To the Vernon Board of Education and Rockville High School --

My name is Winona Scheff and I began my journey of the Vernon School systems at Center Road School just over 13 years ago. I am now about to embark on my second semester of my freshmen year at Wagner College in Staten Island, NY. I apologize for the length of this letter, however, I think it is appropriate in order to highlight what I intend to talk about. I hope my letter helps give some perspective.

Through my first semester, much like every other college student, I learned a lot of in the classroom and out of the classroom lessons that have provided me with insight on my past and most certainly my future. For example, I now understand that I love to learn history, but that it is not the major for me. I can reiterate the Marxist perspective and apply it to modern day society, using his theories to explain lots of social and economical issues. In the future, I know how to budget myself, while still spending here or there. I have mastered self-discipline and know that no matter where life takes me, happiness is what matters most.

I finished my first semester with a 4.0 in the Honors Program at Wagner, a small, private, liberal arts school. I owe a lot of credit to my parents, who are my support system, and to Rockville High School.

I entered Rockville as naive and hopeful as any other teenage girl. I was determined to find my Troy Bolton (High School Musical reference) and have the coolest high school experience ever. Unfortunately, I am not sure either of those are true. While I wouldn’t label my four years at Rockville High ‘cool’ (I would like to add that no high school experience is cool, pimples exist and boys will break your heart regardless of what school you attend), I would say that I was incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to attend RHS. Here are some reasons why:

Diversity

When you enter the halls of RHS you will be walking next to all walks of life. We have a majority of ethnicities represented as well as a variety of socio-economical backgrounds. Though the outside is a dull brown brick building, inside is filled with color: black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Indian, German, girls with purple hair, gingers, blondes, brown eyes, guys with frosted tips. There are individuals from inner-city Hartford, Ellington farm lands, downtown Rockville, suburbia Vernon, East Windsor complexes, houses across the street and apartments down the road.

College is a culture shock for many people, but I am grateful that I attended a diverse high school. I knew how to relate to people who appear different than I when I entered the college world. RHS isn’t majority white, like Tolland or East Catholic, and it isn’t majority black populated like Bloomfield. The students sit in class with peers who speak multiple languages and have different skin tones. We are diverse, we are Rockville.

However, as an honors student, I sat in classes with students who had parents who encouraged them to read and do their homework in elementary school. Majority of these kids came form stable socio-economic homes. I work in class with peers who had parents help them with the math homework they cried over or parents who asked what they were learning about when reading The Things They Carried.

I wasn’t sitting next to the black kid from downtown Rockville who really wants to try hard and make a name for himself. I wasn’t sitting next to the white girl who is wise beyond her years but due to her absences from being in and out of the foster care system, she is placed in lower level classes.

The Agriculture program

I was sitting in the dentist’s office getting my teeth cleaned the other day, when my hygienist says to me “I saw teachers taking Christmas pictures with an alpaca at your school.” How many kids can say they see goats and an alpaca every morning when they pull into school? Rockville’s vo-ag program, while I don’t know a lot about it, has produced amazing individuals who continue their passion for agriculture. It is a wonderful program of the school, that I personally think is not a big enough part of the school system.

Mrs. Gilmore’s student council

I started my student council journey, with Brian Forte as the advisor. He did a wonderful job, building connections with the students and outside community. However, life got busier when his newborn entered the world so the duty was passed on to Mrs. Lori Gilmore.

Her enthusiasm is a beautiful example of how moral spreads from the top down. She constantly came up with new ideas that could improve the school spirit, the school climate, and much more. Meetings were held in her classroom, where an agenda would be placed on the board. She always asked for our opinions, our ideas, and our leadership.

The way she handled herself allowed student council to be a collaboration of student and teacher rather than the students feeling less than or like someone’s minions. Student Council brought kids of all grades and all backgrounds together, allowing for ideas to flourish and imaginations filled with passion for our school to fly.

Unfortunately, many of our ideas were restricted or given a heavy no. While some of this is understandable, due to laws and restrictions, I saw student’s hopes diminish because of the reason “it is just not feasible.” Mrs. Gilmore and Mr. Forte were never the voice behind the ‘bad news’, but the messengers of what higher positions had instructed them when they asked for permission.

The history department

Maybe I am biased, maybe my vision is a little skewed because I always enjoyed the subject matter. Regardless, the history department at Rockville High School represents an environment of genuine teachers and good citizens. This is not to say that other departments aren’t just as wonderful. This is just an example.

I believe that each ethnicity, each socio-economic background at our school would speak highly of at least one, if not all, of the history department teachers. The hallway is welcoming, as teachers stand outside their doors and talk with their co-workers and fellow students in between classes. When they stand at the front of the classroom you can feel their interest in the subject matter they are teaching.

They are able to relate to the students, they are able to joke around while also letting students throw shots. They make it feel less like teacher and student, and more like a collaboration to learn more and become better humans. I personally have had almost all of the history department as my teacher at one point or another, each one of them different. Yet, I was always engaged and always pushed to do better and achieve more.

American Studies

This is an ECE class offered to juniors that is an enriching and rigorous course. It is an example of the type of setting and learning style more and more colleges are moving towards. It is a class of collaboration and discussions, of debates and life lessons. We travel through American history and American culture through literary classics and historical events. We read books such as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby while learning the historical context of their background.

Ms. Matyseck, an English teacher, and Mr. Stevenson co-taught this class in the history department hallway. We took field trips, watched films, read articles, looked into the metaphors of Harper Lee or John Steinback, wrote a variety of essays, and much more. It is a class that requires interest and hard work and I fully believe that lower level students, who are given the invalid label of not good enough, should be provided the opportunity to engage in this specific class or classes like it.

The creative writing program

When I say this course literally saved my life, I mean it. Mrs. Victoria Nordlund and her outstanding creative writing program saved me and many, many others throughout her time at RHS. I entered her class as a sophomore in high school, completely unaware of what the next three years would entail. Her classroom is welcoming, accepting, encouraging, and much more. You feel safe there, no matter what the outside world has thrown at you.

A lot of people think all we do is write. Obviously the class entails plenty of writing, but we don’t just become better creative writers. We become better essay writers, better presenters, better at public speaking, we form better thought process for any struggle (math class or coping), we learn how to treat others and we learn how to believe in ourselves.

The United States of America Educational System lacks teaching students to believe in themselves. Every class at Rockville High School should encourage students to believe in themselves and to love themselves. It was an honor to be a part of writing Mrs. Nordlund a letter of recommendation for Teacher of the Year. The Creative Writing Program at Rockville High School is the cause of lots of children’s success.

It is a huge reason for my involvement in college life, for my intellectual stability and ambition, and for my first semester college grades. It has started a writing club at VCMS, it travels to the elementary schools, it brings in more local and national awards than any of our sports teams or any other program. The extent of the success is underappreciated in this school system.

I could continue explaining the many positive aspects of RHS, such as our continuation of the Family Consumer Science department which many other schools have eliminated. I could pinpoint specific teachers who deserve to be thanked and honored, but I am just one experience and one perspective. I get that. I also get that our Board of Education and administration have the best intentions.

I understand that the faculty of our school systems work incredibly hard. I think sometimes they are under appreciated while other times they are validated when they should be told to do better. I am not saying we need to work harder, I am saying that we should work differently, that we should work better, that we should open up our minds to other ways and other perspectives. Education is supposed to be the youth’s way to success, it is supposed to be the equalizer of America.

Education is intended to leave no child behind, yet even with a multitude of beautiful, positive aspects of RHS, we fail to ensure this. This is a national issue, that spreads down. But I believe in the potential and capabilities of the members of our school system, and I think we can be better than the national epidemic.

I had the experience of spending three days in In-School Suspension. I would also like you to keep in mind I come from a stable household and graduated in the top 20 of my class. With that being said, ISS showed me places where we fail to provide the students with equality. I don’t think that eliminating Honors classes is the answer, but why not advertise American Studies as a class for more than just the smart kids?

I sat at lunch with students in lower classes, I hung out with different level kids outside of school. There is no reason they should be told they aren’t smart enough. Putting the kids who “don’t care” in classes so basic that they will continue to “not care” fuels the fire already there. Why can’t courses that mimic that content of American Studies or courses that actually pertain to the students that take them be offered to those kids who were told from the time they were little, that there is smarter people than them. As a system, we can’t change the households students come from.

But it is the public school education system that should constantly adapt their ways in attempts to help their students create a better life because after they walk across stage or drop out, it is their job to do it on their own. There should never be an instance where our system stops trying because the kid just isn’t going to change. Try for their four years, they have the rest of their lives to do it on their own. I came from a family that taught me to constantly try harder, to want to go to college, to want to be successful. We live in a world where not every kid has that. It is the job of the education system to provide that.

I think the moral is where RHS goes wrong. I wanted to be a teacher from the time I was little, that is, until I got to Rockville High School. Teachers seemed miserable with the system, with their lack of independence, with the student moral. What they seemed to not understand is that if our faculty aren’t proud of the place they work, why should we be proud of the place we go to school?

We’ve babied the system, conformed to the ridiculous sense of entitlement the community thinks they deserve. Why is Mr. Wheelock one of the most respected and loved faculty? He did what he wanted and how he wanted, of course within relative limitations. He would tell you like it is. Why is there so much success in the creative writing program? Mrs. Nordlund has created something she has devoted her life too. Each year gets harder and she is told no, yet she just tries harder and devotes even more of herself.

Why do students respect the security guards or Mrs. P in ISS more than the administration? Because the security guards and Mrs. P are relatable. They take the time to talk about more than grades or attendance, they get to know the students, good and bad. We attend a diverse school, with old, white men that live in the stable socio-economical background they grew up in as our administration.

Our staff is solely white adults who fail to educate themselves in what can help them connect with their student body. Everyone is constantly told what we don’t do good enough, causing a negativity that stems from the top down. As a community, as a Board of Education, as a system, we need to look at what is working, look at what is so special about our schools. Using all of the positive aspects, we should mirror those in everything needs improvement. We should continue to let all the good prosper and grow.

We should educate our teachers the positivity we try to force our students to obtain. Lead by example. When there is no students sporting sporting events, look around. There is probably no one but Ms. Marinan there representing our faculty. When a student doesn’t respect Mr. Rockett like he deserves, look at how the teachers view their jobs.

They are being paid to enhance our community, but standing at a white board with no smile and a negative tone is just going to cause the students to soil. We can’t force kids to want to go to school, we can’t force teachers to enjoy teaching. We can’t force success, but we can give our all so there is no reason within the system to not strive for success and have pride in the town we come from.

Personally, I would like to thank Mr. Priviti, the entire History Department, Mrs. Santos, Mr. Jedidian, Mr. Earl, Mrs. Gilmore, Mrs. Goff, Mrs. Graham, Mr. Cody and Mr. Caron, Mrs. Nordlund, Mr. Wheelock, Mrs. Hoagland, and the janitors and cafeteria ladies. Let's look at ways to work better, lets maintain the parts of traditional education that create better humans, let's vow to never stop working, let's vow to continue growing on the wonderful parts of RHS and the Vernon Schools System. Let's make it known all the wonderful and how we are working at changing the negative. Lets never give up on the students, our school, and the community. Give those who follow the hope they need.

Sincerely,

Winona Scheff