HERE IS WHAT'S RIGHT WITH OUR SCHOOLS
by Bob Ray Sanders
"IN MY OPINION"

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
March 3, 2004

The sound of the orchestra swelled, the lights faded and a table full of awards glistened in the dimness on stage as people rushed to their seats in the crowded theater.  The presenters, dressed in tuxedos and formal gowns, had taken their places when the emcee approached the see-through lectern to announce the beginning of the show.

No, this was not the Oscars or some other star-studded Hollywood program.  This event in the Irving High School auditorium last week was better than the Academy Awards.  And for a group of anxious onlookers, it was much more important.

It was the annual ICE (Irving Celebration of Excellence) Awards, a program that honors high achievement in the Irving school district in the areas of academics, fine arts, athletics and physical education, community service/citizenship, special campus/district and innovative programs.  Or as Superintendent Jack Singley said, it "celebrates the good news from and about our schools and student achievement."

As in the Irving school district, there are great public schools all over Texas, and many have begun to take some special time to recognize outstanding accomplishments by students, educators and individual campuses.  Seeing these brilliant young people and the adults who teach and motivate them gives one a special appreciation for the work that is done in our public schools every day.

As I told the ICE Awards audience, I wish a few other people could have been in the theater that night, especially the constant public-school critics and the politicians who still have not figured out a way to fund education adequately.  In fact, instead of Gov. Rick Perry junketing off to the Bahamas with some fat cats to talk about education, he could have gotten a much better picture by visiting Irving last week.  But I'll save that discussion for another time.

You might think of Irving as a big, wealthy, homogeneous suburban school district with no problems.  Yes, it is big, with more than 31,400 students.  But the truth is that the Irving school district, like most others in the state, is strapped for funds and has its challenges.  You may not know that 62 percent of the district's students are economically disadvantaged, which means they qualify under federal guidelines for free or reduced breakfast and lunch.

What is so remarkable about this district and others in this state is that it continues to excel in spite of the obstacles it faces and those so-called "disadvantages."  The evidence was there Thursday night when the awards were being presented by members of the board of trustees.  While announcing the honors for students, organizations, campuses, teachers and administrators, I was constantly amazed by their extraordinary achievements.

For example, the first students recognized that evening were four who had gone through 12 and 13 years of public education with a perfect attendance record.  "How did they do that?" I asked, wondering aloud that surely there were a few days when they didn't feel well.  But they still went to school.

Twenty-one seniors were cited for having achieved distinction in the National Merit Scholarship Program, and one recent graduate holds one of the highest honors.  Mingming Ma, valedictorian of MacArthur High School last year, was the only public-school graduate from Texas to be named a Presidential Scholar.  Ma, who scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT, is a freshman premed student at Harvard University.

The Nimitz High School Academic Decathlon Team, which was recognized for having the highest score in the state when it won the Region 9 competition this school year, wasn't present Thursday night.  The team was competing for the state title in San Antonio, where it won the top prize among large high schools.

Also recognized were five all-state musicians, three fifth-grade girls from Hanes Elementary School who started a newspaper, a middle-school student who won first place at Irving's Science Olympiad and a young artist from Schulze Elementary School whose drawing was among 41 in the state to be included in the 2003 Reflections Traveling Exhibit.  And that's just a small sampling.

In that auditorium were the people who make public schools and our society great: students of all stripes and varied interests who excel in the classroom and in their communities, and teachers with a zeal for their profession who have the stuff it takes to inspire.

If only the politicians believed in our schools as much as those who make daily sacrifices for them.