By Peter Biello
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/whqr/local-whqr-675838.mp3
Wilmington, NC – At West Brunswick High, Principal George Kelley makes all the important decisions. On this Friday, he's got to decide whether cheerleaders can fly.
"They throw them so high in the air, that it's just a matter of time before somebody gets hurt," says Kelley. "Then I wouldn't be able to live with myself when they get hurt."
Kelley says student safety isn't a problem at West Brunswick. He faces bigger challenges, like the high teacher turnover rate. Kelley says in the past two years the school has lost more than 40 teachers.
"People go into teaching and you interview them and you hire them, and after a year or two, some of them give up. It's not what they thought, and you know, their perception is different from reality."
Kelley is West Brunswick High School's third principal in four years. He taught English for nearly two decades and spent almost another decade as principal of Bunn High School in Franklin County before taking the job at West Brunswick last year. He says he's still getting to know West Brunswick High's 1400 students and more than 100 faculty members.
The hallways are clean and quiet, since all classroom doors are shut. Our first stop is the weight room. With the music cranked up and the weights clanging, it's hard to hear yourself think. Kelley says this is where student athletes come to beef up.
"We want our kids to be stronger, female and male to be stronger in our athletic programs. Plus if they pay a price in the off season by lifting weights, they're not apt to quit as quick. We had a lot of kids quit our football program this year, probably 25 kids, and I believe it's because they didn't pay a price in the off season. That's my personal feelings, and we're trying to make sure that doesn't ever happen again."
Kelley says student athletes whose grades fall below a C-plus average have to go to tutoring before they can play again. The same goes for all students participating in academic extracurricular activities.
"We're going to walk out to the courtyard. It's picture day for our clubs."
Kelley describes the school as a square circle, and this courtyard is in the center. Students can spend free time here, if they have any. On this day a dozen kids gather in the sunlight to pose for a picture.
"This looks like they're coming from the band area, so it might be the band club or the newspaper."
From here, Kelley walks to the media center. A half-dozen students sit at a table using identical laptops the school provided.
"This is a wonderful class. Pat Fenton teaching what we call a reading class, and as you can see the kids are working on laptops on individual reading programs."
Kelley says those laptops also help students who take college courses online. Students can earn up to twelve college credits before leaving West Brunswick- something he says parents really appreciate, since about 80 percent of students attend a two or four year college after they graduate.
Downn the hall, Kelley leads me into the auditorium, where a class watches a recorded performance of the play "Noises Off."
Kelley says the auditorium seats about one hundred. He lifts a curtain reveals students sitting in the glow of a television screen.
"This is my advanced class," says Teacher Amanda Penegar. "They already saw the play and they're just seeing the difference between seeing live theatre and seeing it filmed."
Outside the auditorium, Kelley meets a student who starred in the play. She says she likes West Brunswick High School because she feels safe. That makes Kelley smile. Shortly before he came to West Brunswick, two incidents of staff members taking indecent liberties with female students raised questions about student safety. Kelley says with so many students and teachers in one school, some bad things are bound to happen.
"I believe this with all my heart, if you had 1400 of any clientele in America, lawyers, preachers, whatever, in a room seven and a half hours a day for 180 days, you're going to have situations. It's how you resolve the situation to me is important."
The Brunswick County School Board has since implemented ethics training for teachers and administrators. What concerns Kelley now is improving SAT scores. Walking through the quiet halls, outside the biology and chemistry classrooms, Kelley says the most recent average test score was 980 out of 1600.
"One thousand's our goal every year. We're not going to get it every year, but we've done some things this year differently, we've got an SAT class that we've had in the past, but we also do a Monday through Friday week before the SAT, we give our kids intense training, we buy the book for them, we hire the teachers for them."
Still, Kelley says it matters how many students take the exam. Ninety-five students took the exam last year. He also wants to narrow the achievement gap between African American and white students. He says so far the school has failed to recognize that diversity exists.
"We can't keep doing the same things we've always done in the classroom, we've got to be innovative. And hopefully at some point our staff, me included as administrator, will recognize that we've got to be diverse in our teaching to meet the diversity of our school."
The day's about to end, which means Kelley needs to make announcements.
"Teachers can I have your attention please? We've got three short announcements. Just a reminder to all our teachers and students about the basketball game tonight, and wearing pink with a two dollar discount on ticket sales if you'll attend the game and wear pink. . ."
Kelley normally leaves campus by six o'clock. Today he leaves at five for a quick dinner, but he's back at six, wearing a bright pink t-shirt. West Brunswick has been promoting breast cancer awareness and raising money for Relay for Life, and the basketball game is the culmination of these efforts. Kelley says he enjoys being here.
"I think when you become a high school principal, you understand that the number of hours is endless. And if you're not willing to make a sacrifice to do that, you're really cheating the kids."
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