What if you fired all of the security guards at a struggling elementary school and spent that money on Art programs? That is the Big Idea from this NBC news report telling the story of this Roxbury, MA school that appears to have found a path to improvement by reclaiming one of the features the school was built for.
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In a school notorious for its lack of discipline, where backpacks were prohibited for fear the students would use them to carry weapons, Bott’s bold decision to replace the security guards with art teachers was met with skepticism by those who also questioned why he would choose to lead the troubled school.
“A lot of my colleagues really questioned the decision,” he said. “A lot of people actually would say to me, ‘You realize that Orchard Gardens is a career killer? You know, you don’t want to go to Orchard Gardens.’”
But now, three years later, the school is almost unrecognizable. Brightly colored paintings, essays of achievement, and motivational posters line the halls. The dance studio has been resurrected, along with the band room, and an artists’ studio.
It is certainly a very hopeful story and I’m really intrigued by the idea of getting kids back into arts classes. It makes sense to me that kids would respond better to (and learn more from) an engagement with the right sides of their developing brains than a battery of security guards. To be sure, this is probably not a miracle cure, but having these kids attend a school rather than lockdown practice seems to have some effect.