May 18 2008
Loosing a student - a tragedy for Alternative Education
Last Thursday May 7, 2008 a freshman died because he got to close to the railway tracks in Ripley. The circumstances of his death are still unknown. Suffice it to say that there are many versions of what happened. I prefer to think that it was an accident because no human being chooses death willingly at least not in my realm. I have seen abject poverty and degredation in my life and have never seen a human beings choose death over life. As a child I saw beggars on the street with no limbs, blind and covered in sores they cried for food, money but not death!
I was unwillingly called to speak to the press who wanted to interview me because I was Ken’s principal and apparently knew him best. I wish I knew him better! I think our Alt. Ed teachers were priviledged to see his mind and know him in ways better than myself. I was appointed spokesperson for Alt. Ed. I hope I did Ken justice. I spoke to the television crews t because I wanted to celebrate his life not the circumstances of his demise or question why it occurred. I was surprised to see how the press needed to glamorize this instant news. I kept being pushed to declare Alt. Ed. a program for troubled, disturbed youth, just the kind of youth who would go out and play “catch the chicken” and be slammed by a train!. I am glad I got to celebrate Ken’s life ” a boy with a zest for life, a beautiful smile”.
Friday May 8, 2008 is a day I will re-live in my career. I and the high school teachers of the Hewes Center lost one of our students. This goes against our grain. Just like no parent should outlive a child, no teacher should outlive a student. We had crisis counselors on hand for our staff and students. The teachers modified their teaching schedules. The BOCES Superintendent sent us who work at the Hewes Center an email note of condolence. We all had to be proud Americans on this day even though our hearts hurt. We modelled appropriate grief for our students and each other.
Ken was buried this past Monday. Some of our teachers and his fellow classmates travelled to Erie, PA for the funeral.
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Una and staff,
My thoughts and prayers and with the student, his family and all of you. It is hard to lose a student. If I had to choose one thing to never live through as an educator it would be loosing a student to death.
A few years back we at LoGuidice also lost a middle school student to a hit and run drunk driver. I have never been so shaken and unable to control my emotions. To meet with the school and break the news was the hardest thing I have ever done. But as you, Una, I tried to celebrate his life and take comfort that there was an Alternative School setting for him to find his way in his short life. Life in school stopped that day but also carried on.
Hopefully we all will keep the kindness and concern in our hearts, lessons and dealings with children that was felt the days after the death of these young people.
Paula Kenneson
I appreciate the poignancy of the situation and support your participation in it. Courage, as noted by the writer Ernest Hemingway, can be defined as grace under pressure. I believe you demonstrated this on a variety of levels. Certainly your sanguine nature is clearly portrayed and understood. In your role as educational leader I might point out the opportunity to educate those with less experience i.e. media persons. Alternative learning attempts to address a variety of learning styles, needs and circumstances. These are not merely disaffected youth. For Woodrow Wilson, the American scholar, statesman, and 28th president of the U.S.A, couldn’t read until he was ten-years-old. Actor Anthony Hopkins thought he was a “moron,” as a child, because he was so hopeless in school.
Not everyone fits into the traditional assembly line model of education.
Thank you for speaking up for those who are different, worthy of celebration, appreciation and mourning.
I went over to Hewes that Friday to try to help. There was no way to help; just support and comfort everyone in the building. Each person, whether staff or student, handles grief differently. Along with everyone, I hope it is an experience that we do not have again. It was very clear that day just how much Ken will be missed.
Una, thank you for sharing your insight. Although never fully equipped to handle all that comes before us, we can all certainly learn from and appreciate the strength and compassion that you demonstrated to the press, the teachers, and the students.
My thoughts are with you.
Una,
Very nice thoughts.
Una,
Please let me add one more thing. I was amazed at the amount of my colleagues who expressed their sympathy and offered their assistance. You don’t know how much that helped.