THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506210187
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
EVERY GRADUATING senior at Woodrow Wilson High School shared something in common this year that preceding classes could not claim: Each diploma was emblazoned with the name of the school.
Gone were the Manor and Cradock high diplomas for Wilson students still loyal to the names and memories of their old schools. And, school leaders believe, the divisions that fragmented the student body are disappearing, too.
Beyond the cosmetic show of unity are other signs that things truly are changing at Wilson. This year, the school's juniors posted the biggest gains among district 11th-graders on a state-mandated test that measures their proficiency in areas such as reading comprehension, math and science.
Wilson juniors saw across-the-board gains of 7 to 19 percentage points in all categories. The leap, however, was from the academic basement compared to last year - when Wilson juniors, as a group, then failed to reach the 50th percentile in every area tested.
Still, the gains are worth celebrating, Principal Lindell Wallace emphasized. For behind the improvement are students, staffers and parents who, after several years of turmoil, have begun to pull in one direction instead of fiercely clinging to past allegiances.
``We're all blended in together,'' said 16-year-old Raetoya Morrison, who will be a junior this fall.
``I think the students and everybody else got tired of saying, `I'm this and I'm that.' Some of the people who weren't trying to fit in just left the school or whatever. Plus, Mr. Wallace always talks about how everybody needs to work together and work harder. I guess that finally sunk in.''
These days, one seldom hears anyone lament the 1992 decision to change the school's name from Manor High to Wilson. Or describe how the ``old Wilson'' on Willett Drive got the shaft when it was converted into Hunt-Mapp Middle. Or grumble about how the school should have been renamed Cradock High after the previous school of that name closed three years ago.
The battles over school closings, mascots, colors and names all seem like a distant memory. And less common are fights among Wilson students who come to blows because somebody doesn't like somebody else's neighborhood or crew.
The staff, a mixture of teachers from the former high schools, is pumped up about strategies embraced to better help the melting pot of teens.
The school is 59 percent black. Many of its nearly 1,600 students live in the city's most depressed neighborhoods. Among Wilson students, 41 percent are on free or reduced-price lunch and many, according to Wallace, come from needy, single-parent households.
``For a while, we were basically concerned with just getting kids to class,'' said Wallace, named principal of the former Manor High three years ago. ``I think a lot of those other things really distracted the kids - and the teachers, too - from the main focus of the school.
``I think we're on the right track now, though. I think the message of unity is being picked up.''
Many credit much of that to Wallace - a 53-year-old district veteran who alternately comes across as charismatic, deadly practical and tough. He's the kind of person who, in the words of a colleague, ``can curse you out with a smile and still leave you feeling good.''
To parents and teachers, he's a team player and a huge rain-maker for the school, helping it garner outside resources when the district's funding falls short.
``He's just an outright gentlemanly principal; a good, caring principal,'' said Eunice Walker, Raetoya's grandmother.
Good principals like Wallace set the tone for their schools, creating an atmosphere of can-do optimism and cooperation.
What's now known as Wilson High resulted from a triple merger. It used to be named Manor High. Before it got its new name, some Cradock students and teachers transferred there after Cradock closed in 1992.
The following year, some students and teachers from the old Wilson High were added to the Manor-Cradock mix.
With each new wave, the staff crafted a revised school-improvement plan. But things didn't seem to click, despite Wallace's calls for ``unity, unity, unity.''
Academic performance dropped, or barely budged. In 1993-94, 60 percent of Wilson's students had missed more than 10 days of school. In the past couple of years, coaches considered themselves lucky if 30 kids bothered to attend the spring organizational meeting for varsity football.
At a two-day retreat last August, the staff decided that the school would not be one where educators, confronted with dismal classroom achievement, throw up their hands and blame the situation on parents, student poverty or both.
For starters, a period that had been little more than a study hall - when students frequently slept or roamed the building - was revamped so teachers could get to know students better and help them with academic weak spots. Additional after-school tutoring was offered. Juniors got more advice on taking standardized tests. Committees were formed to improve attendance and also get more student input.
On top of that, a $15,000 grant provided most of the money for teachers to return to class themselves - to learn more about everything from teamwork and Total Quality Management; to nontraditional teaching styles; to the integration of skills across subjects, instead of teaching them in isolation.
``Teachers work hard doing the best they know how to do,'' explained Assistant Principal Rosa Wells-Garris, whom Wallace had put in charge of ``getting the scores up.''
``When you give them new knowledge, new skills, they use it. I saw that happening in this building. And this really was our first stable year.''
Those teaching 11th-graders also jumped a little higher, Wells-Garris said, after she began to make unannounced visits to their classrooms and also request copies of their exams to see how much students were expected to know. She told the staff that juniors' standardized test results would be broken down by teacher.
``Well, I wasn't exactly popular,'' she recalled, ``but we must all be accountable. . . . I'm really looking forward to next year because we still have a lot to work on. Yes, we're on a roll now.''
Soon after this year's results were in, Wallace - ever a charmer - treated the junior class to a lunchtime barbecue. Teachers got a cake.
Nettie Stephenson, Wilson's science department chairwoman, came to the school when it opened as Manor in 1972. There's no one thing she can point to as the main cause for Wilson's recent showing, she said. Everything simply jelled. ``I don't know . . . it just all seemed to work. We just became one big group, one big family for some reason!''
There's a sign that students also are beginning to feel more at home: Nearly 100 guys expressed an interest in suiting up for the varsity football team this fall.
``To me, that says a lot about school spirit and school pride,'' said varsity football coach Joseph Ladisic. ``That says: Hey, this is my school and I don't mind being a part of it. I want to be a part of it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover
Lindell Wallace...
Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Principal Lindell Wallace chats with a Wilson High student. Many say
he has helped set the tone for unity among those who were loyal to
Manor and Cradock high schools.
KEYWORDS: WILSON HIGH SCHOOL by CNB