If you want the lowdown on student cliques at Hersey High School, talk to Lauren Hickey and Sarina Isaac.
Like many teenagers, they’re good at sizing up classmates in no time flat. They look for brand names on clothing, study hairstyles and know who usually sneaks a smoke during lunch.
What they can’t see immediately, they usually find out in short order.
Classes, friends and involvement in extracurricular activities provide all sorts of clues that help the girls figure out where a student belongs in the school’s dizzying array of social circles.
It’s what the girls, both 16, do with that information that impresses Principal Barb Horler, who said she is on a mission to create a school environment in which every student feels welcome and inspired to learn.
This year, Horler is working on a three-prong approach that involves a relatively new student group, an aggressive revamp of the curriculum and more cross-training aimed at helping teachers identify students who need extra emotional support.
Hickey and Isaac are on a team of about 12 students Horler watches carefully these days.
The group moves throughout the school in search of the disenfranchised: the students often sitting alone in the cafeteria or bearing the brunt of classroom jokes, the quiet ones prone to crying into their lockers or skipping pep rallies, and the loners who could fall into drug addiction.
“Students who are having a rough time are everywhere,” Isaac said. “They’re easy to see.”
Hersey’s students are practicing a variation of the nationally recognized Character Counts! program, which promotes six pillars of good character: caring, citizenship, fairness, respect, responsibility and trustworthiness.
Horler wants the program, originally targeted at elementary and middle school pupils, modified to appeal to the high school crowd.
Engaging older students will require intentional but low-key efforts, Hickey said.
“You can’t pound this into people’s heads or they’ll resent it,” she said.
The group has put posters in nearly every hallway and classroom to remind students to accept responsibility for their actions and live by the golden rule. Group members follow up on their instincts by inviting students to join them in a variety of activities, including lunch and Friday night basketball games.
It’s not always easy, Hickey said. “Friendship has to go both ways,” she said. “We try, but there’s only so much we can do.”
Horler is aware of that.
She also is counting on the school’s 140 teachers, eight guidance counselors, two social workers and one psychologist to help identify students who need more guidance than their classmates would feel comfortable giving.
Though she has no hard data, Horler said her staff has plenty of anecdotal evidence that more students are engaging in risky behavior–including alcohol and drug consumption, eating disorders and sex–because of trouble at home.
“Families are much more complicated today than they were 30 years ago, and having enough staff members to help students go through some really challenging times has been one of our biggest challenges as educators,” Horler said.
“I’m not going to complain about staffing levels at all, but I’m also not going to say that it wouldn’t be nice to have more counselors on staff.”
Horler is pushing teachers to get more training from the school’s guidance counselors and social workers so they can become more adept at spotting troubled students and making referrals.
The school also runs a group for students who need encouragement to overcome addictions, depression or other emotional and personal problems.
The group is one more tool that Horler hopes will prevent the high school’s 3 percent dropout rate from rising.
“We really want to be aware of and sensitive to the needs of students who are living in turmoil,” she said.
Efforts to revamp the curriculum have turned up creative ways to break down the barriers that divide students, Horler said.
She is directing several teachers’ efforts to ensure that students apply more skills across disciplines.
For example, a student might learn how to use a computer program in an English course and later use it to prepare a presentation for a science class or perform calculations in math.
Though students have varied aptitudes for learning, Horler said there is no reason why they shouldn’t be exposed to much of the same subject matter.
So rather than tapping only advanced students to study Shakespeare, she is hoping to expose all students to the great playwright and poet through lessons tailored for their learning level.
“Kids have a sense of what their abilities are, and a lot of times they judge one another based on what they’re studying,” Horler said.
“If everyone can say, `I’m reading Shakespeare too,’ it makes it harder for them to create differences.”
The school will roll out the curriculum changes during the 2001-’02 school year, Horler said.
SCHOOL FACTS
Hersey High School
Address: 1900 E. Thomas St., Arlington Heights, IL 60004
Phone: 847-718-4800
Web site: jhhs.dist214.k12.il.us
E-mail contact: tpolak@dist214.k12.il.us
Number of students: 2,000
Number of clubs: 30
Sports teams: 12 boys, 12 girls
Post-graduation aspirations: 61 percent attend four-year colleges; 26 percent, two-year institutions; 8 percent enter the workforce; 2 percent go on to vocational or technical schools; fewer than 1 percent enter the military
Township High School
District 214
Address: 2121 S. Goebbert Rd., Arlington Heights, IL 60005
Phone: 847-718-7600
Web site: dist214.k12.il.us
E-mail contact: webmaster@dist214.k12.il.us
BARB HORLER
Position: Principal, Hersey High School since 1997-’98 school year.
Education: Bachelor’s degree, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; master’s degree in special education, Northern Illinois University; master’s degree in educational administration, U. of I.; doctorate of educational administration, NIU.
Personal: Arlington Heights resident; married 27 years; two sons, ages 25 and 22.
Favorite accomplishment at Hersey: Leading the current curriculum revision, which aims to encourage students to use more skills across disciplines
Tips for students: “Try your best. Work hard. Find and follow your passion.”
Tips for parents: “Talk with and listen to your children. Encourage your kids to do their best in everything they do. Get involved with your children at school or in another community activity.”
