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Authors, sign in!Last week, I posted a story about a man in Kansas City who draws from his experiences with drug dealing everyday to help kids learn about their own potential. This week, I wanted to share a story I heard on NPR about a former police officer turned school security guard who’s really trying to make things work in struggling New Orleans schools. His story is inspiring to his students and to those of us who are trying to figure out how to make schools better across the country...
“I think I’m having a big impact on the lives of our youth,” he says.Compass drops in on 12 schools a week. He doesn’t carry a gun, and his security chief badge is just gold embroidered lettering on a dark blue polo shirt.
On a visit to Thomas Walley’s fourth-grade math class at Benjamin Banneker Elementary School, the students’ eyes light up. They know what’s coming.
“When I visit the schools, I try to talk to you and explain to you the rewards to learning your lessons,” Compass says.
Compass’s rewards are cold hard cash.
He says he learned as a beat cop that kids need rewards from the police in order to build better relationships. If not, he says, then it’s just the drug dealers in the neighborhood handing out the money and the candy….
Many critics claim that before Compass started in the school system, the district was treating schools like prisons. Last school year, more than 300 guards were patrolling just 20 campuses — at a cost of $20 million. This year, Compass cut that cost in half and has been slashing the number of guards. He says his plan is working and points to McDonogh High School, the city’s roughest school, as proof.
[This post is one in a series of amazing stories about amazing people doing amazing things that have been sent to me or that I’ve read over the last few weeks. If you know of anyone that should be highlighted, please email me at info@heartlandinnovators.org.]
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