Life Skills

Today's Journal....

Life Skills Center celebrates state rating

The Life Skills Center is a tiny school at 631 S. Breiel Blvd., tucked between a barber shop and a beauty school in a strip mall. It doesn’t have an auditorium to hold assemblies so students and staff packed the hallways Friday to celebrate as principal Chuck Hall unveiled the school’s “Continuous Improvement” banner

“Like any other school district, kids have made mistakes, but we’re just better equipped probably to try and address those students’ needs and look at the underneath reason why they’re behaving the way they are,” Hall said

“The teachers and staff here, they’re here to help you in any way they can and they really care about you,” she said. “Everyone accepts you for who you are here. It’s like a big family, where everybody is working to help you succeed at your own pace. I’m not afraid to be myself here.”

THE CLASSISM THING IS STILL ALIVE AND WELL THESE DAYS IN THE SCHOOLS. HAD IT 4 DECADES AGO IN THE OLD HIGH SCHOOL TOO.

The school’s relationship with Middletown High principal Carmela Cotter also is a big reason behind its success, Hall said.

“She refers kids here, and she understands what we do,” Hall said of Cotter. “We haven’t always been recognized in a positive light from other schools, because they feel we’re competing with them. But that’s not the case here.”

HAPPENED IN THE DAYS OF GARFIELD ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL TOO. KIDS THAT WENT THERE TO GET AWAY FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT WERE THOUGHT OF AS "LESS THAN WHOLE" BY SOME. DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE STATEMENT FROM COTTER ON "COMPETING WITH THEM". PROBABLY MORE LIKE INFERIOR AS THE REASON FOR THE NON-POSITIVE RECOGNITION.

“This is a celebration of your accomplishment,” he said. “Many people didn’t think you could learn. They talked about how you wouldn’t amount to anything, but the the fact that you’re here proves them wrong.

IMPORTANT STATEMENT HERE..........THE SCHOOLS IN EVERY DISTRICT ARE VERY EAGER TO LET THE WORLD KNOW ABOUT THEIR PERFECT ROLE MODELS IN THE GIFTED PROGRAM. THEY HEAP ACCOLADES ON THEM, HAVE SPECIAL RECOGNITION PROGRAMS FOR THEM. EXPEND ALOT OF ENERGY AND ATTENTION ON THEM. IRONICALLY, AT THE SAME TIME, THIS SAME DISTRICT TAKES THE KIDS WHO "JUST DON'T FIT IN, WHO CAN'T QUITE CUT THE MUSTARD, WHO SEEM TO NOT BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH THE CROWD, WHO SEEM A LEVEL OR THREE UNDER THE GIFTED KIDS, AND THEY "DON'T SEEM TO BE AS PROUD OF THESE KIDS", DON'T SEEM TO WANT TO MAKE THE SAME EFFORT WITH THESE KIDS AS THEY DO THE GIFTED ONES. KINDA MAKES ME THINK OF THE MOVIE ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES WHEN THE COUNSELORS SINGLE OUT THE POPULAR KIDS FROM THOSE WHO ARE "NOT AS POPULAR" AND MAKE NO BONES ABOUT WHO THEY PREFER. PERHAPS IT IS JUST HUMAN NATURE TO WANT TO HEAP PRAISE ON THOSE WE ARE PROUD OF. (RATHER EASY TO DO_, AND PUT THE REST THAT HAVE "ISSUES" UP ON THE SHELF, OUT OF SIGHT SOMETIMES. JMO