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When
Reginald Evans came to Chicago’s Harlan Community Academy four years
ago, the school was not facing the best conditions. A student had been
shot in the building by another student the previous year; there were fights
in the school almost every other day; and gangs had a presence. Parents,
living in the community, with some of the brightest youngsters, were sending
their students elsewhere. It was a tough time for the once proud 51-year-old
school that has graduated many of the city’s current leaders.
“With a number of school closings in the district, students were coming
to Harlan from other areas, and that created tension,” Evans recalled. “Kids
are very territorial in Chicago, and problems arose. We knew we had to figure
out a new approach to change the climate and get things under control.
This situation was especially difficult for some of our graduates as Harlan has
a strong alumni association and a rich history. In the ‘60s and ‘70s,
we produced some of the top students in Illinois, and eight of the sitting judges
in Cook County are Harlan graduates,” the most from any high school in
Illinois.
So, with a team of two assistant principals, and two deans, hired by Evans, he
set about “righting the ship.”
He met students during the summer with a special focus on those who had a history
of suspensions to try and show them that school personnel were here to help but
was not going to “put up with the nonsense that had been going on.” During
these discussions he told students what activities would be implemented in the
coming school year and what the expectations would be.
“When school began, we had a tough two and a half months with fights continuing
almost every other day,” he recalled. “I then called all our seniors
into the auditorium for a frank discussion, telling them that they were the leaders
of Harlan and I needed them to be role models and lead the younger students in
the right direction. We wanted them to tell us about disagreements between students
before those disagreement escalated.
“I told our seniors if trouble continued they wouldn’t have a prom
or a senior picnic, but if they helped me, I would make sure they had everything
they deserved. That approach changed everything. Our seniors started talking
to the administration, letting us know what was happening amongst students during
the weekend.”
Evans also tapped into the rich tradition of Harlan by bringing in community
leaders to talk with the students.
“We scheduled separate meetings for male and female students; brought in
doctors, lawyers, judges, and dentists; and told the students they could ask
anything they wanted. We shut the doors and asked the community leaders to interact
with the youngsters, not just talk to them. Students opened up about personal
issues, and bonds were developed between students and some of the professionals.
They would return and meet with smaller groups of students, discussing what it
means to be successful, and how achieving in school was essential to gaining
success.”
With these steps in place, the previous troubles within the school, although
continued, moved into the community, away from the school. One place where problems
continued was a train station, two blocks from the school, where more than 1.5
million people passed through each day.
“The mayor was one of the city officials who came to that station to see
the problems, and we met with him and challenged him to help us.”
A wide array of people came to the school’s support after that meeting,
implementing steps to curtail the trouble. A huge paddy wagon was stationed in
the area by the police department, local businesses put up no loitering signs
and stopped sales to students between 7am-9am and 3pm-4 pm, and parents sat at
corners and reported to Harlan’s administration what was happening.
With this community support, trouble began to subside, and the Harlan staff could
focus all its attention on preparing students for their future.
Under a philosophy of educating, encouraging and empowering young people, Harlan
operates a seventh through 12th grade program that serves approximately 1,300
students. Seventy-six of the students are in the Harlan Academic Center gifted
program for seventh and eighth graders. Youngsters have to test into that program,
which recently was ranked 37th among Illinois schools for academic achievement.
Evans places considerable attention on the empowerment piece at Harlan Community
Academy, seeking students’ opinions about improvements at the school and
involvement in bringing about changes.
“Once a month, I’ll have lunch with 30 to 45 kids that are picked
randomly, and ask them, “if you could change something about the school,
what would it be and why?” If it’s appropriate, I’ll challenge
them to start a student committee and work with us on the change.”
Empowering at Harlan also means that all students have the best chance to succeed
academically, and the school’s rapidly-growing AVID (Advancement Via Individual
Determination) program is a key part of that. It is designed to bring together
middle of the road students to help them develop organizational, studying, and
note taking skills. A small program, when Evans arrived, AVID is now conducted
throughout the building, and will soon be visited by evaluators to determine
whether the Harlan program will be named an AVID Demonstration School.
Another focus is making students aware of college opportunities. Two-thirds of
Harlan graduates attend college, an increase of 27 percent since Evans became
principal. Students host a college fair, and AVID participants each select a
college and report information about it, including programs offered, costs, and
admission requirements.
This year, Harlan has implemented an Engineering Program to continue its focus
on mathematics and science, and offers work in robotics, which has become very
popular with students.
“As soon as the robot came out, students became excited,” Evans recalls. “We
have an engineer from Motorola who works with the kids every day and is completing
requirements for his teaching credentials. Kids are staying until 6 or 7 p.m.
to work in this program, and are seeing some of the opportunities that await
them when they complete their education.”
Students publish their own magazine, and the school even started a bass fishing
team, the first all African-American team in Illinois, this year which qualified
for the state tournament.
Much is changing at Harlan Community Academy as young people are benefiting from
additional opportunities to learn, make decisions, and expand their horizons,
and Evans feels right at home as he sees this evolution.
“I believe I’m where I belong,” he said. “I’m excited
every day to come to this place. Seeing kids transform from an attitude of ‘I
can’t do this’ to one of ‘You can’t stop me’ is
tremendously rewarding.”
Evans believes that The Principals’ Partnership is playing a role in the
transformation of schools like Harlan.
“I love every bit of The Partnership. The speakers we hear discussing life
and education are very inspirational. Their passion spills over to us, and you
have to have passionate people in our business to create change. Each year when
I return from the Summer Institute, I’m recharged to take the next step.”
Evans can be contacted at reevans@cps,k12.il.us, and more information about Harlan
Community Academy can be found at http://harlanfalcons.org/.
Past
Focus Principals
