How teacher's saved my life...

April 15, 1981 brought a shrill ring to the kitchen yellow-rotary phone in our Colorado double-wide trailer.  The call changed the lives of 15 families forever and left my 27-year old mother to raise 5 children on her own.  A methane gas explosion took the lives of fifteen coal miners that day, and left me with the stark reality of shattered dreams, 12 years old, I lost my best friend, my Dad.

Developmentally, those years were principle to me, as they are to all young boys.  And I entered my 7^th grade year one angry child.  While my mother wasn’t equipped to address my angst, I found refuge in school and in the comfort of my classrooms.

I remember the names and faces of every single teacher I’ve ever had.  The principals too.  I recall key conversations, escapes from bad days to Mr. Hayes’ office, extra laps courtesy of the Coach Martin/Price/Close trio, another draft of my essay on Watergate at the red-inked edits of Mr. Tesmer, and the repeated encouragements of Ms. McDonnell as I wrestled with mathematics.

I knew that while sleeping alone in a damp basement after I left home my Sophomore year, that any restless night was immediately followed by a bus ride to school, to a hot meal, to my friends, to my second family…my teachers.  They believed I could, so I did.

Those happenings evolved into an instinctual path that led me to accept a teaching position at an inner-city school in the heart of Phoenix Arizona’s gang infested neighborhoods.  A freshly divorced, confused and still angry white teacher who’s still sleepless nights nested in the surety of teaching kids who’s teacher needed them maybe more than they needed him.

I was a passionate coach, and a teacher who soaked up the marrow of the lives of these kids.  I never accepted an excuse for not showing up.  I expected great things, as my teachers had, and these cynical youths delivered.

I cut my educational teeth on serving homeless and refugee children, first as a teacher and coach, then as an educational leader; always reckoning my decisions around the love, compassion, and relentless expectations of my former teachers.

My passion for the work attracted a cadre of incredibly talented individuals, who, in their own way found refuge from the storms of life in the comfort of public school.  Successful human beings from all walks of life, like Scott Lazerson – The Connector in Chief – who’s philanthropic efforts help touch children all over the globe, or Miki Markovich who’s late night escape from a murderous rogue planted her in a teacher’s room where she captured a vision to serve homeless teens teaching them to write their own stories, and Todd Sutler who’s Odyssey Initiative will host real time best practice artifacts in a format that will help aspiring educators open schools that can readily replicate these practices.

All last year, the collective efforts of these, and dedicated professionals like them, helped to turn around what some were calling a persistently failing school where 1 child in 5 is homeless and 1 in 7 is a refugee.  We earned the 2^nd highest available rating to an Arizona elementary school based on federal and state guidelines.

We believed we could, so we did.  We did it in the name of the teachers and principals who helped shape our lives.  In the names of teacher-leaders all across the nations who do this unthinkable and sometimes thankless charge every day of their lives.  Public school educators, who, without the fanfare of contract negotiations, sponsorships, red carpet affairs or the self-important award dinners caped with swag bags, take care of our children in ways we don’t comprehend, care for in ways we don’t assess, talk about or publish.

So the next time you’re tempted to believe the hype behind the inflammatory news reports about how schools fail our kids, risk a head-first dive into the day to day stories of our children and teachers.  Help tell their stories in ways that illuminate the consistent success of American education.  This is about our success, and this year’s success of more than 500 children who will later on multiply the vintage of it all, replicating the greatness that sets us apart the world over.  And that’s just one school…think about it!