CEDARBLUFF — In her three years as principal at West Clay Elementary School, Dr. Helen Kennard has established rules for what she believes is essential to operating a successful school. Among them, the school’s 157 students are held to a high standard of behavior. They are expected to conduct themselves in an orderly manner and be respectful to teachers, staff and fellow students.

Given those well-established guidelines, the breakdown in decorum that occurred at roughly 10 a.m. Friday was an alarming event. People were running up and down the hallways of the old school building, shouting, hollering, laughing and generally disrupting the educational process.

And, mind you, this was the behavior of the staff and teachers, including Dr. Kennard.

“Lord, you never heard such shouting,” Kennard says as she sits behind the desk in her office, still beaming four days after the event that sent convulsions of celebration careening down the halls of this little school tucked away in the northwest corner of Clay County.

Since last March, when the Mississippi legislature passed the “third-grade gate” legislation requiring every third-grader to read at grade level or be held back, Kennard and her third-grade teachers — Natasha Patty and Tarshelle Bryant — had worked diligently on preparing this year’s group of 24 third-graders for the test.

“But I would be lying if I said there wasn’t one or two kids, maybe three, that we were concerned about,” Kennard said.

Of the state’s 155 school districts, the Clay County School District is the smallest, with just one school — West Clay Elementary, which offers classes from Pre-K through sixth grade.

It also features the demographics that are supposed to be obstacles to success.

The students are poor kids from poor households — 99 percent are eligible for free or reduced school lunches — and 89 percent of them are black. Many are from single-parent homes, some are being raised by grandparents. They are the children of laborers and unskilled workers. Few, if any, of the parents have had the benefit of higher education.

Out here on the rural fringe of Clay County, these are children who are easy to ignore. Outside expectations are low.

But at 10 a.m. Friday, none of that would matter. The results would tell the story.

‘Not in our wildest dream’

“What I remember is that every district in the state was trying to get their scores online at the same time,” Kennard said. “It seemed like it took forever. When it finally came over, we were floored — 100 percent passed. We couldn’t have imagined that, not in our wildest dreams.”

Pandemonium ensued.

Kennard went running down the hallways, shouting the news. Patty joined the celebration, then remembered that she needed to tell her students. The whole school seemed to empty out into the hallways at the same time, an explosion of joy.

“There wasn’t any education going on for the rest of the day,” said Patty, who had been given the responsibility for both third-grade classes when Bryant was forced to leave school in March to fight cancer.

“Everybody was yelling, screaming, even the kids in the upper classes,” Kennard said. “The older kids, a lot of them had little brothers and sisters in third grade. They were yelling, ‘My sister passed!’ or ‘My little brother passed.’ It was just pure joy for the whole school.”

Little West Clay Elementary had achieved what even the best schools in the affluent suburbs filled with the children of educated parents could not claim. The children, of course, are too young to note that distinction. But for everyone who has ever felt the sting of inferiority, it’s a delightful thing to consider.

Clay County and Pearl River County were the only districts to have a 100-percent success rate on the testing. While all the other districts now turn their attention to helping those students who failed the test prepare for the two remaining testing chances that can allow them to be promoted to the fourth grade, there are no such worries at West Clay.

Principal: ‘Planning was essential’

Now that order has been restored, both Kennard and Patty can reflect on the process.

As an administrator, Kennard says the district’s planning was essential. The district reallocated its federal funds to add an additional third-grade teacher. The district also has provided its teachers with Smartboards and computers are available for students. Kennard says carefully analyzing the reading assessments held in December and March and working with the teachers to formulate a plan for students who struggled on a one-on-one basis was critical. Careful attention was paid to lesson plans and materials. Also of great importance was the district’s implementation of pre-K. That this year’s third-graders are the first to have had access to pre-K cannot be ignored.

From the teacher’s perspective, Patty said repetition and making the students familiar with assessments similar to the one used for the state tests were essential.

But there are some obstacles that could not be anticipated. Bryant, who had fought cancer the previous year, discovered that the cancer had returned early in the school year.

“That’s a special part of the story, too,” Kennard said. “She worked so hard with the kids, not only when she was able to teach, but when she was out. She made sure the lesson plans were there for the children and was up-to-date on everything, even when she was going through such a difficult time, personally.”

In March, Patty — like Bryant, a second-year teacher — took over both third-grade classes, just six weeks prior to the testing.

“I was a little worried,” she admitted. “But the year before, I had been the second-grade teacher, so I knew all of the students. That was a big help because I knew their personalities, what they would respond to best. I knew their strengths and where they struggled.”

That Friday morning, as she awaited the results of the tests, Patty admits she was tense.

“After the test, in talking to the students, I felt they had done pretty well,” she said. “It was three weeks before we would know for sure, though. That morning, I was preparing myself for how I was going to handle the situation if some of the children didn’t pass.”

For Patty, a Columbus High and MUW graduate who makes the 100-mile round-trip from Columbus each day, the 100-percent success was gratifying, personally and professionally.

“I’m just in my second year, but this already feels such a highlight in my teaching career,” she says. “I’m just so proud of all the children.”

So is Kennard, who nods and smiles as she listens as a visitor ticks of all those “negative” demographics her third-graders faced.

The third-graders at West Clay have learned to read, it is true.

But they have also learned something that may be of even greater value: No one can put them in a box anymore.

That is 100 percent true for the third graders at West Clay Elementary.

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].

READER FAVORITES

• 

  Colom prioritizing lower costs, good jobs, affordable health care in state

  By Natalie Staggers • 1 day ago

• 

  City, county form committee to solve jail dispute

  By Zack Plair • 1 day ago