By Keysha Drexel
Journal editor
The state superintendent of education said it is events like the Homewood Chamber of Commerce’s Excellence in Education luncheon that show why Homewood has some of the best schools in the state.
State Superintendent Tommy Bice was the guest speaker at the event held April 18 at The Club in Homewood. The luncheon honored outstanding students from Homewood’s three elementary schools, middle school and high school.
Bice said Homewood students benefit from a community where everyone has a stake in the success of the school system, including the city’s business owners.
“In Homewood, it’s the perfect storm of great leadership working together with the parents and the teachers and the business community,” Bice said. “When those groups come together with a common vision, great things can happen.”
Bice said he recently got a chance to see firsthand those great things happening in Homewood schools during a surprise drop-in visit to Homewood High School.
“They had no idea I was coming, and I walked in and asked them to take me to an English class,” Bice said. “I walk into the class, and there’s this remarkable first-year teacher leading the students on an analysis of ‘Othello’ and every kid in there was engaged and contributing to the conversation. It was stellar, just stellar.”
In his introduction of Bice at the chamber luncheon, Homewood City Schools Superintendent Bill Cleveland shared how the state superintendent snapped a photo in that Homewood High School English class.
“He tweeted a picture of all the kids reading ‘Othello’ and said, ‘The classics aren’t dead at Homewood High School,'” Cleveland said.
Cleveland said he feels lucky to live in a city where the students are not only challenged by great teachers but are also supported by involved parents and business owners.
“We live in a city that truly supports these students,” Cleveland said.
Cleveland presented the 2014 Excellence in Education Awards to the student award winners, sharing a little bit about each student as they stood with him and were recognized.
The superintendent said this was the 29th year the awards have been presented to Homewood’s outstanding students.
The Excellence in Education Award winner from Edgewood Elementary was Reed Jeffries, a fifth-grader. Jeffries plays lacrosse, is known for being kind and wants to be a neurologist, Cleveland said.
Frank Studinka was named the Excellence in Education Award winner from Hall-Kent Elementary. The fifth-grader plays baseball, football and basketball and also plays the piano and guitar, Cleveland said.
Shades Cahaba Elementary fifth-grader Mitchell Prewitt was named his school’s Excellence in Education Award winner. Prewitt plays baseball, is close to getting his black belt in tae kwon do, plays the drums and has done volunteer work at Children’s of Alabama, Cleveland said.
The Excellence in Education Award winner from Homewood Middle School was Joshua Ndegwa. The eighth-grader has a 4.0 grade point average, is a member of the National Junior Honor Society and has already completed 30 hours of community service this school year, Cleveland said.
Frances Josephine Kyle was named the Excellence in Education Award winner from Homewood High School. Kyle has a 4.6 grade point average, scored a 32 on the ACT, was named an AP Scholar of Distinction and is a member of the Student Government Association, the French Club, the Homewood High School Show Choir and a Relay for Life team, Cleveland said. The superintendent said the senior plans to attend the University of Alabama this fall.
Bice said he felt blessed to be able to speak at the Excellence in Education event and to see the students receive recognition for their hard work.
“It is all about the students,” Bice said.
Bice said that mentality is behind the policy change by the state Board of Education that took effect in April. On April 23, all juniors in Alabama public high schools took the ACT college entrance exam as part of a new set of standardized testing requirements for students in the third through 12th grades adopted by the state Board of Education.
The state Department of Education approved the change a few years ago, but it has just now gone into effect.
“We’ve done away with the graduation exam and set a new benchmark,” Bice said. “I’m not saying that every child should go to college, but every child needs a choice.”
The ACT was something that college-bound students used to have to take own on their own time and at their own expense. The state paid $2.7 million to provide the test to the state’s 11th-graders this spring. The test they were given had English, math and science components but no writing assessment, which would have cost more money but is still a part of admittance requirements for several universities and colleges. Higher learning institutions also award scholarships based on ACT scores.
Bice said the new testing requirements will give a clearer picture of the progress of Alabama’s students.
“One of our biggest challenges up until this point has been the testing rules, which were just ridiculous,” Bice said. “We were being held captive under the archaic No Child Left Behind rules.”
Bice said when his department asked Alabama business and industry leaders what the state’s schools needed to do better to prepare its graduates, the answer he received disturbed him.
“They told us that Alabama graduates are lacking in intellectual curiosity, and that was a very scary thought,” Bice said. “Homewood was an outlier in that, obviously, because you continued to teach children to be curious and to think.”
As dignitaries and guests arrived before the luncheon, the Homewood Middle School Jazz Band, under the direction of Chris Cooper, performed. Homewood High School senior Racquel Williams sang the national anthem.
