Mr. Okulski was the principal for many years at the high school. I liked him. He was not perfect and I accepted that. His managerial style was laissez-faire. But he had many redeeming qualities—and the most significant one was that he understood that education was not one size fits all. He believed that every student deserved the opportunity for success. And he believed that when students asked to be challenged academically, their desire would drive them to achieve. So despite the fact that during his tenure there were rules and criteria in place for students to be accepted into honors or AP classes, he was open to making exceptions on a case-by-case basis. And this worked well until he retired.
When the new principal came on board, he did not share Mr. Okulski’s philosophy. And so the department heads were the final stop in determining whether students were allowed entry into honors or AP classes. This was problematic because different subject areas had different entrance criteria and different department heads implemented the criteria very strictly or not. Formerly, there was principal who stepped in to level the playing fields. But the old principal was gone; and because the new principal was unwilling to get involved, all hell broke loose.
My daughter Kara got caught up in this mess. In middle school Kara took earth science. And her teacher was the best of the best. His class was also the most challenging. He had been teaching the course as an honors level class despite the elimination of middle school honors classes. This teacher had never dumbed down his curriculum when the change was implemented. So Kara was taking honors earth science without the designation (something that was later corrected). The rigor in her class was incongruous to the rigor in the other earth science sections with different teachers. She was in the top 10% of this teacher’s class—but that still was only a 93,
and despite his recommendation, and meeting other criteria, she still fell a bit short of the criteria for honors biology. So I appealed to the middle principal to no avail. And I appealed to the appointed department head of science who was sticking rigidly to the rules. And the new principal made it clear he was not getting involved. And it was a saga that had dragged on all summer—and it was already mid-August when my options were just about exhausted. So I made a final appeal to the superintendent of curriculum: Dr. Mary Lou McDermott.
I not only respected but I liked Dr. McDermott. She was candid. She acknowledged when educational practices were not working. But most of all she believed that every child had the right to be intellectually challenged. She was a firm proponent of differentiated instruction. She understood that education was about students—not educators. Dogma was not absolute. Students were individuals.
And when I explained what was going on at the high school now that Mr. Okulski had left and about Kara’s predicament she listened. She did not blow me off. And she promised she would get back to me in a day or so. She promised resolution—I just had to give her some time.
Now a different administrator would have defended the district’s policy. And a different administrator would have put me off and told me they needed to collect time-consuming data and statistics first. Another administrator would have established a committee to dilute the corrective work and deflect the blame for the SNAFU. Another administrator would not have wanted to step on toes and work feverishly to change policy in such a short amount of time. A different administrator would have only cared about her own back. But Dr. McDermott was special. She was a true educator. And when she called me several days later she told me that another section of honors biology had been opened up—and Kara was in it—as well as many other well deserving students. And she verbally outlined what the new policy changes were and she promised to work to make them even better. And I believed her. And she fulfilled her promise. She did not look the other way and pretend there wasn’t a problem. She didn’t cherry-pick statistics. She acknowledged the problem and she fixed it—and she fixed it in record time. And I am sure some toes got stepped on.
Kara not only thrived in honors biology but she more than exceeded the criteria for honors chemistry. And the very person who denied her admission to honors biology became her chemistry teacher who went on to recommend her for honors physics. And none of this would have transpired had it not been for Dr. McDermott.
For reasons I am not privy to the Board of Education chose not to offer the superintendency to Dr. McDermott when Dr. Leitman retired. And after a year under the new superintendent, Dr. McDermott left. That’s what happens when new superintendents come in.
At a PTA curriculum meeting in a room of about 15 witnesses the current superintendent of curriculum told the group that she just couldn’t sleep nights thinking about all the wonderful things going on in the district. And I thought of Dr. Mc Dermott’s perennial candor. And I looked around at my colleagues after that remark and saw raised brows. The raised brows said it all. And I was left to wonder what could have been if Dr. Mc Dermott had been handed the keys to the kingdom instead of the pathway to the door. I wondered where our district would be if we had a person in charge who believed education was about students—and not about educators. It’s enough to keep you awake at night isn’t it?
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