The student population is 31.7 percent black, 32.7 percent Hispanic, 29.5 percent limited English proficiency and 16 percent of its students have some disability.
Those are factors that, if taken at face value, would predict a low-performing school.
“Family Poverty and Its Implications for School Success,” a 2004 study by the University of Cincinnati, concludes that “Schools serving low-income students have fewer resources, are located in lower-quality facilities, face greater challenges recruiting highly-qualified teachers, face more challenges in addressing and meeting students’ needs, and experience lower levels of parental involvement.”
Yet on the preliminary Ohio Report Cards issued last month by the Ohio Department of Education, Riverview received an “Excellent” rating.
The Riverview staff know the data and recognize the discrepancy, but have made it a mission to not let the bad numbers stand in the way of good numbers. And they do know their numbers.
“There’s not a person on this staff who can’t look at data and see what needs to be done,” said Principal Mary Anne Hughes. “We don’t panic too much.”
But it’s more than just understanding data that makes Riverview excel. Indeed, spend a day there and certain themes begin to pop up in every conversation. Chief among them are “high expectations” and “family.”
“It all comes down to the staff,” Hughes said. “They are all great people doing great things. They don’t want to do anything else. When we built the new elementary schools, every teacher in the district had the option to go somewhere else, but they didn’t.
“We see the numbers (on poverty and diversity) as speed bumps, but not a road block to our kids’ success,” she said. “If anything, we celebrate that we’re different. It’s a welcome challenge.
“We are the job. We live this stuff. We are the only family I know that is not dysfunctional. Our vision is student success, no excuses.”
Having grown up in Lindenwald, Hughes said she knew early on that she wanted to be an educator on the East Side of Hamilton. She began her teaching career at Van Buren Elementary, and subsequently worked at Harrison and Buchanan before taking her first principal job at Jefferson Elementary before going back to Harrison for its last year. Riverview was built on that site three years ago.
And it’s her leadership, the teachers say, that sets the tone for success.
“She cultivates the atmosphere of family,” said intervention specialist Lori Pierson. “All of our emails from her begin, ‘Dear Riverview Family.’ She wants our input, we give it and she uses it. We stay on the cutting edge of teaching methods and technology, stay a step ahead of everybody else, because she lets us know things as soon as she learns about them.”
“Mary Anne is very dedicated to this school,” said kindergarten teacher Jamie Dickerson. “She doesn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Hughes also leads the staff in making sure that the real families of Riverview, the parents, are active and involved, which is also a challenge given the demographics of the clientele.
Unlike other high-poverty schools, parent-teacher conferences are well-attended at Riverview and parents turn out in droves for awards assemblies.
“We make sure that we never tell them through words or actions that they are bad parents,” Hughes said. “We’re here to work with them.”
As evidence, she offers the tidbit that there wasn’t a Parent Teacher Organization at Harrison Elementary, but in just two and a half years, there are over 300 members in a school of about 650 students, and a PTO budget of $12,000.
“They love the carnivals and the fall festivals,” Hughes said.
“We have good turnouts because the parents feel they can come here,” said math teacher Jacquie Kihm. “A lot of parents see the school as a resource because we’ve helped them in so many different areas, and the family feeling among the staff extends into the community.”
The children also see the school as a safe haven.
“Some of the kids come here to relax because there’s so much stress at home,” said third grade teacher Karla Kincaid. “We have kids who don’t get excited about the holidays because they want to be here. They don’t know if they’re going to get anything for Christmas or what’s going to happen.”
Collaboration among the staff is also high on Hughes’ list of secrets to success. There are plenty of teams working on just about everything imaginable, from grade-level teams to discipline teams and everything in between, all of them examining and interpreting binders full of data, brainstorming ideas on how to overcome the obstacles and challenges.
“When we began to move from Harrison to Riverview, I organized a transition team,” Hughes said. “Almost everyone wanted to be on it.
“And after three years, we’re still meeting, looking at practices and procedures we’ve put in place to make sure that we maximize instructional time.
“It’s like a big think tank,” she said.
Teaching in a school like Riverview is a lot like juggling plates, one of Hughes’ favorite metaphors, “except that some plates have food on them and some are on fire.
“There’s not another place like it in the world,” she said. “You can’t duplicate it. It’s just the right chemistry.”
Second grade teacher Bret Talley said he worked at Riverview as a substitute teacher the first two years, and decided early on that when a job came along, he would take it. And Hughes was eager to have him, fought to get him, she said, because male elementary teachers are rare, but essential in a school where many of the students lack good, positive male role models.
“I was subbing for three different districts,” he said, “and if I got a call from Riverview while I had a job at another school, I’d call the other school and cancel so I could come here.
“Even as a sub, I felt a part of the team,” he said. “Teachers would come by and ask me what I needed.
“And you can tell that the kids really appreciate what they have here and what the school can offer,” he said. “And it starts at the top. (Hughes) is really dedicated to the cause.”
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