Buying a Ticket Doesn't Give You The Right to Say Anything You Want!

The other night at a varsity boys soccer game I was forced to confront a group of fans from an opposing school. They were swearing and being obnoxious, but that is not what got my dander up. What made me speak to these parents is the fact that they were targeting individual HA players for harassment.

When I went over to speak to them, one mother screamed at me, "FREEDOM OF SPEECH!"

No.

Wrong.

"Freedom of speech" is a political construct. It doesn't give you the right to harass children at a sporting event. Yes, you have the right to say what you want without legal consequence, but then I have the right to let you finish your offensive speech from the confines of your car on the way back to your home.

The thing that amazed me in this instance is that these adults actually thought they were in the right. I heard one parent say to another," I thought part of being a parent was being obnoxious cheering for your kids?!"

No.

Wrong.

Being a parent doesn't give you the right to be rude and MEAN, and it certainly doesn't give you the right to be MEAN to CHILDREN. I expect to have to correct our students for calling out individual athletes on the field; I don't expect to have to tell adults not to do so.

One of the basic concepts that is necessary for a republic to succeed is for people to be able to engage in productive dialogue and act with civility. Civilization requires that we learn how to be civil to each other. Our continued existence as a nation depends on our ability to respectfully interact with each other and to compromise for the good of the whole. Frankly, it appalls me to see how we treat each other in our culture.

For example, I enjoy logging on to Facebook to see what my former and current students are up to. It used to be that reading Facebook was an uplifting experience.  Now, I usually leave either angry or sad - not because of people's political opinions, but because of the lack of respect and civility that people demonstrate towards each other. People are awfully brave behind a keyboard. People say things I don't believe they'd EVER say to someone  face-to-face. I've contemplated deleting my Facebook account, altogether.

Likewise, we live in a culture where "trash talking" is considered to be a normal and integral part of competition. That is, deriding your competitor is seen as "part of the game." To cite one of the worst examples I can remember, one major college basketball fan base threw panties at a visiting player who had been accused of sexual assault.

I'm sorry, but that is just wrong. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but shouldn't we be cheering for our team, instead of against our opponent? When did taunting and humiliating your opponent become an acceptable part of American sports? Frankly, it sickens me, and it worries me.

At HA we are far from perfect in this regard. We, as parents, have been guilty of poor sportsmanship, and I'm not excluding myself from this. I've behaved in ways in the past of which I am not proud. However, I feel like I at least have good enough sense to be embarrassed about it.

Regardless, I don't think we should accept bad sportsmanship as the norm. I think it's a fight worth fighting. To be exact, reinforcing sportsmanship strikes at the very heart of the concept of honor that we are trying to impart at HA. Every year, I tell the students at our Honor Code Ceremony that "honor is not just about avoiding lying, cheating, or stealing; it's about how you treat others from whom you have nothing to gain." I believe we can tell a lot about the culture of schools by how they treat their athletic opponents "from whom they have nothing to gain."

As our spring sports season gets into full swing, I hope that you will take the time to reflect on the hard work and dedication that the athletes demonstrate over the course of the season. The best way to honor our athletes is to exhibit good sportsmanship. Briefly, let me share with you some of my views that I have partially borrowed from Dr. James Garland, the former president of my undergraduate alma mater, Miami University (OH):

• Good sports treat opposing teams and their fans with respect and courtesy. Good sports are humble when they win. They accept their victories with poise, without gloating or demeaning the other team. Good sports are not rude. 

• Good sports understand that losing is part of athletic competition. They accept their defeats gracefully, without pointing fingers or making excuses. They view their losses as opportunities for growth and further development of their skills. 

• Good sports keep their emotions in check. They understand that stress and pressure are part of athletics, and that the true test of character is when the disappointment, the bitterness, and the frustrations of a game are the greatest. 

• And finally, good sports keep a sense of perspective. They know that the other team is their opponent, not their enemy, and that the game is a contest, not a battle. They know that if they conduct themselves with dignity, they will always walk off the field as winners, no matter what the numbers on the scoreboard may show. 

Houston Academy athletics has always epitomized a winning tradition, integrity, a commitment to the academic development of players, and good sportsmanship.

I have been incredibly proud of the success of our teams over the years, but I have been even more proud of the comportment and enthusiasm of our fans and athletes.  Win or lose, I know that we will continue exhibiting good sportsmanship in all of our athletic contests.

Go Raiders!

Houston Academy's Athletic Classification

This fall, there have been many questions and much misinformation concerning our athletic program’s move from Class 2A to Class 3A of the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA). Let me start by saying that our athletic classification is not something we, as a school or administration, can predict or control. Here is what it says in the AHSAA Handbook:

High schools are divided into seven classifications (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A and 7A) for competition in championship programs.

Classification is based on Average Daily Membership (ADM) figures furnished by the State Department of Education for the upper three grades plus ninth grade students that are retained in the ninth grade.

An index of 1.35 is used to determine the enrollment figure for classifying each private school member. Each private school student counts 1.35 for classification purposes.

Alignments are made for each sport in a class, based on the number of schools participating in a sport. Some programs may include two or more classes in a division.

 Let me explain this in layman’s terms. There are seven classifications, the assignment of which is based solely on our student population in grades 10-12. Every two years, at the beginning of the year, we submit our numbers to the AHSAA. Since we are a private school, the AHSAA believes that we have a competitive advantage over public schools in that we can select which student we admit. Therefore, the AHSAA multiplies private schools’ enrollment by 1.35. Accordingly, the AHSAA took our count of 169 students in grades 10-12 and multiplied that number by 1.35, giving us a total student count of 228.15.  For your information, that makes us the smallest school in Class 3A, even with the multiplier. As it turns out, we were .5 students above the enrollment cutoff necessary for us to be placed in Class 2A. Without the multiplier, we are 60 students smaller than the next smallest public school in our division. When we play Opp this weekend, their 10^th-12^th grade enrollment is 106 students greater than ours. If you counted 9^th graders, I would suspect that their overall enrollment is approximately 120 students larger than ours.

Let me re-emphasize that Houston Academy has absolutely no say in our athletic classification. All we do is submit our enrollment and let an AHSAA committee decide where we fall. Moreover, it is totally impossible to predict where our enrollment will be relative to other schools’ enrollments, year-to-year. In other words, we have no way of knowing (nor do any other school have any way of knowing) what the “cut off” number will be for each division, nor do we know what the student enrollment at other schools will be. Moreover, even if we could predict the enrollment of other schools relative to ours, “kicking kids out” of HA, or denying enrollment to qualified students in order to stay in a certain athletic division would be unethical and contrary to our mission of providing educational opportunities for students in the Wiregrass. I’m sure that few of our parents would want their children in a school that would sacrifice its academic integrity for athletic success.

There is another point worth noting, as well. Two years ago, the AHSAA decided to go from 6 classifications to 7. The idea was to allow for more teams to win championships and have more opportunity for success. However, if Alabama still had 6 high school classifications, HA would fall squarely in the upper-middle of Class 2A (in terms of enrollment). So, in effect, while adding the extra division was beneficial for most schools, given our current enrollment, it has hurt us – especially in football.  

In most of our sports, however, the impact of the move to 3A will be negligible or nonexistent. In soccer and tennis, for example, we were already in a combined classification of Classes 1A-3A. In bowling, we compete across all divisions, and in swimming, we will compete against schools in divisions 1A-5A. In other sports, like baseball, basketball, volleyball, softball, and cross country, we feel like we can continue to be competitive, and even compete for state championships. The real issue is football.

This is only my 4^th year at Houston Academy, but I coached for many years at quality, independent schools in both Tennessee and Georgia.  Pretty much everywhere I’ve been, I have been a part of football programs where we have been undermanned in terms of size and speed. That is not to say that we don’t have football players at HA with size or speed, but it’s a matter of depth and number. When we played Daleville, for example, there were two spots on the line where their offensive lineman outweighed our defensive linemen by over 100 pounds. Moreover, Daleville platooned players at multiple positions, whereas we had a number of players playing both offense and defense.  It’s not so much that our players can’t hold their own on any given play, but over the course of a game, the punishment inflicted by larger players on our boys and the wear and tear of having to stay on the field for both offense and defense causes fatigue. When athletes are fatigued, they are more prone to injury. Furthermore, with our lack of depth, when our older and more experienced players get injured or experience cramping, younger players must step in. Many of our younger players have not developed physically, and in a very literal sense, we have our boys playing against their men.  Because of injuries, on Friday we will start as many as five sophomores and one freshman against one of the top ranked football teams in the state.

So with football, we are in a situation that I believe is patently unfair to our children. Many people working in public schools across the state believe that we recruit. We do NOT recruit athletes. However, we do recruit students. We recruit students based largely on academic prowess, but also based on character, assiduousness, and a myriad of other talents that our applicants possess. Yes, some of our students are outstanding athletes, but most of them look at athletics as but one facet of their lives. Very few of our students will ever go on to compete at the college level or higher.

What we definitely don’t do is give our athletes preferential treatment. In fact, the argument that HA has an unfair advantage in athletics is patently false because most high school students are not willing to do what it takes to be successful at HA. Frankly, most kids don’t want to work as hard as our students do, and they would never think of enrolling at HA. As you know, our workload is heavy, and the college preparatory curriculum is difficult. Ethically and practically, we can only admit students we believe can be academically successful at HA. Frankly, that puts us at a competitive disadvantage athletically.

Of course, from the public school perspective, private schools are winning a disproportionate number of state championships. What was interesting, though, was two years ago the AHSAA provided us statistics on the number state championships won by schools that have a high percentage of their students on “free and reduced lunch.”[1] Basically, the AHSAA showed us that, in Alabama, very few ”poor” schools win state championships in ANY sport. In fact, if I am remembering correctly, there was only one school with a high percentage of their students on free and reduced lunch that won a state championship in the last few years. Consequently, to me, this issue is not a private school versus public school issue; it’s a more affluent school versus poor school issue.

The fact that schools with wealthier student populations would win more state championships should surprise no one. They can afford to pay their coaches better, they have booster clubs, they have better equipment, weight rooms, and training facilities. Additionally, middle class and upper middle class parents can afford to enroll their children in recreational sports, provide private lessons and pay for “travel ball,” and afford their children access to sports like tennis and golf. In fact, most of the rural and poor high schools in Alabama don’t even field a tennis or golf team.

Regardless, I am more than aware that we are in a situation, not just where we are at a competitive disadvantage in football, but one in which the best interests and health of our student athletes is not being protected. We do not have an option to forfeit games, though, because to do so would result in sanctions against our entire athletic program.  I do believe, however, that the future could be much brighter, as we have a good bit of young talent in our football program. It is entirely possible we will be able to be much more competitive in the future. I also believe that with Coach Howard, we have one of the best strength and conditioning programs in the state. However, if we find that our student athletes continue to be put at risk, we may have to pursue membership in a league outside of the AHSAA.

Meanwhile, I will say that I’ve never been more proud of our boys. Last week, against a Daleville team that was physically superior, our team never quit. It would have been very easy for our kids to hang their heads and just try to escape the game without injury. They did not do that. Instead, they fought hard, played with passion, and actually narrowed the score differential in the second half. Importantly, too, no one was injured. Anyone who has coached football knows that the easiest way to get injured is to play with passivity or caution. Our boys are not passive. They are leaving it all on the field.

In any case, I would be happy to talk with anyone who has any questions or wants to provide input or advice. Please know, however, that we are doing everything we can do to protect our children and to put competitive athletic teams on the field and on the court.

Go Raiders!

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[1] In educational research, the percentage of students who receive free and reduced lunch is used as a proxy for the percentage of students living in poverty.

"Don't Hate on our Excellence!"

In the last two years, we have been talking to our students about embracing their “excellence.” One of the things I discovered after my first few weeks at HA was that when our students were outside of Houston Academy, they weren’t always eager to let others know they were HA students. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they were ashamed, but they were definitely uncomfortable with people in the greater-Dothan school labeling them as “snobby rich kids.”

The funny thing is, everyone I’ve talked to in Dothan knows that Houston Academy is the best and most rigorous school in the Wiregrass. In fact, this year, we have record enrollment in the Upper School.  The only factor that seems to keep people from coming to HA is the perception that we are unaffordable.

First of all, having been here for over a year, I can tell you that I’ve never been around a more well-mannered and assiduous group of young people than the kids at Houston Academy. Secondly, I think folks out there in the general public would be shocked to know how many of our families make tremendous sacrifices to allow their children to attend Houston Academy. Most notably, we have scores of faculty children attending HA, and as I’m sure you are aware, teachers around here are NOT typically found vacationing in the Hamptons!  Moreover, we work very hard with families here to make HA affordable. Our Board is firmly committed to offering financial aid to those who qualify, and our entire community is committed to providing a diverse environment for our students. In any case, in our capitalist republic having wealth is a sign of hard work, dedication, and entrepreneurship – not something of which to be ashamed (but perhaps that’s too political of a statement).  As I’ve told our students, there is nothing wrong with being born into a privileged environment.  The important part of being a person of privilege is to ACKNOWLEDGE that you are privileged, and act according through service to others.

To return to the notion of embracing our excellence, we have already established that HA is the most rigorous and finest education in the Wiregrass. Why should our students be ashamed of that? They should be PROUD of that! What our students go through on a daily basis is far more than the vast majority of students in this country experience. Most students would neither want to do what HA kids do, nor would they be capable of doing it.

Furthermore, our students do thousands of hours of community service every year.  They outwork their opponents in practice and on the athletic field every single day. Last year, we won two state championships in athletics and had a winning record in every single sport.  Our band and chorus won national awards. Our artists won regional competitions. Our ACT scores were the highest I’ve seen. We had 52 students take 92 Advanced Placement exams in 12 different subject areas. Our seniors earned $4.2 million in college scholarships.

What I want is for every one of our students, parents, faculty and alumni to go out into the community and let everyone know that they are a part of the HA family. I’d like us to proudly display our HA stickers on our cars.  I’d like us to wear our HA hats to Westgate, and wear our HA shirts to the movies. I believe that when folks actually see who we are and what we do, they can’t help but see what a wonderful community we have.  And if they don’t see that, that’s their problem.  Or, as one of our students wrote in shoe polish on his car last year, “Don’t hate on our excellence!”

Welcome Our New Athletic Director!

It is my pleasure to announce to the Houston Academy family that we have hired a new athletic director. Mike Sickafoose, of Atlanta, Georgia will start at HA in the fall. Mike brings a wealth of experience and an abundance of enthusiasm to our athletic department.  Mike is currently the Athletic Director at Holy Spirit Preparatory School in Atlanta.  At Holy Spirit, Mike created and implemented a Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School athletic program from scratch. Over his 14 years there, Mike managed 14 Upper School and 13 Middle School teams, while at the same time overseeing the Catholic Basketball Metro League, the Catholic Metro Soccer League, and a lower school/pre-school basketball and soccer program at Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Mike oversaw athletic fundraising efforts, maintained and updated the school’s athletic website, as well as coordinating the schools athletic-related social media.

Mike has been a head basketball coach at both the high school and collegiate level. In fact, as Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Benedictine College in Kansas, Mike produced a 97% graduation rate while leading his team to the post-season every year he was head coach. In 1991-92, Mike was named NAIA District 10 Coach of the Year, and he coached quite a number of all district and all-American players. Additionally, Mike has served as a head volleyball coach and a head tennis coach.

Mr. Sickafoose holds an M.A. in Education from Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Kentucky, and a B.S. from Ashland College in Ashland, OH.  Mike was also member of the varsity basketball team at Ashland.

Mike and his wife, Kelly, have three boys: Michael Sickafoose (24), Dan Sickafoose (23), and Chris Sickafoose  (21).  Coach  Sickafoose will begin his duties at HA on July 1^st.  Please help me in welcoming Mike to the HA family!  

A Few Early Notes on Personnel For Next Year

Recently, faculty and parents have asked me questions about our job postings on the HA website. There are still a number of moving pieces, but here is what I can tell you, as of today. 

Athletic Director & Director of Buildings and Grounds

Jim Robbins will be changing roles.  Next year, Jim will be the Director of Buildings and Grounds and will continue to help manage Upper School discipline.

It has become obvious to me that our regular maintenance and upkeep has been lacking in several areas. This is not due to any lack of effort on the part of our maintenance staff’s, but rather, it is due to the fact that no one has actually been in charge of our facilities. We need someone to serve as a liaison to our contractors, solicit competitive bids, prioritize maintenance requests, procure materials and supplies, trouble-shoot and budget for future repairs, organize volunteers, and communicate with the faculty and staff. This will become especially important as we open our new Student Activities Center, make some long overdue repairs, and work to build a performing arts facility. Jim’s outstanding efforts managing our athletic facilities this year convinced me that he is the perfect person to take on a broader role with our campus.

Of course, with Coach Robbins serving Director of Buildings and Ground we now have an opening for Athletic Director. We are looking for someone with experience in athletic administration, who has strong technology skills, and who has independent school experience. We have formed a search committee consisting of Upper School teachers, administrators, and coaches, and we hope to have filled the position in the next few weeks.

Director of Admissions and Marketing

Another change for next year is that Leanne Todd has agreed to be our Director of Admissions and Marketing. If you know Leanne at all, you know that there is not a better ambassador for our school. She is highly organized, and her background as a parent and a teacher at HA makes her the ideal person to sell HA to prospective families. Shelly Phillipps will be moving into the classroom full-time, as our World and Classical Language program expands into the middle grades.

Learning Specialist

Thanks to the generosity of one of our grandparents, we have started a search for a learning specialist. The goal is to hire someone on who can help our students with dyslexia and other learning issues. As you probably know, having a learning difference has nothing to do with aptitude, intelligence, or ability to complete a college degree. You might also be aware that some of the world’s most talented and brilliant artists, scientists, and innovators had dyslexia.  A brief list of famous people with dyslexia includes Alexander Graham Bell, Pierre Curie, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Nelson Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and Woodrow Wilson.

Students with learning differences need a different approach to learning. What bright students with learning differences do NOT need is a “dumbed down” curriculum or lower expectations. Currently, there are a number of students at HA who are hard-working, bright students who are struggling because we do not provide the support they need to reach their full academic potential. In fact, in many cases, students and parents have hidden their learning issues from the school because of a fear that they would be asked to leave HA.

By adding the position of Learning Specialist, we hope to augment what is being done by Patti Flowers in the H.A.L.L. (Houston Academy Learning Lab) to help our students achieve to their highest potential. This is consistent with the practices of a great number of quality independent schools throughout the country.

I should also note that Pamela Sewell has agreed to come on board for next year to work with any Upper School student who may need tutoring or extra academic assistance. Many students in the Lower School who have benefited from the HALL have found the lack of assistance in the Upper School quite difficult. In fact, I thought it was strange that we offered learning assistance to children through grade 6, but then did not provide that same assistance in the middle grades – a time when our children are going through some of the most dramatic biological and chemical changes.

Pamela has already worked with a number of our students, and as a substitute and parent, she is very familiar with our culture and our student body. Pamela will continue as a substitute at HA, and she will also be handling our attendance records.

Upper School Chorus and Drama Teacher

While HA has an outstanding visual arts program and an outstanding vocal and instrumental music program, our curriculum lacks is the dramatic arts. Despite the best efforts of Mrs. Arens, our drama numbers have been low, and it has been quite some time since we have had any sort of musical or production that involved students from across the Upper School.

I firmly believe that one cannot have a truly fine independent school without a thriving fine and performing arts program. Frankly, we are not where we need to be in this regard. Part of our struggle is due to the lack of an adequate performing arts facility. Regardless, we must have school-wide performances in both the Lower and Upper Schools. Shelley Keeley is working on expanding the lower school offerings for next year. In the Upper School, we are hiring a full-time teacher to continue our outstanding chorale music program and to direct the production of musical and dramatic performances. 

Lower School Positions

We will spend more time later in the year celebrating the careers of a number of faculty members who are retiring or who are leaving us, but for now, we do have a number of openings in the Lower School.  Mrs. Boothe has formed a search team, including members of the Lower School Academic Council, to hire the best available teachers for the following positions: 3P Teacher, 5K Teacher's Assistant, Kindergarten Teacher, (possible) 3rd Grade Teacher, and Lower School Physical Education Teacher.

We are conducting national searches for all of our openings, and we have been inundated with applications. You may read our job descriptions, which are posted on the employment section of the HA website at: http://www.houstonacademy.com/about-us/jobs/index.aspx  . Please encourage any qualified applicants to apply.  Houston Academy is a great place to work!

Athletic Statement of Purpose

One of the verities of modern organizational theory is that every organization should be mission-driven.  Houston Academy's mission is:

Houston Academy is an independent college preparatory institution. Our mission is to prepare all our students for responsible participation in a global society by providing an excellent learning environment and opportunities to achieve their highest academy, social, and creative potential.

My letter on the web page briefly elucidates what our mission means to us. Nevertheless, the idea is that everything we do, from strategic planning, to teaching, to athletics, should point back to the mission. That is, anything we do should be consistent with the mission of the school. Or, as my former Head, Clay Lilienstern used to remind us, “Stick to the mission!”

However, it is also important, under the umbrella of the mission, to have statement of purposes for various facets of the school.  That is, we need to be clear what the goal and intent is for different aspects of the school. Relative to the academic mission of the school, we have formed a teacher-led Academic Council in both the Lower School and Upper School. We expect these two groups, in part, to forge goals, evaluate and frame teacher performance, and assess learning outcomes. Over time, I expect us to publicly clarify specific goals within our academic program.

Upon arriving at Houston Academy, I also called upon Jim Robbins (our Athletic Director) and his coaching staff to come up with a statement of purpose for our athletic department. Everyone agreed that this was needed, and we look at it as a first step towards clarifying policies and procedures.  So, I proudly present to you our finished product.

Admittedly, the group borrowed heavily from other examples of statements of purpose at other like-minded independent schools. Still, I believe this statement captures what we believe to be the purpose of our athletic program, and our statement is wholly consistent with our mission. Please take the time to peruse our statement, below.

As always, your feedback on this is welcome and encouraged. 

Houston Academy Athletics

Statement of Purpose and Intent

The HA Athletic programs exist to further advance the school’s Mission Statement in the lives of as many of its students as possible with specific emphasis on instilling “providing an excellent learning environment” and helping each student athlete to achieve his or her “highest…potential.” Athletics provides a living laboratory of learning where coaches consistently model and teach the principles of integrity, honesty, respect, responsibility, and excellence.  In addition to the educational purpose of HA athletics, the program has two other purposes:  to aid in the attraction of multi-talented students by promoting an awareness of overall school excellence in the community and to encourage the creation of “school spirit” by developing loyalty and a sense of identification with the school.

To live up to these purposes, the athletic experience at HA develops the whole person by emphasizing development of the student athlete’s body, mind, and spirit through emphasis on the following:              

• Discipline - Placing team before self and future accomplishments ahead of current comforts.     

                   

• Vision - Helping the student athlete understand and embrace what can be accomplished with the combination of individual effort, teamwork, and a winning attitude.                                                                                                   

• Passion – Unleashing each student athlete’s personal drive for excellence by creating a positive environment where working hard, both individually and together is fun.                                                                                  

• Conscience – Conducting all elements of the athletic experience in an ethical and uplifting manner with emphasis on a) two-way respect between coaches and student athletes, and b) outstanding sportsmanship at all times. HA resolutely believes that violation of the Statement of Purpose and Intent in pursuit of more victories is unacceptable.

HA will provide resources to accomplish the above with focus in three areas:                                          

• Coaches – Individuals who are experienced and knowledgeable in the sport, and who have a passion for the HA Athletic Statement of Purpose and Intent, will be chosen as coaches.  The school will ensure that ongoing training is available to enhance the coaches’ skills in all areas.  The Varsity coach will also be responsible for overseeing lower and middle school developmental programs for his/her sport.  The Athletic Director will complete formal evaluations at the end of each athletic season. These evaluations will measure how successfully the above principles were taught throughout the season.  Winning is one of the goals.  The ultimate measure of success is contained in this document.

• Training Programs – Training programs will be made available to student athletes and encouraged/directed by the coaches within AHSAA guidelines.  This will include items such as strength training, summer camps, and other leagues or competitions.

• Facilities and Equipment – HA will provide facilities and equipment at a level that will allow this statement of Purpose and Intent to be fulfilled.  This will require ongoing evaluation and continued investment.

HA strongly believes that success will be achieved when these principles are aggressively and consistently embraced and pursued.