Kids with serious behavioral problems are
served in another alternative education program within the
school. "This is the category of students who have trouble
accepting authority, following the general kinds of rules you
need in any community of people living and working together,"
Arkes says. "They're resistant to conforming. They try people's
patience because they push and test all the time, and they tend
not to be academically motivated."
Without help with basic social skills, many of these
kids are headed for expulsion. Although they are blended into
the regular program, they move in and out of that program
depending on their conduct. Three times a day, they check in
with their teacher, who guides them through crises and
pinpoints problem areas. If the students are disruptive,
they're moved to a separate classroom until the episode passes.
George is also the ESL center for the North Portland
cluster, and enrolls almost 200 language-minority students.
Those students—mainly Hispanic, Southeast Asian, and
Russian—are mainstreamed when their English skills allow them
to keep up academically. The ESL teachers and aides monitor
the classrooms to
check students' progress. Sometimes, they
teach alongside regular staff. Next year, one student grouping
will blend native English speakers with native Spanish speakers
for bilingual instruction.
GIVING TEACHERS AND
STUDENTS ROOM
Arkes is quick to credit teachers for initiating and
carrying out many of George's innovations. Sometimes, she
plants the ideas and watches to see if they take root. If they
don't root, she says, they probably weren't very good ideas to
begin with. Other times, she nurtures teachers' ideas and
encourages them to take the steps necessary to make them real.
It is Arkes' willingness to take risks and give staff
lots of latitude that has given George room to grow, according
to Rosenberg. "How many principals," she asks, "would let you
dig up the cement in the courtyard and drag wheelbarrows and
mud through the building? And she's a tidy person. Most
principals would say, 'Good idea, but it's impossible.' She
says, 'Let's find a way.'"
The students, too, need room to stretch, says Arkes,
who serves as president of the Oregon Middle Level Association. "They're learning how to be adults," she says. "To do that, they have to explore
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and experiment, and they make mistakes. You have
to maintain an atmosphere that helps them understand what
they've done wrong, but you haven't destroyed them as a
person."
George students have ample opportunities to lead and
initiate. For example:
Shannon developed a passion for dahlias after she visited a dahlia farm. "It was
something I was really excited about," she says. "I thought it was something I could
make a project about." Shannon researched the fine points of growing dahlias,
even phoning a bulb company for information. Rosenberg found a spot for Shannon's dahlias
beside Arkes' office. In May, the bulbs went in. Says Rosenberg: "Kids have these
great interests and ideas, and people say, 'Oh.' The answer isn't 'Oh,' it's 'Yes, and
what else?'"
When student George Cha was invited to talk about the slough project at an educators'
conference two years ago, Rosenberg arranged for him to get a stipend for his presentation.
When visitors want a tour of George's naturescape, eighth-
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