Hillwood Interviews

[coach763]

I usually just read these posts; they sometimes have some interesting facts included. This one has several interesting reflections. HERE IS ONE THAT I THINK IS QUITE INTERESTING.

In the late 60's, at the onset of that social experiment called "busing"..........the Metro Nashville School system had roughly 90,000+ students. The system had 25 or so neighborhood type HS's.

Now, some 40 years later (Nashville has at least doubled in population)......the Metro system has just recently passed 70,000 in student population and spending quite a bit more money than it did in the 1960's. The system has what? 13 HS's!

Some very good neighborhood schools (both white and black) were closed to enhance the "experiment" and the results are quite apparent. Segregation of the schools was absolutely wrong, but taking the "neighborhood" out of the schools was also a mistake.

It worked somewhat in the 70's, when we still had some of the outer ring schools like Dupont, Madison, Bellevue, etc, but the judicial intelligensia just had to close these and finish the "experiment".

Bet you cannot guess were these makers and enforcers of the LAWS send their kids to school..............public schools??

Now, for you folks setting out there in the counties surrounding Nashville..........it will soon be your turn; get that smug look off your face! Public Education is broke; because we have allowed the never-do-wells, the whiners and complainers, the thuggish actors, to be the controlling factors in every aspect how a school will be run.

Every action of school boards and building administrators (these are now selected with spine-less attributes) is guided by a "paralyzed fear" of someones perceived loss of liberty..................we have just about lawyered ourselves out of business!

How do we fix it...................run them like the "privates"! How do they solve their problems-----EASY! they send then back to their zoned public school.

Some child just might have to be left behind!

[FootballDoc]

Thank you for making me laugh this hard in the morning. 4'10" cheerleader is who they put in charge. Hillwood's trouble began when they relocated all the north Nashville kids from Cheatham Place projects up to 23rd avenue north to Hillwood High from McGavock in the fall of 2001. McGavock was suddenly "cleaned up" by Tribue and Hillwood went from being a hidden "gem" in West Meade to the horrible stink-hole it is now. You can spin that with whatever PC approach you want to, but that is the sad truth. Now Pearl-Cohn only has 700 students (built for 1500), Whites Creek barely has 1000 (built for 1800)., but Hillwood has 1400. They had 1000 when the zones were changed. There are more students attending magnet schools living in the Hillwood cluster than any other school zone. I would bet that there are more students attending private schools from their zone as well. It should have been closed 20 years ago instead of Bellevue. It is too late now. Over 50 teachers have left the school in the last two years. Several retired earlier than they had planned just to get away from what is going on there. Others have transferred to other schools in the system or out of county. The bottom line is you can lead all the cheers you want to, but only so much dirt will fit under that rug. Quit hiding it and start cleaning it out.

 

So, you are saying it's the BLACK KIDS that make Hillwood Bad!!! I say if the system as a whole would enforce DISCIPLINE from day one at every school we wouldn't even be having this discussion. My kids go to Rutherford County Schools now but used to go to Metro Schools and the biggest difference is that at the Middle School level the Principles Set the tone from day one and the Home Office Support them. I mean they make them tuck in shirt tails and wear belts and no sagging and they enforce it. The High School is more laxed and they need to tighten up because they are starting to have some of the same problems Metro has because they are starting to get overflow from Metro. Bring Discipline back into education and everything will be better. I am for UNIFORMS, lets start a petition for UNIFORMS in all schools. I know uniforms will not solve all but it will eliminate the problem of kids having to worry about wearing the cool gear so they don't get picked on. We send our kids to school to learn and to be good citizens not to be thugs and gangstas. Kick out the ones who don't want to do the right thing and give them a choice of a military boot camp or jail, some of them will end up there anyway, sooner or later. I don't think we should accept the conditions our kids are put in because of a few bad apples, lets get rid of the bad apples and pick the good ones and move forward. This goes back to Discipline and enforcement of the rules, if you put a kid out of school never let them back on the campus, this includes sporting events and all because they will just cause problems when they show up. Let them miss out on everything involved with the School Experience, not just the learning part. STOP worrying about being SUED and take back our Public Schools, our tax dollars are paying for them.

Edited May 11, 2006 by FootballDoc

[nrgrizzlies]

Bring Discipline back into education

 

Yes!!

 

However if you are talking about the dress code at Rock Springs Middle, there have been issues about it not being enforced fairly or "uniformly" <excuse the play on words>. At least a few years ago that was the case. They may be doing a better job with that now. It wouldn't be a surprise after a number of parents of "straight-A" students had an issue with how it was being questionably enforced.

Edited May 11, 2006 by nrgrizzlies

[FootballDoc]

Yes!!

 

However if you are talking about the dress code at Rock Springs Middle, there have been issues about it not being enforced fairly or "uniformly" excuse the play on words. At least a few years ago.

 

 

I know about that I was involved in that discussion. Just make it fair or better yet go to my last suggestion in the post, which was uniforms. Khakis of any color and each school could have a certain color shirt scheme. Example: Rock Springs any color khaki and blue or white or yellow collared shirt. Smyrna: any color khaki and Gold or Purple shirt. You would also know when someone was in the school who shouldn't be in the school. This helps with safety too.

Edited May 11, 2006 by FootballDoc

[whodat]

I

The system has what? 13 HS's!

 

Actually, the system has 15 high schools

Antioch, Glencliff, Maplewood, McGavock, Hunters Lane, Whites Creek, Stratford, Pearl Cohn, Hillwood, Hillsboro, Overton, MLK, Hume Fogg, East Lit, and Nashville School of the Arts. 16 if you include Cohn adult high school.

[coach763]

So, you are saying it's the BLACK KIDS that make Hillwood Bad!!! I say if the system as a whole would enforce DISCIPLINE from day one at every school we wouldn't even be having this discussion. My kids go to Rutherford County Schools now but used to go to Metro Schools and the biggest difference is that at the Middle School level the Principles Set the tone from day one and the Home Office Support them. I mean they make them tuck in shirt tails and wear belts and no sagging and they enforce it. The High School is more laxed and they need to tighten up because they are starting to have some of the same problems Metro has because they are starting to get overflow from Metro. Bring Discipline back into education and everything will be better. I am for UNIFORMS, lets start a petition for UNIFORMS in all schools. I know uniforms will not solve all but it will eliminate the problem of kids having to worry about wearing the cool gear so they don't get picked on. We send our kids to school to learn and to be good citizens not to be thugs and gangstas. Kick out the ones who don't want to do the right thing and give them a choice of a military boot camp or jail, some of them will end up there anyway, sooner or later. I don't think we should accept the conditions our kids are put in because of a few bad apples, lets get rid of the bad apples and pick the good ones and move forward. This goes back to Discipline and enforcement of the rules, if you put a kid out of school never let them back on the campus, this includes sporting events and all because they will just cause problems when they show up. Let them miss out on everything involved with the School Experience, not just the learning part. STOP worrying about being SUED and take back our Public Schools, our tax dollars are paying for them.

 

Sorry, but this is the rhetoric that I have heard for the last 20 years...............it boils down to this; EVERYONE IS FOR DISCIPLINE IN THE SCHOOLS AS LONG AS IT DOES NOT INCLUDE THEIR CHILD.

Every parent is prejudiced when it comes to their child (*note this is natural) and always want their child to succeed (*also natural), but sometimes the "crapheads" need to simply be disciplined without "help" from mommy and daddy!

For this discipline, you talk of to work................mommy and and daddy may have to step back and simply say "You got yourself into the mess.....you may have to suffer the penalty" Very few will say this............they fear that ANY penalty there little darlings might have to endure will damage them for life! The real damage is the unrealistic protection that they give the "crapheads" and thus this is the dilemma they public education now faces.

*note..........want to get started on to what "special education" has morphed into??

That would take just a couple of posts! (LOL).

 

763

[coach763]

Actually, the system has 15 high schools

Antioch, Glencliff, Maplewood, McGavock, Hunters Lane, Whites Creek, Stratford, Pearl Cohn, Hillwood, Hillsboro, Overton, MLK, Hume Fogg, East Lit, and Nashville School of the Arts. 16 if you include Cohn adult high school.

 

I was not sure..........I was really counting the ones that played football since this was a football post area. So it is only 11...............now!

[FootballDoc]

Sorry, but this is the rhetoric that I have heard for the last 20 years...............it boils down to this; EVERYONE IS FOR DISCIPLINE IN THE SCHOOLS AS LONG AS IT DOES NOT INCLUDE THEIR CHILD.

Every parent is prejudiced when it comes to their child (*note this is natural) and always want their child to succeed (*also natural), but sometimes the "crapheads" need to simply be disciplined without "help" from mommy and daddy!

For this discipline, you talk of to work................mommy and and daddy may have to step back and simply say "You got yourself into the mess.....you may have to suffer the penalty" Very few will say this............they fear that ANY penalty there little darlings might have to endure will damage them for life! The real damage is the unrealistic protection that they give the "crapheads" and thus this is the dilemma they public education now faces.

*note..........want to get started on to what "special education" has morphed into??

That would take just a couple of posts! (LOL).

 

763

 

 

I agree with you 100%, I always tell my kids, even my daughter, you can do whatever you want to do but you have to except what ever comes from it, good or bad. You know when I was in school ( long ago) a teacher could paddle you if you misbehaved but now you have to sign this form or that form if your kid can be paddled. Kids aren't scared of messing up or getting in trouble because like you said they know their parents will run up to the school and get all over the teachers, even if they are wrong. I work with Law Enforcement and I always see the "it's someone elses fault" parents and that burns me up. Everyone listen we have to start making our kids except responsibility for their actions, just like our parents did to us.

[nrgrizzlies]

"crapheads"

 

You lost me there. Which kids exactly are those? The ones who slack off and disrupt and cause trouble? Isn't there a "zero tolerance" thing in effect for serious offenders. In metro and everywhere else? No exceptions.

 

Example: a kids screws up bad in Lavergne or Smyrna. He gets expelled and sent Smyrna West Alternative School and can no longer disrupt at <name of 1st school here>

 

or are you saying a <example> straight-A student/plays in band or sports/president of FCCLA/etc. is a "craphead" if they oppose having the same dress code as Ezell-Harding?

 

You really lost me on that "craphead" thing or was that just an attempt at being un-P C (nothing wrong with that, I support free speech, even when possible misguided)

[coach763]

You lost me there. Which kids exactly are those? The ones who slack off and disrupt and cause trouble? Isn't there a "zero tolerance" thing in effect for serious offenders. In metro and everywhere else? No exceptions.

 

Yes, they cause serious problems (how do you define serious problem?). Zer-Tolerance...........you define

 

Example: a kids screws up bad in Lavergne or Smyrna. He gets expelled and sent Smyrna West Alternative School and can no longer disrupt at <name of 1st school here>

 

Alternative School --NO--Waste no more resources...........expell them! You are still trying to save them.

 

or are you saying a <example> straight-A student/plays in band or sports/president of FCCLA/etc. is a "craphead" if they oppose having the same dress code as Ezell-Harding?

 

Dresscodes are generally unworkable unless at private school (no parental interference there). If you do have one and straight-A student wishes to be a "craphead" then drop the hammer on that student. (you are defending the "craphead" because his rights are being harmed----see first post.) What has Ezell got to do with it??

 

You really lost me on that "craphead" thing or was that just an attempt at being un-P C (nothing wrong with that, I support free speech, even when possible misguided)

 

"crap" was used instead of something else, and I am glad you support misguided free speech.

 

Here is some more (possibly misguided). We may have to leave some freedoms at the front door of the buildings; along with some prejudiced parents and civil libertarians and let some "dedicated untenured teachers" attempt to educate the ones that really want to be there with zero interference from "the feel-good folks".

Private schools are NOT democratic institutions.............neither were public schools about 40-50 years ago

 

these are strictly my opinions from what I have experienced over a fairly broad range of years...........right or wrong (my opinions). We have some real problems in the public sector and need to make some serious adjustments. Some of those might be unpleasant to some.................it might surprise you how few; when you actually shut them up!!

[nrgrizzlies]

quote:

"Yes, they cause serious problems (how do you define serious problem?). Zer-Tolerance...........you define"

************************

examples dirctly from Rutherford County schools:

 

"The Board has been requested to review the xxxx, 2006 decision of the Disciplinary Hearing Authority (DHA) to uphold the expulsion of a student from xxxxx Middle School. The student was expelled for one calendaryear under the Board’s zero tolerance policy for having possession of a dangerous weapon on school .

 

or

The Board has been requested to review the xxxxx , 2006 decision of the Disciplinary Hearing Authority (DHA) to uphold the expulsion of a student from xxxx Alternative School. The student was expelled from xxxx Alternative School for chronic disruptive behavior and disrespect of authority.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

THAT is zero toerance policy in action.

 

It's as strict as it's going to get. If you hope for anything more strict, you're in for a disappointment.

 

One big reason kids don't have their "crap" together is parent(s) who don't have their "crap" together...not 100% of the time, but much of the time.

 

Parents should have to answer for why Johnny brought a gun/knife/bag of pot/bottle of liquor/pills to school and/or is just a jerk/brat kid that disrupts. Society can blame it video games, South Park, not a repressive enough dress code, whatever scapegoat they like - but I can tell you firsthand - I have 2 kids that have both been on the honor roll every grading period for years and years (the one at LHS has a 3.9 in all-honors) and they both play video games, watch South Park and Family Guy, wear rock band and "skateboard" type clothes, etc.

 

Why are they good students? I give them the ultimatum.

Do good in school OR ELSE. And the "or else" of being grounded from their fun stuff, having the cable t.v. shut off, not going to Florida on vacation, is plenty for them to know what they need to do.

 

Besides, the obvious reason that they don't want to grow into being a stupid uneducated adult which is what the "crapheads" will be..."craphead" kids eventually become "craphead" adults which is why they can't build prisons fast enough.

 

It starts at home. Obviously. But repressive dress codes, etc. are not the answer.

 

Just my opinion anyway.

Sorry to turn this Hillwood coaching thread into a socio-political parenting rant, but since I am a Hillwood grad who grew up in west Nashville but now lives in/has kids in/ Rutherford County...it seemed like the time to say something.

Edited May 11, 2006 by nrgrizzlies

[Metroman]

I wrote this post several months ago and I think it is appropriate here. This is about basketball and I don't want to go through and change it to football. It can also be applied to the classroom. It is our responsiblity as educators to learn about these problems and try and find ways to fix them. Some children will be "left behind", but maybe we can have a few catch up. This is not an issue of race, but of poverty. When the kids from North Nashville were rezoned to Hillwood, kids from impoverished backgrounds changed the school. They just happened to be black.

 

 

 

Here's a book everyone should read, "A Framework for Understanding Poverty" by Rudi Payne. Many of the issues you spoke of are true in Metro-Nashville. Here are some of the issues that go with poverty that have an effect on sports.

 

1. Emotional immaturity. Kids do what is easy and don't see a need for changing something that used to work. They want success now and if they don't get it they quit. For example, we might get an athlete who has poor shooting mechanics but can't dominate at the middle school because of their athleticism. Before you can correct the mechanics, you have to convince the player that they have to think of the big picture, not just how they are shooting in practice that day. The same goes for ball handling. Why use the left hand when I have had success using only the right.

 

2. Not looking bad in front of peers. The most humilating thing that can happen to a young player is to look bad on the court. If they get beat, it is a personal. They will lash out and blame everone in order to save face. Think about a girl getting a big shot block. The crowd goes crazy and a kid in Metro is humiliated. Even though it is still our ball, they are taken out of the game mentally. A different type of kid would understand "Hey, it's still our ball, who cares?".

 

3. They don't understand discipline. Discipline is not a cuss word, but many of these kids think it is. Why do we discipline? To correct a behavior or action. If Jane continuously runs the wrong direction on a play, she needs to be taken out and dealt with. She needs to be taught the proper way to do things. However, at home discipline often equals only punishment. There is no correction. These kids see you upset at them and they think you hate them. You have to explain that its not personal, I just want you to do it differently.

 

4. Noise level. Kids from poverty are loud. I can't figure it out, but go to their homes and the radio and TV are loud. Everyone shouts instead of talks. It's just loud. We, as coaches, have to teach them how to be quiet and speak to each other softly and with respect.

 

This is what must be overcome in order to have a great program in Memphis or any city like it. It sounds easy, but it isn't. These kids are as good as kids from Germantown, Oak Ridge, and Brentwood, they just need to be trained. Unfortunately, by the time you train them, they are wonderful young women who have moved on to college and you have to start over.