THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507150329
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
When it comes to reaching the hearts and minds of his inner-city students, Bowling Park Elementary School Principal Herman D. Clark Jr. doesn't hesitate to step outside traditional formulas. He was the first public school principal in the city, for example, to sell parents on the ideas of uniforms and same-sex classes.
Clark's work has not gone unnoticed. On Friday, he traveled to Connecticut to receive a prestigious award from a Yale University group that credited his leadership with transforming Bowling Park into a national model for education reform.
The group, the School Development Program, says that Bowling Park represents the future of education, especially in urban areas.
Using an educational approach called CoZi, developed by two Yale University professors, the school serves as a central gathering place for families and the larger community. It offers adult education, early childhood care, and health and social services, along with an innovative curriculum for the regular elementary grades, kindergarten through fifth grade.
Bowling Park is one of the city's 10 majority-black elementary schools. Despite the surrounding poverty and social problems, neighborhood kids who attend the school consistently score above the national median on standardized test scores in science, English, math and social studies.
``I tell my students and parents and staff that if we stick together as a team we can overcome any obstacle,'' Clark said Friday. ``You know the old saying, `You make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks,' and that's what we're doing.''
Clark was one of five principals, from more than 500 CoZi schools nationwide, chosen for the award.
``Herman is always looking to do more beyond the three R's,'' said Barbara Stern, project manager of the CoZi initiative. The project is named for child psychiatrist James P. Comer and Edward Zigler, considered the father of the federal Head Start program for disadvantaged preschoolers.
Clark's success at getting parents involved is a key to Bowling Park's achievements, Stern said. The school has hired two ``parent educators,'' whose job is to go into homes to teach parenting skills to expectant mothers and parents of youngsters under 3.
``It's such a closely knit school, with such caring, that it's basically like family,'' said parent educator Michael A. Bailey, who said he shows parents ways to stimulate kids' minds - such as making a toy out of an oatmeal box.
Another important element is Bowling Park's preschool program, which this past year drew about 65 3- and 4-year-olds.
``The brain development from ages 0 to 5 is probably the most significant we go through, so the idea that school begins at 5 is just not sensible,'' Stern said. ``Every dollar invested in preschool saves about $7 in costs on criminal justice, welfare and social services.''
Stern said Zigler is convinced that ``it's only a matter of time before the child care system becomes part of the school system nationally. These CoZi schools are way ahead of their time.''
Norfolk officials said they plan this fall to expand CoZi into James Monroe Elementary, another of the city's majority-black neighborhood schools.
The school has been on a roll this year: Redbook Magazine named Bowling Park one of the nation's best, while the U.S. Department of Education selected it as one of 52 high-poverty schools that had improved significantly in academic performance, attendance and discipline.
``They have instilled in those kids a sense of pride in academic achievement as well as other accomplishments,'' Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. said.
Ulysses Turner, chairman of the School Board, said, ``I wish that I could duplicate his creativity and energy and share it with every staff member.'' ILLUSTRATION: Clark
by CNB