Three Little Words: Back.To.School.

Reality set in this morning around 7:20 a.m.

Three words: Back. To. School.

For some of you that phrase translates into peace and quiet around your house.

For me, it means the kid-count in my life just went from one 16-month-old chubby white boy to 300 at-risk urban teenagers.

Starting today, a big chunk of  my time lands in the building pictured above, our alternative high school. Don’t let the 360 degree fencing fool you. It’s way less jail-esque than it looks. =)

This is MY room (right).  Please check it out now while it’s spiffy and clean because I’m not gonna lie, it starts to resemble a warzone about fifteen minutes into most days.

The students that fill the seats:

• 52% ARE BLACK.
• 42% ARE WHITE.
• 5% ARE HISPANIC.
• 1% ARE NATIVE AMERICANS or PACIFIC ISLANDERS.
• 55% ARE MALE.
• 45% ARE FEMALE.

But here are the stats that paint what these kids are really up against:

• Even though our city isn’t enormous, our crime index is 600.7, almost twice the national average of 320.9 (Chicago was 615.5, Detroit was 901). Some possible influencers? We are located between Detroit and Chicago, which makes us–according to some local police–a natural stop for drug trafficking and gang activity. We are also the home of the state prison.
• 80% of students qualify (by family income) for FREE breakfast and lunch from the U.S. government, which means that a family of four makes less than–often WAY less than–$28,665 per year. (In April of this year, our city’s unemployment rate was 19.2%.)
• Jackson has had some of the highest rates of illiteracy, teen pregnancy and meth production in the state the past few years.
• On the MME (the standardized test used to measure progress in the state of Michigan) our students scored 46% lower than the national average. The average ACT SCORE to come out of our  building is a “13”. And 35 students graduated last year, which was a new record.

All challenges aside, though, I’m really glad to be here today. And I’m glad that my students will be here too because it means they scraped through the summer without getting locked up or shot or–just as bad–giving up. When we both show up at this building, it’s a reminder that every year we get is another symbol of hope and possibility…for them and for me.

I thought you might like to get in on the action too, so I started an “adopt a classroom” page where people can go to donate supplies for my students. I haven’t added any needs to the list yet, but maybe down the road it will give you a way to share some possibility with them too. You can also contribute to the Inspiration Wall anytime you feel like it.

In the meantime, feel free to check out these news videos about our school: