I was doing some active student recruitment this afternoon- basically walking around the neighborhood putting KIPP North enrollment flyers between screen doors, push pinning info on the bulletin board at the local library, and talking to anyone who was out and about on this really lovely day about the new school. It’s important work because it’s really important that families in the immediate area around the school know we are opening and have all the info they need to apply by our deadline. I don’t want anyone who could have had a spot to miss out just because they didn’t know we existed.
I always enjoy doing this work, but today I had a conversation that was basically the perfect encapsulation of why this work matters and why it’s important to get out an actively recruit. I was walking down a street about a block from the school when a man called out to me from his doorway asking what information I was handing out. When I explained it was for a new school opening up that would have kindergarten and 1st grade next year, his eyes lit up. “My daughter goes to kindergarten at the school down that way (pointing in the direction of the nearest district school) and she’s not doing well. They keep calling and saying she’s causing all this trouble but I see how kids treat each other there and it’s not a safe place. She’s learning from this other kids and thinks she needs to protect herself. I need to get her out of there.” I asked a few questions about what he sees as the problem and what he’s already tried to see if I could offer any advice. Then we transitioned to talking about him and his family, with me learning more about him and his family. He attended Stanton (where KIPP North will be located) when it was a district school and was a student when the Oscar-winning documentary was made about a year in the life of the school. His parents were Black Panthers in the 60s and he’s “all about love and education. Love and education!” Besides living right near the school, he works doing minor auto repair for folks in the neighborhood. He made sure to get me to promise to tell all my teachers to come and get his help before calling AAA if they ever have a flat tire.
All that to say, KIPP North opening up in his old elementary school, us having the grade his daughter will be in, and our commitment to educating the whole child in a loving environment really made him excited.
We chatted for about 10 more minutes and I made sure he got our information and application form so that he can apply for his daughter before our deadline on Thursday. I’m going to stop by tomorrow to make sure he does.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Thursday, February 22, 2018
KNPA Updates
A couple of updates as we get ready to open up KIPP North Philadelphia Academy this summer.
1. We have a logo! It looks pretty cool and the visual design keeps our focus on the "North" in North Philadelphia
2. We've been hosting Family information sessions & Open Houses both at our original elementary school in North Philadelphia (KPEA), as well as the future home of KIPP North. These are optional for families to attend, but we want to offer up a variety of ways for prospective families to get to learn more about what we do at KIPP Philadelphia. At just this session last week, I got to talk with a KIPP Philly alum who is interested in enrolling her son, a mom who lives right near the school and attending elementary school in the same building where KIPP North will be located, and the sister of a founding student at KPEA who is looking for a school for her daughter.
3. We're almost 50% hired for next year which is right on target for where we want to be at this time of year. But we're still looking for great teachers for all roles. Check out our careers page. http://kippphiladelphia.org/join-our-team/
1. We have a logo! It looks pretty cool and the visual design keeps our focus on the "North" in North Philadelphia
2. We've been hosting Family information sessions & Open Houses both at our original elementary school in North Philadelphia (KPEA), as well as the future home of KIPP North. These are optional for families to attend, but we want to offer up a variety of ways for prospective families to get to learn more about what we do at KIPP Philadelphia. At just this session last week, I got to talk with a KIPP Philly alum who is interested in enrolling her son, a mom who lives right near the school and attending elementary school in the same building where KIPP North will be located, and the sister of a founding student at KPEA who is looking for a school for her daughter.
3. We're almost 50% hired for next year which is right on target for where we want to be at this time of year. But we're still looking for great teachers for all roles. Check out our careers page. http://kippphiladelphia.org/join-our-team/
Monday, February 19, 2018
My Answer
Last week I was interviewing a prospective teacher and as we were wrapping up, I asked her if she had any questions for me. She had a couple of good questions and then ended with this one; “You’ve been doing this work for a pretty long time. What keeps you motivated and excited to get out of bed each morning?” Here was my answer…
There are lots of ways I could answer that question because there are many reasons I love my job. But I’ll give you two – one more tangible and one bigger picture. The first reason is working in a school is a ton of fun. Those old clichés are true - kids really do and say the craziest things and every day really is different. Kids are full of energy, curiosity, and love and getting to be around them all day brings me a ton of energy and fun too. What other job do you get to watch 4th graders perform a touching poem about his best friend where the principal (me) is the villain for trying to put them in different homerooms this year? Or get to see kindergarteners dress up like elderly folks to celebrate the 100th day of school, complete with canes and a pocketbook full of mints like their own grandmother has? Or try to figure out just how did that giant piece of poop end up in the middle of the bathroom floor?
At the same time, working with kids gives you the chance to do something with the gnawing feeling in your stomach many of us have that the world is full of increasing darkness. Whether it’s violence in our communities that are so common that they just barely makes the local news or tragedies like the one in Florida that dominate the national conversation (not to mention the policies of our current administration) we know there are many times our students have questions/worries/fears and as educators we don’t know what to say to them. Do we say anything at all? What if we say the “wrong” thing? How do we comfort our kids when we don’t feel any comfort ourselves?
And yet…I’d much rather have that pressure and responsibility than not. We are in the unique position to take our feelings of fear, frustration, and despair and channel them into doing some good about them as part of our actual jobs. Most people in most jobs don’t get that chance since their day to day just keeps rolling along; filling out that spreadsheet, roasting that chicken, or cutting that next head of hair basically go on as usual. But as an educator, you have kids sitting right in front of you. And that gives you an opportunity to push back against the darkness in the world and take real action to bring more light into the world. You can make tomorrow joyful, caring, and engaging for your students. You help your students reach their fullest potentials so they can be the leaders of tomorrow we need. And when things are darkest, you can be there to show students they have people around them who love and care for them. I’ll never forget gathering all of our students together the day of the Sandy Hook school shooting to talk to them before they got on the bus home. Knowing they would hear about this horrible tragedy that had taken place to kids their age at a school that could have been theirs, I wanted their teachers and school staff to tell them what had happened, how much we loved them, and how we make sure they are safe in our building.
Both that day and today, I don’t pretend to have the answers to our country’s problems but I know that every day I’m working with kids, I’m doing something to push back against the worst our world has to offer.
There are lots of ways I could answer that question because there are many reasons I love my job. But I’ll give you two – one more tangible and one bigger picture. The first reason is working in a school is a ton of fun. Those old clichés are true - kids really do and say the craziest things and every day really is different. Kids are full of energy, curiosity, and love and getting to be around them all day brings me a ton of energy and fun too. What other job do you get to watch 4th graders perform a touching poem about his best friend where the principal (me) is the villain for trying to put them in different homerooms this year? Or get to see kindergarteners dress up like elderly folks to celebrate the 100th day of school, complete with canes and a pocketbook full of mints like their own grandmother has? Or try to figure out just how did that giant piece of poop end up in the middle of the bathroom floor?
At the same time, working with kids gives you the chance to do something with the gnawing feeling in your stomach many of us have that the world is full of increasing darkness. Whether it’s violence in our communities that are so common that they just barely makes the local news or tragedies like the one in Florida that dominate the national conversation (not to mention the policies of our current administration) we know there are many times our students have questions/worries/fears and as educators we don’t know what to say to them. Do we say anything at all? What if we say the “wrong” thing? How do we comfort our kids when we don’t feel any comfort ourselves?
And yet…I’d much rather have that pressure and responsibility than not. We are in the unique position to take our feelings of fear, frustration, and despair and channel them into doing some good about them as part of our actual jobs. Most people in most jobs don’t get that chance since their day to day just keeps rolling along; filling out that spreadsheet, roasting that chicken, or cutting that next head of hair basically go on as usual. But as an educator, you have kids sitting right in front of you. And that gives you an opportunity to push back against the darkness in the world and take real action to bring more light into the world. You can make tomorrow joyful, caring, and engaging for your students. You help your students reach their fullest potentials so they can be the leaders of tomorrow we need. And when things are darkest, you can be there to show students they have people around them who love and care for them. I’ll never forget gathering all of our students together the day of the Sandy Hook school shooting to talk to them before they got on the bus home. Knowing they would hear about this horrible tragedy that had taken place to kids their age at a school that could have been theirs, I wanted their teachers and school staff to tell them what had happened, how much we loved them, and how we make sure they are safe in our building.
Both that day and today, I don’t pretend to have the answers to our country’s problems but I know that every day I’m working with kids, I’m doing something to push back against the worst our world has to offer.
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