Fairview Primary School in the Jennings School District is just a couple of miles away from West Florissant Avenue and Canfield Drive – the area known as Ferguson Ground Zero.
After the initial unrest following Michael Brown Jr.’s death, third-grade teacher Chantel Neal gathered her students together and read them a book called “Smoky Night” by Eve Bunting. It’s a picture book that tells a story of the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots following the police beating of Rodney King and the exoneration of the officers.
“The pictures mirrored that of the pictures they saw on the news and if they were present,” said Neal. “It also shows how the community heals, and that it’s going to be okay.”
Neal was one of the Jennings teachers who helped clean up West Florissant in the days after August 9, 2014, when Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer.
Neal said helping children feel safe and loved is important to their academic achievement. Fairview has a strong “community feel” because their families live within walking distance, Neal said, but their families are also very transient.
“It’s not uncommon for our students to be in 10 to 12 schools by the time they are in third grade,” said Neal, who has spent 16 years teaching third-graders in the district.
Despite these challenges, Fairview students still perform well on the state’s standardized tests, particularly in math. In 2015, 61 percent of Fairview students scored “proficient” in math and 40.3 percent in English on the state’s tests.
On September 25, Fairview Elementary will receive this year’s Monsanto School of Excellence Award at the 2015 Salute to Excellence in Education Gala, which will be held at the America’s Center Ballroom.
DeAun Blumberg, who became the principal of Fairview this fall, said Jennings students and teachers are showing what is possible. Sometimes people and educators lose hope, wondering how the children can possibly succeed in the face of all these odds, she said.
“I have been able to see what the teachers are doing that’s different from other places,” said Blumberg, who came to Fairview from the University City School District. “I am so impressed with the rigor and the level that they are asking students to perform.”
High expectations have become “operationalized” in Jennings, Blumberg said.
“They actually put procedures and policies in place that support that,” she said. “Every classroom uses materials for the grade level above.”
And for students who aren’t keeping up, they have interventions, she said.
“In my mind, what is unique about Fairview is intentionality,” she said.
She said they also benefit from how the district addresses the basic needs – both physical and emotional – of their students and families. The majority of the district’s population lives in poverty, she said, and that means there are high student needs. She said they can’t even think about the curriculum until they address students’ basic needs, including food, clothing and social services.
Jennings is one of the few school districts in Missouri that provides free breakfast and lunch to all of its students – along with dinner for students who participate in the district’s after-school programming.
“Feeding a system of positive support and possibilities can create a new system reflecting back hope, access and opportunity,” Jennings Superintendent Tiffany Anderson wrote in The American’s 2015 Diversity edition.
“Schools that do not become directly involved in implementing restorative practices that positively contribute to the physical, mental and economic health of the entire community will not improve in sustainable ways at high levels.”
The district also requires uniforms, but Blumberg said they work with several companies to have most of them donated to families.
“I think that what uniforms do for a district with a high level of poverty is it levels the playing field,” she said. “Everyone comes starting in the same place. Rather than focusing on the external elements, they can focus more on academic success.”
Fairview has a full- and part-time guidance counselor, along with full-time social workers and onsite counseling. When families aren’t able to pay utility bills, rent or unforeseen expenses, they have supports in places to help them.
Blumberg said Jennings students have proven that they can work towards academic excellence if some of their daily stresses are addressed.
“This can be replicated,” Blumberg said. “This is not just a Jennings thing.”
Net proceeds from the St. Louis American Foundation’s four annual Salute to Excellence events benefit scholarships for local minority students, as well as educator and community grants. In 2015, the St. Louis American Foundation will foster more than $580,000 in minority scholarships and community grants, and since its inception in 1994 the foundation, with the assistance of its educational, corporate and individual supporters, has distributed more than $4 million locally.
The 2015 Salute to Excellence in Education Gala will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, September 25 at the America’s Center Ballroom, following a reception at 6 p.m. Tickets are on sale now. Individual tickets are $85 each/$850 table, and VIP/Corporate tickets are $1,500 table. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.stlamerican.com and click on Salute to Excellence, or call 314-533-8000.
