Clarence E. Hines and Darrion Cockrell both teach under extraordinarily challenging circumstances. Hines teaches criminal justice to almost entirely Black youth in the shadow of the police accountability protests sparked in Ferguson in 2014. Cockrell teaches physical education, the most physically present of school subjects, during a pandemic that is keeping most students out of school buildings.
Both teach as well as anyone in Missouri teaches, according to their peers. These two Black men in the St. Louis region are among only seven statewide finalists for 2021 Missouri Teacher of the Year.
When Clarence E. Hines arrived at North Technical High School in the Special School District to teach criminal justice, he was a 21-year veteran of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department who had also taught at the St. Louis Police Academy. Graduates of his two-year program at North Tech are now lawyers, crime scene investigators, police dispatchers and, of course, police officers.
The criminal justice students at North Tech had been training at a gun range as part of their studies, but Hines put a stop to that. “The firing range is not focus of ours,” Hines said. “I want them to learn the weapon that is their mouth. That’s a far greater weapon if used correctly.”
Taking the gun out of students’ hands, in fact, is integral to Hines’ approach to criminal justice. Consider how he teaches the Ferguson Police killing of Michael Brown.
“I look at that through the lens of de-escalation of force. There are many ways that could have been prevented. It did not need to get to that point,” Hines said.
“I talk about the idea of not policing the community, but serving the community. If Darren Wilson had approached Michael Brown with the right heart and seen his humanity first, it would have been a whole different story. Darren Wilson had all the power and authority and should have had the ability to de-escalate the situation.”
Other than taking away firearm training, Hines teaches the same curriculum he taught in the Police Academy. His students study Missouri’s criminal statutes, of course, but they also learn more of the U.S. Constitution than Hines was able to teach in the Police Academy, which is something he encourages police academies “to revisit.”
“How we teach use of force at North Tech is a whole different story,” Hines said. “We teach not only statutory law but also constitutional law, so our students know what real, true justice looks like. It’s not only holding people accountable to the law, but also making sure their treatment is fair and equitable. I teach them to apply law constitutionally to get to the truth that may not be the world’s truth.”
As a physical education teacher at Crestwood Elementary in Lindbergh Schools, Darrion Cockrell is compelled to escalate, rather than de-escalate, physical activity. His job is all about getting children moving and teaching them about the health benefits of physical activity.
“It’s important that kids be athletic and fit,” Cockrell said. “The child obesity rate is out of the roof. The only way we can impact that in schools is by PE teachers making kids get active and stay active and have fun.”
One creative way he does this – at least when teaching children who are physically present and not socially distanced – is by making up games like Toilet Tag. This is a variant of the age-old game of tag that also reinforces the health benefits of washing your hands after using the toilet. After all, he teaches small children. Graduation for his students happens at 5th grade.
But his connection with students often extends beyond that – and touches upon a childish version of the de-escalation tactics that Hines teaches to high schoolers on the brink of joining a police force.
Cockrell, who is known at school as “Mr. D.C.,” remembered one student he had frequently disciplined for behavior issues, poor sportsmanship, and bullying. The situation was serious enough that he reached out to the boy’s parents. He was surprised when he heard from those parents after the boy went on to middle school.
“Something had happened at middle school where some kids were bullying another kid, and he went to his mom and said, ‘These are my friends, but I care about this other kid who is getting bullied.’ His mom told him to reach out to a teacher, and he said, ‘Is there any way you can reach out to Mr. D.C.?’” Cockrell said.
“So, his mom reached out to me, and I couldn’t believe it, because we did not have the greatest relationship. But he realized that my disciplining him showed how much I cared about him, so he trusted me to help guide him and his friends. I was glad he showed empathy. That’s one of the words we use a lot: ‘empathy.’ So, I reached out to his principal, and his mom was extremely excited and happy that I was able to help and intervene.”
All seven finalists for Teacher of the Year were interviewed by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on Tuesday, September 1, and the winner will be announced in October