THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 21, 1995 TAG: 9501210192
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 167 lines
When she walks the halls of Ruffner Middle School, first-year principal Pamela Hoffler-Riddick sees images of her own life.
Like a majority of the students who attend the inner-city school, Hoffler-Riddick grew up in urban poverty - in her case, on the rough streets of New York City's South Bronx.
``When I see them, I see myself,'' she said. ``I know what it's like for people to make assumptions about you just because of where you live. I know what it means to be poor, black and smart.''
In her first few months on the job, image, which popular culture tells us is everything, has become key in her drive to turn the school into a model of public education for the 21st century.
At her insistence, teachers last month approved a precedent-setting dress code for themselves. She argued that teachers who acted and looked like professionals would set a good example for students and create an atmosphere of success.
Today, she will launch the next step in her plan. Parents have been invited to a ``town meeting'' at the school to find out what they think of requiring students to wear uniforms to school.
Hoffler-Riddick has drawn fire from leaders of both the city's teacher-representative groups, who questioned the need for a formal dress code and criticized her for spending about $4,000 to hire an image consultant and send teachers to charm school.
Parents and students are wary about her interest in uniforms, voicing concerns about such things as cost and looks.
Hoffler-Riddick - assertive, street smart and an incurable workaholic - recognizes that change isn't easy.
``I know you can't please everybody all the time, but as long as I know I'm doing things for the right reasons, I'm comfortable with that,'' she said. ``For me, that's doing things in the best interest of the kids.''
For Hoffler-Riddick, 33, education was her ticket into mainstream America. In second grade, she was identified as a gifted student.
She was bused from her neighborhood to a school for gifted students attended largely by white children from well-to-do families. Later, she attended New York City's school for the performing arts, on which the movie and TV series ``Fame'' were based.
She was exposed to an array of intellectual and cultural opportunities that otherwise would have been denied her, but she also encountered some unpleasant realities.
``It was the first time I really discovered racism and the difference between the haves and the have-nots,'' she said. ``I learned that even though I was smart enough, I wasn't the right color or I didn't have enough money. But I learned not to let it be a hindrance. I wore it like a badge of courage.''
At Ruffner, Hoffler-Riddick calls her students ``Diamonds in the Ruff.'' Her goal is to provide them with the same chances she had, to equip them with the skills they need to achieve economic success, to level their playing field.
``From a political standpoint, the overwhelming attitude seems to be that people in poverty are only looking for a handout and not a hand up,'' she said. ``It's not that they don't want to do anything for themselves, it's just that we have to show them how to do it.
``If we can break the cycle of poverty in that family with their children, then, hopefully, the necessity of that type of environment is dissipated. I'm only trying to give them a viable chance to get out.''
It's a formidable challenge: Ruffner has the largest concentration of students in poverty of the city's eight middle schools, drawing minority students from three public housing neighborhoods - Tidewater Gardens, Calvert Square and Young Terrace. Low-income whites are bused from Ocean View and Bay View.
About two-thirds of the school's 1,012 students are black, while 30.5 percent are white and 1.8 percent are Hispanic.
Nearly 80 percent of the student body is eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. More than 50 percent of their families receive government payments through Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
Such economic disparities translate into classroom performance. Last year, for example, only 41 percent of Ruffner's sixth-graders passed all three sections of the state Literacy Passport Test, the lowest rate citywide.
Hoffler-Riddick is determined to change that.
Education, she says, is all about economics: Her motto at Ruffner is ``learn to earn.'' She stresses the need to teach students the ``language of prosperity.'' Only if poor students are exposed to the expectations of corporate America - how to dress, how to act, how to talk - can they ever hope to enter that world, she contends.
While critics brush off her emphasis on image as window-dressing, Hoffler-Riddick calls it fundamental.
``It's not fluff,'' she said. ``It is the vehicle through which change will be recognized.''
Prior to Thanksgiving, she said, seventh-grade students were treated to a banquet. They learned proper table manners and how to prepare toasts and send and receive invitations.
``Children in poverty typically have a deficiency in social and interpersonal skills,'' she said. ``We have to teach the whole child, to address their social and emotional development.''
Still, much more than image is at work at Ruffner. In the information age, Hoffler-Riddick said, communication skills are essential. The $14 million school, opened in 1993 to replace an aging building, offers students state-of-the-art computer technology.
Students have ready access to computers, with nearly 400 scattered schoolwide and at least three in every classroom. Students routinely access the Internet and other services on the so-called information highway as part of their assignments.
Classroom lectures and textbooks, Hoffler-Riddick said, are quickly becoming secondary in this school, where students sit absorbed by interactive computer programs that walk them through math, social studies and language arts lessons.
``I'm not preparing my children as laborers going out to get jobs,'' Hoffler-Riddick said, ``I want them to view themselves as entrepreneurs with skills they can offer a company or corporation.''
At Ruffner, technology has even been used to increase parental involvement. In September, the school launched homework ``hot lines,'' in which parents access messages from teachers by dialing a phone number. In the system's first two months of operation, the school logged 30,000 calls.
This spring, Hoffler-Riddick hopes to take technology to an exciting new level: Parents who volunteer might be given a device similar to a cable TV converter that would enable the school to send computer messages via television screens. Eventually, parents might be able to tune into a classroom.
Hoffler-Riddick routinely puts in 12-hour days. She began coming in on weekends to avoid telephone calls and the constant daily distractions, but her quiet time didn't last after people realized it was her green van parked out front.
Students and parents, despite their reservations about uniforms, give her high marks.
``She's cool,'' said Danny Webb, 13, an eighth-grader who lives in Tidewater Gardens. ``You've got to obey what she says, though. She just tells you how it is - she doesn't use big words.''
Seventh-grader Cory Stowe, 13, said the principal is nice to him but that sometimes she could be ``mean.'' When someone sprayed ketchup on the cafeteria wall, he said, she took away ketchup from everyone for about a month.
``She shouldn't have taken it out on everybody,'' Cory said.
Parents contacted were complimentary. Some, though, said they wish Hoffler-Riddick would slow down.
``My opinion is she's moving too fast,'' said Bridgette James, whose daughter attends sixth grade at Ruffner. ``She really needs to take her time and go step by step. She wants it all at one time.''
Some parents said the $4,000 spent on charm school and the image consultant might have been better used on educational programs or supplies. But they said they understood that what Hoffler-Riddick was trying to do to reach the children.
``Some kids are not getting the discipline and manners at home,'' said Felicia Thornton, whose son is in the sixth grade at Ruffner. ``You have some kids who can be reached, and they need somebody to look up to.''
``It might motivate them if they learn about middle-class manners or to respect others,'' said Tenuisha Sherrod, a single mother with a son who attends Ruffner. ``They'll probably end up a better student.''
Norfolk school officials said they are impressed with Hoffler-Riddick's intelligence, energy and enthusiasm. They have stood behind her during the controversy over the teacher dress code.
``People like her always get a lot of criticism,'' said Thomas B. Lockamy Jr., assistant superintendent for school governance. ``Part of the change process is that you get criticized, and criticism can be healthy.''
As much as she says she loves her work, Hoffler-Riddick, a former math and science teacher in her first job as principal, acknowledges that life as an administrator can be frustrating.
``I sure hope I don't become cynical,'' she said. ``I haven't been in this job long, but I can see how it would be easier to just maintain. Because when you innovate or change or do something that's unpopular, you open yourself up to be brutalized.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Richard L. Dunston, Staff
Principal Pamela Hoffler-Riddick
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