The race was on: James Via had teachers to meet for all three of his children, not to mention a PTO election.
Via is the dedicated single father of three King/Robinson Interdistrict Magnet School kids. His is one of three families whose journeys in parental involvement the Independent is following this school year. (Click here for a previous article on the Vias.)
A little after 5 p.m. Wednesday, Via joined about 100 parents and their kids for King/Robinson’s first open house and meet-the-teacher night.
Many New Haven parents have more than one kid to visit on these nights, often at different schools. With 7th and 5th-grade daughters Jameisha and Nate’ and a rambunctious 4th-grade son, Michael, dad had about eight teachers to meet. Remember all that frantic running down the halls?
As the pre-visitation portion of the open house began, Jameisha was practicing with the choir. Nate’ (pictured below) was getting ready for a little star turn reciting the school pledge. Meanwhile, Via was trying to reach Michael, who had been scared by a dog on the way home and was staying at a friend’s.
The girls, Via knew, were doing well. Jameisha is a free thinker and leader. Nate’ is eager to please and a teacher’s dream. So Via wasn’t worried about reports from their instructors.
However, Michael’s teacher, Gwen Robinson, had already called him in last week for a conference about his son’s difficulty in concentrating in class. Whew! Here’s a play-by-play of how he deftly handled the open house juggling act.
5:00 – 5:10: As the staff is introduced to the parents, James Via fills out lunch forms for three kids, critical to statistics required by the school system to continue the free breakfast and lunch programs. He’s also decided that despite his efforts at reading with Michael, and labeling appliances with their names, and tagging every chair and table with their names printed out, still Michael needs reading help. So Via fills out a form for reading tutoring for Michael; it’s provided free at King/Robinson.
5:10 – 5:20: He hears about a truancy initiative this year for K‑5 kids. A phone explanation for an absence will no longer be accepted; parents must provide written explanation or an absence will be considered unexcused. Ten unexcused absences in any school year could result in steps leading to involvement of the state Department of Children and Family Services. “You don’t want that,” says Principal Ilene Tracey.
5:20 – 5:30: He participates in Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) elections held on the spot. Boosting participation is one of the goals this year, but Via is not among the 15 parents who have signed up because meetings are held Wednesday night. Wednesday is counting and inventory night at Burger King, where he works.
His friend Regina Wicks is elected PTO president. Via likes that; he knows her and her husband, who is a football coach in the school system. Wicks too is pleased because one of her fellow officers, the treasurer, is a man. “That’ll encourage others to participate.”
5:30 – 5:35: The reading coordinators charge James Via and the other parents to read at least 20 minutes a night with their child. Read what kids like, they are told, but non-fiction is going to be emphasized this year, especially as the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) has more non-fiction than fiction. “We have so many resources in this school,” says the principal. “I urge you to talk to your teachers now, parents. Don’t wait until there’s a problem or to the end of the year.”
5:35 – 5:40: Via meets Nate’s teacher Tania Maust. They stand beneath a wall of kids’ art work and writing, where each child has designed a super hero. Nate’s says, “My super hero is Super Fly, and my talent is dancing and math and keeping other kids from being bad.”
Maust reports to Via that Nate’ is wonderful, enthusiastic, always asking how she can do better. This teacher’s dream child does not surprise Via. “She’s like that,” he says, “but lots of time she might need help and doesn’t ask for it.” Maust indicates that’s good to know.
5:40 ‑6:00: Maxine Phillips is one of Jameisha’s six or seven teachers. She’s excited about having so many, and pleased to have left the 6th grade. “So far, so good, “ says Phillips about Jameisha’s grasp of decimals, which is the review they’ve been working on during the first full week of school. “We’ve been using baseball statistics for this unit.”
“We’ve tried to balance interest in the Yankees and the Red Sox. But this document,” she shows it to Via, “will help you keep track of Jameisha’s homework assignments.”
6:00 – 6:10: Next door Jameisha introduces her dad to Susan Levy, the energetic writing teacher. “This is Read-180,” she explains, “a new how-to-write book that we’re combining with reading novels.
“You won’t see this book coming home, Mr. Via, but Jameisha will be bringing plenty of novels home. When she does, make sure she writes a response to a character or to the idea of the story, some reflection on what she’s read. That’s required. Oh, and every Friday we will be practicing the five-paragraph persuasive essay. We’ll be building up to it with Read-180, where we talk about the main idea, supporting evidence, and vocabulary.”
Levy is excited about the revision of Read-180, which has also provided diagnostic review of Jameisha and the other kids’ writing levels already. “I remember from last year what a fine writer your daughter is,” she tells Via. On the way out of the classroom, Jameisha’s eye alights on The Diary of Anne Frank.
“I really want to read that book this year. That girl survived the Holocaust, didn’t she, daddy?”
“Oh no,” says Via. “Look here.” And he picks up the book and reads how she left off the diary and died in 1943.
6:10 – 6:25: While waiting to go in to see Jameisha’s language teacher, Nicole Clark (left), science teacher Michelle Webb (middle), and history teacher Ashia Parks, Jameisha proudly tells her dad she can name all seven continents, which she does handily.
That puts Via in mind of the homework session he participates in with all three kids, every evening. “They all sit down to the table when they come home and do their work same time, same place, together. And they help each other, or spark off each other. Michael, for example, was talking to me about the spacecraft that was maybe going to Pluto, and it got Nate’ to say she thought the earth was flat. I tried to explain to her how it’s not that way, but I still think she’s a little worried about falling off the edge of the earth if she goes too far.”
When the three teachers are free, they are like a trio of praise: “Jameisha, if she continues to be this kind of student, will go far in high school.” “She got a 95 on the first quiz.” “She is a little talkative now and then, but that’s because she’s a great leader, and she can control it. Right?”
Right.
Before Via leaves, Webb gives him a both a parent survey and a sheet emphasizing how important parent collaboration is with teacher especially in science, in discovering things through the scientific method. Samples: Please ask your child to explain what he or she learned each day. Encourage your child to ask questions. To ask, Why?
6:25 – 6:45: Finally, Michael. Via knows Gwen Robinson, Michael’s 4th grade teacher, because this highly organized and energetic woman taught Nate’ last year.
“Your girls are absolutely unbelievable,” she compliments him, “but we’ve just got to work a little to calm down Michael.” She called Via in earlier because Michael had a hard time sitting quietly in his chair, controlling his energy.
“I’m working on getting him into playing sports, which he likes,” he says. “That should get some of that energy out. Also the band, because he’s musical.”
“Right,” says Robinson, and then adds with teacherly irony, “and let’s pray.”
She explains to Via that her behavior policy has six steps. First she gives a non-verbal warning, then a verbal. Then, if bad behavior persists, the child goes into the contemplation corner and fills out a think sheet.
With Michael she’d gone through those steps. So the next step, the call to parents, was made.
“He’ll do fine,” she says. Then she shows Via the envelope with all his class work, which is sent home weekly for parent review and signature. “He was reading a book, and I asked him for the write-a-reflection sheet,” says Via, “and he said he hadn’t received one.”“Oh, he did,” Robinson says.
“I’m also a little concerned that the book he brought home was pretty babyish,” says Via.
“Oh, that’s because he chose it. He’ll be working out of a real challenging 4th grade book. Don’t worry.”
The teacher explains her incentive system. She calls it Robinson Riches. Kids earn play dollars that will enable them to buy their way out of future homework assignments. She’s clearly proud of that system as well as of the Class Job Application, in which kids fill out real-world style applications to be time-keepers, librarians, board erasers, messengers, and other chores.
As the open house winds down, Jameisha and Nate and their dad are warmly greeted by the remarkable Annette Dudley, King/Robinson’s only art teacher. She teaches about 400 of the 450 kids in the school. “Your girls are unbelievable artists,” she says. “We’ve just got to calm down Michael. I think all his energy can be channeled into leadership. He was passing out supplies the other day, and he was just fine.”
Dudley seems to know Via’s uncle and other relatives associated with the school. She has been teaching at King/Robinson for 33 years, through its different incarnations. She profusely thanks James Via for coming to the open house.
For this father, it doesn’t seem a chore at all. In fact it seems the school is almost an extension of his home. Next visit with the Vias will likely be a conference regarding Michael’s progress (“He’s the one of the three I worry about. Always!”) in October. And then formal, sit-down parent-teacher conferences in mid-November.
For previous installments in the Independent’s series on parental involvement in local schools, click on:
Ms. Lopez Moves Brandon’s Seat
Night-Shift Waitress Gets Xena To Class On Time
Fifth-Graders Get “Amistadized”
Board of Ed To Parents: Get Involved!
Task Force Hones Plan for Kids