A Week At East High School


To say the very least, the high school at which I work has some significant challenges. Every day ends with me being physically and emotionally exhausted and far too often I walk out of the building deeply discouraged. So when something positive occurs it is vital to my soul to dwell on that rather than the negative. Today’s blog post will pertain to some highly energizing recent experiences.

The other day after school I’m at my normal supervision post (west door overlooking the student parking lot) and six boys walked out the door. Nothing exceptional here, right? What made it a highlight was these students were totally at ease, smiling, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company. Even better is the group included one Asian, one African-American, two Caucasians, and two Hispanic youths. With all the racial and ethnic hostility in every corner of our society, it was gratifying to see the diverse setting of East High School facilitating the friendships within such an unlikely group.

The day we returned from Spring Break I’m walking toward the cafeteria and I distinctly heard my name spoken. Uh oh. Right? Instead, I rounded the corner to see three students (who frequently get labeled in less than flattering terms) and they smiled with brightened eyes and one of them said “We were just talking about how we haven’t seen you yet!” These students were happy to see me, even though sometimes we butt heads. That momentary interaction gave me the energy to get through the day!

At a meeting on Friday, my colleague and friend mentioned off hand that well over 900 East High students have average daily attendance over 95%. My jaw dropped. We in administration and student services get so freaked out over the kids who skip habitually, yet consider this for a moment: The entire enrollment at Sioux City North is just above 900. This means we have a cohort of students the size of an entire good sized 4A school here within the walls East who are kicking it every single day! Here’s another comparison. Clear Lake’s enrollment is 300, so we have a group of students the size of three 3A high schools who are at 95% attendance. What a remarkable achievement!

A student who last year was quite a handful has made a 180 degree turn. He has average daily attendance of 96.6% and has zero behavior referrals this year!

A student I met recently completely discounts the stereotype of the inner-city. This young adult has a GPA above 4.0, is currently enrolled in three Advanced Placement classes, has perfect (100%) attendance, has never gotten a behavior referral, is active in music, participated in a sport, and works regular hours at a part time job. EXTRAORDINARY!

At the moment of this writing members of our boys track team has the #1 ranked times in the high hurdles and 200m sprints.

Our speech team sent six performers to the All State Festival.

A large contingent from East participated in the Iowa Governor’s LBGQT Conference.

All in all, its been a great week at East!

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