Getting to know kids is key to plan for improvement

Last update: May 17, 2008 - 9:37 PM

Rhoda Mhiripiri-Reed has a big job in front of her.

In her third year as principal at Champlin Park High School in Champlin, she has to increase academic rigor for all students, boost participation rates in challenging classes, close the gap in graduation and test scores between minority students and white students and, oh yeah, cut suspension numbers for black kids.

A big step toward accomplishing all this? "Improving the climate here," Mhiripiri-Reed said. "We have a greater sense of urgency and a more specific focus on this issue in the last three years."

She wants to improve cultural awareness and her staff's knowledge to more effectively educate all students. Mhiripiri-Reed, who is biracial, said building relationships is critical.

"African-American students have told us over and over again that 'I want my teacher to show me that she likes me,'" she said.

To teachers who complain that a full roster of overcrowded classrooms makes that kind of bonding hard to pull off, Mhiripiri-Reed said there's plenty of time. Classes at Champlin Park are 85 minutes long. With 30 kids in a class, three times a day, that's 90 children a term with whom to create a connection -- even a small one.

"I don't think there is an excuse not to get to know your students," she said.

JAMES WALSH

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