There has been a lot of negative publicity towards Council Schools lately, and quite frankly, I am tired of it. As a teacher at Council Jr. Sr High school what I see and experience every day does not reflect the image being portrayed by disgruntled parents on social media. If you come into the high school during the day, you will see every student being greeted by name by multiple teachers who care about them. We know their parents’ first names, who their siblings are and how they performed at the last track meet or ball game. We are happy to see them and try to make them feel welcomed. More importantly, we know how they learn and what they need to be successful. No one is “just a student” or goes unnoticed. Students at CHS are safe, cared for, and treated with respect.
In class, students are engaged in meaningful lessons and are expected to participate fully. We don’t allow just “going through the motions”. If a student isn’t learning or isn’t participating, we know it and will take every action to get that student to learn. Students have access to teachers who offer them endless opportunities for individual help, if they choose to take advantage of it. Every teacher in the high school is available after school for students and many of us give up our lunch to work with those who ride the bus or have sports practices. We offer remediation classes and have classroom aides in most classes. If a student wants to be successful, they have every chance to do so. We don’t, however, allow them to take shortcuts, use A. I. or cheat their way to good grades: “The only way out is through” (Frost, 1915). We can’t work miracles and we can’t teach students who don’t want to learn, are disrespectful or who aren’t at school. Students and families have to meet us halfway and encourage learning, coming to school every day, having an open mind and treating others with respect.
Not only do Council students get offered a great education, they also have endless extracurricular opportunities they would not have access to at a big school or online school. I take my students to Craters of the Moon when they are in eighth grade, camping in Hells Canyon as sophomores, to visit the cadaver lab at NNU as part of my Anatomy and Physiology class, to watch the smokejumpers in McCall and the power plant at Oxbow. I just returned from a trip with students to the Dominican Republic over Spring Break. The History club took students to New York last year and we have visited Costa Rica and Washington DC in the past (and hopefully future). If students want to participate in sports, they can do so without trying out. They have great coaches who volunteer hours of their time on the weekends and summers to improve their programs. We have students participating in multiple FFA competitions throughout the year and FCCLA events as well. If a student wants to participate in student council to help improve and lead the school, they usually can run unopposed. They have dual credit opportunities and internship options. We are holding Lumberjack Days to introduce them to careers in the Timber Industry. The sky’s the limit for a student from Council, they simply have to reach for it.
When you look at our school through this lens, we seem pretty fantastic; and we are! Are we perfect? Absolutely not! Do we have discipline, behavior and morale problems? Of course. But more importantly, we recognize our shortcomings and are constantly working to improve. We have new leadership in both schools and it takes time to adjust and cause change at the highest level. We have had some tough times in the past few years, but through it all, I firmly believe we have continued to provide students with a high quality education and unique opportunities they wouldn’t get elsewhere. We do this because we have a staff of people who care deeply about what they do and always make decisions based on what is best for kids. We are not selfish, lazy or trying to brainwash children. We are hard working, compassionate and professional people who are not perfect but we show up every day because we love what we do. We know the importance of our jobs and the lives we have the ability to shape and we don’t take that responsibility lightly.
It is always easy to focus on the negatives and find others who will validate negativity until it becomes all we see and look for. As a community and a school we would get much farther if we choose to look for the positives and apply praise rather than blame. We might find that things are not so dire and we have a lot going in the right direction. I, for one, will continue to work to make Council Schools a place where students and staff want to be and I hope others will join me.
