
MS C: Ah, he’s disruptive in class, he likes to play. But he was very bright.
In early November she noticed a change in Dahvie.
MS C: He started missing days. He was out for a long time. He started getting suspended.
DAHVIE: Then I had lot of problems with students at school I was fighting and stuff.
MS C: He can’t concentrate.
DAHVIE: I was just thinking like, ‘what’s the point?’
Ms C considered sending Dahvie to the school psychologist, but although Robeson High is in one of the most violent neighborhoods in the city-- the Chicago School District has only assigned one part-time psychologist for 1300 students.
Ms C: Yeah, so instead of writing him up which I think a lot of his teachers were doing, I would just send him to Mr. Thomas.
What was going wrong with Dahvie? His best friend Brian Murdock had been shot dead.
DAHVIE: When I first moved to Chicago from Georgia he was the first person I met. We hit it off, walking to school, rapping and having fun.
REPORTER: Did you know he was in danger?
D: No.
R: How did you get word?
D: I was with him….
Dahvie says Brian was shot right in front of him. Dahvie was afraid to tell his grandmother, whom he lives with. And at first he tried to brush Rodney Thomas off too. But Thomas persisted.
DAHVIE: Mr. Thomas he told me-- I noticed I do bury my feelings--and then he was like, you’re going to have to talk about it because you keep burying your feelings it’s going to come out one day ain’t nothing going to be able to stop it. And he say if he didn’t go through what he went through when HE was younger, he wouldn’t be able to do what he do now. That’s what makes everything okay. Instead of someone in your face, acting like they know what you talking about and not really, at ALL, experienced what you talking about!
But Thomas hasn’t figured out a way to provide this kind of support for all Robeson’s needy students. What would help is stuff that doesn’t exist here. An on-site health clinic, a day care, more psychologists and truancy officers, more mentors like Rodney Thomas—these are not in place. And it irritates Robeson principal Gerald Morrow.
MORROW: Where are the support and resources? If I tell you I need one, two three, based on the data. REPORTER: Well what would it be exactly? MORROW: A social and emotional agency that deals with the family, not just the student, but the family.
Morrow knows Thomas will be leaving Robeson High soon. The CPS pilot project ends in June. So far at least 140 freshmen are already chronic truants—not official drop outs yet, but well on their way.
THOMAS: I now know that I can’t save everybody….
It’s not just Thomas. School teachers, counselors, attendance officers…no one at the school is reaching these students.
THOMAS. The best that I can do is to help CPS, help them to see what the real issues are and the kids are failing and the attendance is poor and all that goes along with that.
There are people at Robeson who think the District already knows what these issues are. That sending in Rodney Thomas—this whole pilot project-- is just a waste. That what they really need to help students here, the District will never provide.
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Susana Layug, Jefferson Park - Chicago // Thursday, February 19, 2009 @ 1:13 PM
What is really needed is "A social and emotional agency that deals with the family, not just the student, but the family." I completely agree.
Going through adolescence, by itself, is tough enough. Factor in family dysfunction, poverty and parents who are going through tough times, themselves,(and that's not mentioning gang violence and exposure to drugs) and it's not a wonder school children fall through the cracks.
"Prevention Intervention" -- a term I use for my IDEAL parenting strategy (although my challenges deal more with childhood disabilities) -- requires the collaboration of the school, the parents the child and the community. In my ideal universe, all four parties work together for the successful education of the child. In reality, however, I find that the last component -- the community -- is the hardest to rally.
A "social and emotional agency," perhaps run by community organizers, supported and funded by the public school system, might serve as a rallying center to start the involvement of the community.
I wonder if Chicago Public Radio could find out if such an agency exists somewhere and do a story on it.
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Sue, Lake View, Chicago // Thursday, February 19, 2009 @ 1:40 PM
This is a great idea. Better than shutting down schools and reopening them. Academic problems are often not academic! I think one conclusion we can make is that CPS really does not care very much. Certainly not as much as getting good scores for "No Child Left Behind." Actions speak louder than words.
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Cole Entress, Formerly of Gage Park, Chicago // Thursday, February 19, 2009 @ 1:48 PM
Ah, this takes me back to teaching at Gage Park High School last year. This story raises two interesting questions for me:
1. What kind of whole-community programs, like the ones mentioned by Thomas, exist out there? They may not exist at Robeson, or even in Chicago, but could they point the way for what Chicago needs to do?
2. Some students will graduate, but especially in cases where the students have moderate (or worse) learning disabilities but try hard, they will graduate without the skills we have come to expect of high school grads. I had some of these students, and some of them, cannot write a sentence and frequently misspell their own names. What happens to these kids? They do all the things they're supposed to do (and most of them are tragically good kids), they beat the odds and graduate high school, but what happens to them when they're out of the school system (federally mandated to accommodate learning disabilities--NCLB sure has its share of problems, but it *has* forced schools to pay more attention to students with special needs), and in the real world?
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Rhonda, New Zealand // Thursday, February 19, 2009 @ 4:29 PM
One of the things that comes to mind is those movies like Stand and Deliver and other similar ones I can't name, where a teacher / principal comes in and turns a class or school around. Without taking away from the various successes, it does create a false sense of expectations. You can't reasonably expect 1 guy to rescue everyone immediately without any support. To call what Rodney Thomas is doing a pilot project is just wrong. I can just see the committee sitting around saying "140 kids are still truant, its a waste of our money, it didn't work".
Why doesn't the CPS really want to help all students? How can you have a 1/2 time councilor for that many students? How many people working at CPS know what it is like to come home and see your mother shooting up? These are very real problems that need very real and dedicated solutions, not boxes to tick on a form or numbers to count.
Come on CPS, I challenge you to start all your planning meetings by asking the hard questions. Do not be satisfied until you have people on board who support solid long-lasting solutions that give ALL students a chance.
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Gerardo, Humboldt Park // Thursday, February 19, 2009 @ 11:04 PM
I would LOVE to help out Mr. Thomas I've been doing this type of work for many years and would like to see if I could help him out in some way. The thing is the school doesn't even have a mention on their website that he or Ms. Flores are in the building. I can see that they were given all the proper tools to succeed in this project! If someone could get a hold of me and at the very least provide me with a number or email that would be GREAT!
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Jermont Montgomery, Englewood/Chicago // Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 3:30 PM
This story brings back a lot of memories, having went to Harper High School in the 90's
There is a high number of freshman skipping school and failing grades, so why the lack of resources for imaginative and creative programs to reach out to the students?
What is the balance point between Schools and Parents (i.e. in a troubled school population what is the correct distance to travel for the school to reach a student?)
Can a school really facilitate a learning environment for youth with home structural issues?
Regardless of who is to blame (i.e. Schools, Parents Youth, etc), what is being done to bring all parties together to address the problems of Student dropouts rates at Robeson?
Can students really focus on their education where violence is very prevalent in their lives?
These questions are what come to mind as I listen to the story.
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Debra Ford, Robeson Achievement Academy - Chicago // Sunday, February 22, 2009 @ 2:53 PM
As a teacher at Robeson High School, I have had direct contact with Mr. Rodney Thomas and knows the obstacles that impede our students on a daily basis for being able to have a "normal" educational experience. Mr. Thomas strives every day to assist students in resolving dilemmas that impact their ability to achieve. The issues our students face are so devasting that it is a struggle to get them to realize education could be the key to getting out of their situations. Although, at times it may seem bleak, Mr. Thomas present at Robeson have made a big difference. There are many students that have benefited from him being at the school, and those students stories have not been told. As a classroom teacher I see the difference in various students that have been touched by Mr. Thomas. CPS should take a closer look at what Mr. Thomas has done in the short time he has been at Robeson and continue with this program. Our school is in dire need of meeting the social ills of our students before we can even begin addressing their academic needs.
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Barbara Radner, Chicago // Monday, February 23, 2009 @ 12:13 AM
I am sure Mr. Thomas has made positive differences that are not apparent in attendance data. I hope that the freshman entry program that was established last summer also has had some positive effects. But one person and one program can't do it all. I hope that we can strengthen high school-elementary school connections so that we can address the challenge K-12.
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Martin Gartzman, UIC // Saturday, February 28, 2009 @ 1:23 AM
WBEZ deserves kudos for the 50/50 series. Capturing the challenges facing teachers and students in schools like Robeson -- without falling back upon the normal cliches that about abound about tough urban schools -- is not easy to do. Those working at Robeson and many other Chicago schools have among the toughest jobs in the city. As Mr. Thomas said in this segment, "I really didn’t understand the depth of it…until I got into this." That's good advice for so-called reformers and others who promote sure-fire "solutions" to improving students' success rates in urban schools. Most who speak with certainty about such things have not likely ever been in the shoes of Mr. Thomas, Mr. K, and the other heroic educators at Robeson who have been highlighted in the 50/50 segments. The WBEZ series has captured the essence perfectly -- it is hard, "on-the-ground" work, plain and simple, that requires support and resources to do effectively.
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David Freeman, Alamitos Heights/Long Beach // Tuesday, March 03, 2009 @ 4:40 PM
What a great program- Wish they had this when I was growing up as it really helps to know that somebody cares. Especially when the family unit is not there. Keep up the good work Chicago!
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