Author Archives: Woody

Jessica Myers of SCSU Is Honored As 2014 Alma Exley Scholar

Jessica Myers, a senior at Southern Connecticut State University, was honored as the 2014 Alma Exley Scholar at a reception on April 29 in West Hartford. Five previous scholarship recipients were on hand to congratulate her.

Surrounding Ms. Myers in the photo above are, from left, Jessica Raugitinane (2012), Margaret Seclen (2013), Dr. Miguel Cardona (1998), Desi Nesmith (2000) and Violet Jimenez Sims (2008). Ms. Myers, a graduate of Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School in New Haven, is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies, with minors in English and French.

Guest speaker at the reception was Jessica Raugitinane, a previous recipient who taught and did research in London during the fall 2013 semester in her final year of five-year Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program at the University of Connecticut.

Ms. Myers, a member of SCSU’s Urban Education Fellows program, is exploring issues related to race, ethnicity, culture and poverty in education, which will prepare her to fulfill her goal of teaching in an urban school district.

Her energy and commitment have led her to be selected to teach in an after-school program in New Haven called Rain of Hope. This year she has been active in recruiting other minority students to pursue careers as public school teachers.

Ms. Myers is particularly interested in exploring educational methods that will allow her to make academic content relevant to her students. She is developing a curriculum to engage urban students in real-life problem solving.

Before entering SCSU, she studied at American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. Since enrolling at SCSU, she has strengthened her fluency in French by studying at Cité Université in Paris. While meeting the demands of her academic and extra-curricular activities,

Ms. Myers works as a residential counselor at a group home for children and adults with disabilities. She has a bright future ahead of her, and we at the Alma Exley Scholarship Program are pleased to play a part in helping to launch her career in education.

L.A. Teacher Has A Bigger Impact Through Home Visits

I’m old enough to remember when doctors used to make house calls. I remember our family doctor coming into my bedroom, carrying his little black bag, and taking my temperature. Whether or not he cured what ailed me, his caring presence made me feel better.

My teachers, however, never came to my home. In fact, I didn’t know that teachers made house calls until I talked with Glenn Allen Jr.

Mr. Allen, whom we honored as an Alma Exley Scholar in 1998, began making home visits in his first year of teaching, and has been doing so ever since. Generally, he visits when a youngster is getting into trouble or has attendance issues.

“Sometimes when I say I’m going to their house, they don’t believe me,” he told me recently. “And they’re shocked when I arrive. But visiting students at home with their parents enables me to make a deeper connection. When I’m sitting on the couch in their living room, it brings our relationship to a different level.”

Mr. Allen, who grew up in East Hartford, Conn., has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Connecticut. He teaches Special Education English at Carson High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He has also served two years as a dean of students, and for several years he was on the coaching staffs for football and track & field.

I had the opportunity to visit Mr. Allen at Carson High School on a recent trip to Los Angeles. It was a great pleasure to see him in action with a class of 10^th graders, who responded to his caring manner.

“Making the effort to visit students at home always has an impact,” he said. “Over the past 14 years, not once have I been to a student’s home that his or her behavior hasn’t improved.”

When students have been in trouble, they’re usually resistant to Mr. Allen’s visits. Sometimes, when they greet him at the door, they tell him their parents aren’t home. Or Hispanic students sometimes tell him their parents don’t speak English. But he persists, and the students’ jaws drop when he speaks to their parents in fluent Spanish.

When students are resistant, he tells them, “Look, I don’t have to be here. I’m not getting paid extra to do this. I’m here because I care about you and want you to be successful.”

Showing that he cares has an impact. He continues to make these home visits because he sees the results in improved behavior and academic performance.

Mr. Allen says he has become more forgiving of students in the classroom as a result of seeing the conditions they are dealing with at home. Many of his students live in poverty, and some are in group homes.

“I wish more teachers would make home visits,” he said. “Some personal attention from the teacher can make all the difference.”

– Woody Exley

Vernon-James Riley: Rapid Rise To Educational Leadership

In the five years since we honored Vernon-James Riley, he has earned two master’s degrees and has emerged as a respected educational leader.

Plunging immediately into school leadership wasn’t what he had in mind when he left Michigan State with a master’s degree in 2009. But three months later he was Dean of Students at a charter school in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“Originally I didn’t want to work in a charter school,” he told me. “I wanted to work in a public school, where I thought good people were needed. But when I returned home to New York City, I learned that a hiring freeze was in effect in the public schools.”

Instead, Mr. Riley, who grew up in Harlem, accepted a summer internship with Education Pioneers, an organization that places graduate students in high-impact positions with educational organizations across the country.

“They placed me at a new charter school, Excellence Girls, in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn,” he said. “I met a lot of hard-working people who were trying to do the best they could for the kids who attended the school. It made me realize that charter schools are mischaracterized. Charters are public schools. They don’t charge tuition, and they are available to all students as long as there are open seats.”

As September approached, he renewed his job search, applying to several New York City charter schools to teach social studies, his field as an undergraduate at Yale, but there were no openings. Instead, recognizing his leadership potential, the principal of a new charter school, Summit Academy in Red Hook, Brooklyn, asked him to apply for the position of dean.

“I went right into a leadership role,” he said. “It was quite a steep learning curve, especially for someone 21 years old. But I learned a lot.”

After two years, he was named Founding Director of Operations at Amani Public Charter School, a brand new school in Mount Vernon, N.Y. In this position, he was in charge of the business side of running the school, sharing leadership responsibilities with the Director of Curriculum and Instruction.

Mount Vernon is part of wealthy Westchester County, but a large part of the city has more in common with the adjacent borough of the Bronx, in terms of demographics and income.

“That’s what drove my interest in joining the founding team of the school,” Mr. Riley told me, “and, of course, the opportunity to be a pioneer.”

During the summer of 2012 he began the 14-month Summer Principals Academy offered by the Teachers College at Columbia University. Sandwiched between two summers of study, he completed a 450-hour administrative internship at Amani Public Charter School. In this program, he earned a second master’s degree while fulfilling the requirements for a license to serve as a school principal in New York State.

This summer Mr. Riley took another big step up the educational ladder when the highly-regarded North Star Academy Charter School in Newark, N.J., selected him as an Instructional Fellow.

During the first year of the two-year fellowship, he will teach several subjects and pursue professional development opportunities. In the second year he will serve as a mid-level educational leader. This will prepare him to assume the leadership of a charter school in Newark.

There are many ways to have an impact in education. Mr. Riley’s talents and education have enabled him to have an impact through educational leadership. In this capacity, he has been making a difference for students in urban areas where the educational challenges are monumental.

Congratulations and best wishes for future success to Vernon-James Riley, one of the 24 Alma Exley Scholars who are setting an example for those to come.

-Woody Exley