REMEDY CHANGES SCHOOL'S REALITY

Joe Chaddock pretends to hike up his slacks as an Edison Junior High
student strolls past him in the hallway.

"Need a belt?" he asks the student, whose jeans have sagged below his
waistline.

"Nope," replies the grinning student, now twisting his head backward
toward Chaddock while pulling his pants up. "I've got one."

Chaddock, the second-year principal of the 775-student school, finds
himself roaming the hallways more this year to say hello, ask about
homework assignments and, occasionally, play sheriff.

Midway through last academic year, Chaddock, a fresh face in the
eighth- and ninth-grade school, decided "we need to change our outlook."

Students were being suspended, expelled and, in some cases,
arrested.

It wasn't that all Edison students were running afoul in the school's
13th Street Southwest hallways, Chaddock insists, but a small
population of students last year did account for statistics that
troubled Chaddock and Assistant Principal Jamie Morckel.

Recurring problems

The numbers were alarming -- 350 in-school suspensions, mostly for
minor infractions like tardiness and disrespecting peers or teachers;
88 out-of-school suspensions for issues like fighting, carrying a
weapon or possessing drugs; and 12 one-year expulsions for drug
trafficking and other serious offenses.

"To me personally, to an administrator, I'd love to see all those
numbers at zero," he said. "But that's not reality in an eighth- and
ninth-grade building."

Chaddock would rather play cheerleader for a school that earned an
excellent rating on the state report card for three straight years
than answer questions about kids selling pot or prescription drugs.
He'd much rather brag about 90 percent of eighth-graders passing the
reading test than worry about fights in the cafeteria.

Who can blame him?

Yet the principal admitted the numbers were "reality" and looked at
ways to remedy them.

Chaddock and Morckel addressed the student body with a review of the
student code of conduct at the start of the year. The staff doubled
the students receiving intervention services during 20-minute study
halls. They installed security cameras, meant for students' safety,
but which also double as tools to prevent misbehavior. They began
fully enforcing the district dress code and student mediators asked
their peers to sign a "bullying pledge."

"It's more of a caring attitude from staff, counselors and
administrators," Morckel said. "We're being more encouraging. We're
rewarding positive behaviors, and we're being friendly with the
students. We're getting to know all of their names so they feel less
intimidated by us."

Not only do Chaddock and Morckel see a difference in the attitude,
they see a drop in the numbers.

Through the first 77 days of the 2004-2005 school year, there were
123 in-school suspensions; 38 out-of-school suspensions; and six
expulsions, according to Morckel. This year those numbers dropped to
69 in-school suspensions; 26 out-of-school suspension; and three
expulsions.

But Chaddock and Morckel refuse to take credit. They say the students
themselves have led the way.

Peer mediators

One change made this year was to increase the presence of Edison's
peer mediators, a group of eight freshmen who work with classmates on
issues like teen pregnancy, grades, rumors or disputes with fellow
peers or teachers. They give school tours to new students, and they
invite kids who eat alone at lunch into social circles.

Most of the problems are "he said, she said," mediator Alicia Harless
noted. "We usually straighten it out."

Taylor Stokes, a peer mediator, said problems are often solved before
students end up in the principal's office.

"We're the first source," he said. "They pretty much solve the
problem, we're just in there to coast them along to solve it
themselves."

Mediation is started with ground rules -- stay seated and keep the
conversation confidential. The peer mediators listen to the students'
concerns and try not to offer advice, but instead encourage the
troubled students to solve their problems themselves.

The program has been at the school for 11 years, according to Chris
Simmons, a school counselor and mediation program director.

"They facilitate," Simmons said. "They're not in there to give
advice. They're in there to get the students to talk to each other,
which is the hardest thing when you're angry -- even as adults."

Simmons said the teens are going through a "volatile time" where they
need to talk through their problems rather than resort to violence.

"The kids that come to us trust their peers more," mediator Alesa
Schlup said. "They might not think adults will always understand so
they want an opinion from someone their own age."

The eight mediators, chosen by their predecessors, have been busier
this year, according to Morckel, the assistant principal.

"If I hear a rumor, I don't even hesitate anymore," he said. "I write
down their names for mediation before it gets carried away or before
something nasty happens and they make a poor decision and end up with
discipline."

Renaissance program

The Edison staff is also trying to increase involvement in its
Renaissance program, which offers incentives like special breakfasts
and field trips for good behavior, grades and attendance. The program
also requires community service.

"Getting involved ties them into something and helps them care about
themselves and their community," said Kathy Schaffner, a counselor
and Renaissance director. "Kids who are invested are more
successful."

Chaddock became principal at Edison last year, transferring from
Pfeiffer Middle School where he worked as an assistant. With him came
school resource officer Bill Watson, a uniformed member of the Perry
Police Department.

"The presence was needed more at this age level because this is the
age where the kids are going through a lot of changes in their life,"
said Watson, who teaches the DARE program at the schools. "They're
getting a lot more freedoms. They're on the verge of getting their
driver's license. They are experiencing a lot more."

Watson, and Officer Jeff Caughey, who is stationed at Perry High,
make rounds to all Perry schools throughout the week. They're meant
to be a resource, not an intimidation factor.

Both officers attend extra curricular events and help coach
sports.

"Officer Watson is more for kids that don't necessarily behave," said
Genevieve Hornyak, another student mediator. "Now there's a police
officer in the school, and he can do more than give me detention."

Watson says his presence, and the new outlook on discipline by
administrators and staff, is paying off.

"We're starting to mellow out, and the kids know what we expect,"
Watson said. "We don't have to take the hardcore position anymore."

Chaddock and Morckel say they stopped the behavior problems long
before they reached epidemic proportions.

"We will not tolerate a student who causes another student not to
learn or a teacher not to teach," Chaddock said about the approach.
"We go through the steps, and we try to start with a lot of love, a
lot of counseling, a lot of nurturing -- and it builds from there."