Month: June 2018

Honoring Melody Herzfeld And Others

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

 

Melody Herzfeld won a Tony Award that honors educators.

Melody Herzfeld is a drama teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School.

Melody Herzfeld’s students so love her that they created a surprise for her. They performed on stage at the Tony Awards to honor her.

Melody Herzfeld protected 65 students by barricading them in a small room when a shooter was in their school.

Melody Herzfeld teaches students the power of having a voice and using it.

Melody Herzfeld is part of the unionized group that those who have a lot of money and no knowledge about teaching and learning (e.g. Bill Gates, David Coleman, Arne Duncan, Betsy Devos) say are the problem in education today: public school teachers.

Not true. The Melody Herzfelds are everywhere. I know them.

If there are teachers who do not inspire their students, do not educate them, do not protect them, and do not delight in them, then, as in all businesses, those in charge, the administrators, can do their job and remove them. I have done that job.

I cheer for Melody Herzfeld. She teaches with love and produces excellence. I cheer for legions of public school teachers who do the same every day.

 

 

Stoneman Douglass Students At Tony Awards

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ 2 Comments

 

 

The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School amaze us.

But wait:  Marjory Stoneman High School is a public high school. It takes all comers. It’s diverse: 59% of the students are white, 12% black, 20% Hispanic, 7% Asian, and 2% multiracial. Most stunning is that 23% of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch, which indicates their extremely low family income. There are no exclusions for students not having an aptitude for academics or not having English as a first language as in charter schools. There is no tuition for parents to pay as they must for most private schools even with vouchers.

What if our public school are not failing? What if we are failing them, as a country, by not supporting them and, instead, are putting our tax dollars into “public” charters and vouchers? What if the kind of excellence we saw from public school kids at the Tony Awards can happen everywhere if we as citizens and taxpayers want it enough?