Shaping School Culture by Terrence E. Deal & Kent D. Peterson

Author:Terrence E. Deal & Kent D. Peterson
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119210221
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Published: 2016-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

Hawthorne Elementary School

Joan Vydra became principal of Hawthorne School at the same time the boundaries changed and it welcomed a sizeable increase of low-income students. This was the first time in its almost forty-year existence that Hawthorne served a diverse clientele. The clash of cultures loomed close on the horizon: neighborhood families with conservative values and the “bus” students seen as not fitting the neighborhood standard. Vydra had to move fast to establish common ground to bring the two groups together Throughout her first year she worked with parents and staff members to transform older, established ways to benefit students of different ethnic and economic backgrounds (Vydra, 1998).

Influenced by the work of Nel Noddings (1992), Vydra felt that caring and compassion could provide the cultural glue initially to knit the school together. Her strategy paid off. At the end of her first year, a parent wrote a note expressing her thanks for all the good that was done by “the little school with the big heart.” Vydra seized that promising theme as the centerpiece of Hawthorne's culture.

There were numerous traditions throughout the year. Care Week became the school's fall tradition. During the first day of Care Week, students learned how important it was to care for themselves. On Tuesdays, students showed they cared for their families by writing thank-you notes to their parents. On Wednesdays, classrooms were celebrated as students figured out ways they could show that they cared for each other. On this day each student had his or her picture taken with the classroom teacher, who wrote a personal note to each student. Thursday found the students cleaning up and caring for the school. On Friday the focus went more global, as each year the students decided on a different charity to support—a local food pantry, homeless shelter, or an orphanage.

In the spring the school worked with parents to create an all-school planting day. Each student brought a plant from home (or received one at school) and went outside at a predetermined time to plant the annuals or perennials in new flowerbeds surrounding the school. Different families then signed up to care for the flowerbeds throughout the summer. Hawthorne students who used to regularly trudge through the landscaping became protectors of the grounds because they had helped to plant and care for them. Caring became a way of life at Hawthorne.

Within two years the school had successfully given parent volunteers a role far beyond that of the traditional baking for parties or chaperoning field trips. Every classroom had a head liaison parent who worked with other parent volunteers. Parents took on many responsibilities. For example, parent “publishers” helped distribute student writing and parent “sunshine providers” organized meals when families experienced tragedies. In addition, the principal and staff members worked with several families to “adopt” other families in which parents had never felt any personal success in school. These disenfranchised parents who at times did not support school activities, failed to bring their children to programs or to parties, and who seemed not to care were supported and made to feel connected to the school.

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