Cover Story

'What are you doing to help your children?'

By Linda Hernandez

ROCKFORD WOMAN

Apr 25, 2008 @ 12:00 AM

What is the school system doing to improve academic achievement of minority students?

In my 25 years in public education, I’ve heard the question countless times. So many times I’ve wanted to respond: “What are you doing to help your children?”

The comedian Bill Cosby stirred up controversy in 2004 when he talked about personal responsibility during an address to mark the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. the Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended school segregation.

Cosby opened his speech at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., by quoting a prize-fight manager who gave this advice to a boxer who was losing his match:

“Listen to me. It’s not what he’s doing to you. It’s what you’re not doing.”

Library shelves are filled with studies that try to determine why minority students fall behind in school and why they don’t graduate at the same rate as white students. The nation’s schools, Rockford’s among them, have spent millions on programs to close the learning gap. After all this time and effort, the problem lingers and no one has discovered a sure-fire solution.

As superintendent, I’m committed to making sure Rockford’s public schools deliver the best education possible to all students. As a mother and veteran teacher, I must admit that there’s truth in what Cosby had to say.

I grew up in an Italian family in Elmhurst. My father, who came to America when he was 12, earned a college degree and made a comfortable living selling surgical instruments; my mother worked as a beautician. They placed a high value on education. It never occurred to me that I would do anything but go off to college.

I earned my bachelor’s degree in elementary education from St. Norbert College in 1972, but I didn’t take my first teaching job until 1983, when the youngest of my five children entered school full time.

Most of those early years, I taught kindergarten. The reason was simple. At home at the kitchen table at night, I could more easily help my kids with their homework while I graded kindergarten papers — as opposed to eighth-grade essays.

I always treated my students as if they were family. What you expect from kids is what you get; they will rise to the occasion. Throughout my career in education, that philosophy has never failed me.

So I cannot impress on parents enough the importance of the examples they set. Examine how you spend time as a family, whatever your family is. Turn off the TV and talk to your children every day about what happened in school. Make sure they have a quiet place for homework, and designate a specific time for reading every day.

Profile
Age: 58

Residence: Rockford

Occupation: Superintendent, Rockford Public Schools

Education: Bachelor’s degree in elementary education, St. Norbert College; master’s degree in curriculum and Instruction, National Louis University;  Certificate of Advanced Study in Education Leadership, National Louis University.

Experience: Teacher; adjunct faculty, Rockford College; elementary and high school principal; assistant superintendent supervising secondary education, curriculum, student discipline, student assignment; superintendent of Iowa-Grant Schools in Platteville, Wis.