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At the Helm at Hamilton（英文）

1974年11月

此内容暂无简体中文译文，以下为英文原文。

Cleveland Young, Principal of Hamilton School, was stretched out and relaxing when we visited him in his midtown apartment this past week, but his attitude was not that of a relaxed man. “Hamilton School now is better than at any time during the ten years I’ve been there.”

His hands made the friendly but commanding gestures of a man born to teach, and the expression on his face reflected the attitude of a man who means what he says.

“I know that a lot of people–including some of my colleagues–say that Hamilton is a hole, but most of the people who say this have never actually been in the school. I think it’s a good school, and I invite anybody to come over and prove anything different.”

Mr. Young sees two indications of the improvement in Hamilton School. The student population has at the present stabilized at approximately 880 students, and while this number still overcrowds the school, there is no bussing out.

The second factor Mr. Young points to is faculty stability. He reports that when he first started as a teacher at Hamilton in 1964, faculty turnover was thirty to forty per-cent each year. This year there are only two new teachers, and the average teacher has been at Hamilton for five years.

“Our teachers are committed,” he said, “and in the long run that’s what makes the difference.”

Hamilton School, Mr. Young tells us, has been among the leaders in creating a Teacher’s Committee to provide what he calls “horizontal, vertical, and diagonal feedback into the problems we face. Of course, I have to admit,” he said, ” that my Assistant Principal, George Rawls, has been the motor to help put this vehicle into operation.”

Another vehicle to be put into operation is the Parent Advisory Council, which should be a more active group than the traditional PTA. This group, according to Mr. Young’s understanding will have a more active role in decision making, and will include interested persons other than parents.

Mr. Young, however, feels that the greatest benefits may come from the principle of accountability which was pioneered here in the Northwest-Soldan District under Charles Brasfield.

“Under this system,” he said, “I put into writing what I hope to achieve this year, my teachers do the same thing, and all of our bosses up the line do the same. And then at the end of the year we are going to have an accounting of what we tried to do what we did.”

“What I’m sorry to say is that we are going to have to wait until the November 6 tax election to try to say what we can do. If the tax election fails, I’m afraid to say what might happen. It could be a disaster.”

But Cleveland Young is not a man to wait for disaster.

“Right now I’m concerned with student morale. It’s better now than I’ve seen it for years, and I am going to make it even better. Soon you’ll see our students with Hamilton sweatshirts– with a white panther on them. They need this; they need this kind of identity.”

He leaned back in his chair.

“My spirit is high.”