Education
Perspectives on Parenting©
by Nancy Lanbert Davenport
Nancy Davenport's Column:
For Richardson News 12-12-99
Copyright Nancy Lambert Davenport 1999
"Teachers Can Be Heroes"
There has been much discussion of heroes lately. In previous generations, heroes were American baseball pitchers, philanthropists, and Presidents. With sports gone the way of outrageous salaries, charity too often designed for the benefit of the giver, and the position of the President sullied, we have to look elsewhere for heroes. Maybe this is good. It allows us to be more creative in finding our heroes, and it opens up the arena for new types of heroes who can come in all sizes, shapes, and talents.
Such is the case for Ben Hoag a fifth grader at the Math/Science/Technology Elementary school here. Ben has struggled with reading since first grade. Somehow it just didn't click as quickly as he or his teachers would have liked. The teachers referred him for diagnostic testing, expecting a diagnosis of the need of remediation. Ben was pretty down, feeling no one really cared about him or understood him except his mother.
That is when Ben's hero walked into the picture. She was not your stereotypical hero, definitely not an athlete. In fact she was short, plump, and silver haired. Her name was Charlotte Garner, the designated diagnostician for Richardson ISD. Charlotte, although officially retired from RISD continued occasionally to do what she loved - diagnostics --inspite of her 69 years. She got to know Ben well and charmed him into doing his best on anything she presented to him. The result was finding him to be eligible for REACH, the gifted and talented program for RISD instead of needing a program of remediation. Ben said that she was the only person who cared. He is now happily attending REACH classes on a weekly basis.
Ben is not the only one touched by Charlotte. Debbie Wilkes, Program Specialist for Transition Services of RISD, is another person who sees Charlotte as a hero. Debbie said, "Charlotte has been like another mother to me-full of wisdom and organization--in charge of the world. I can't tell you how many lives she has touched. She made sure a kid with disabilities belonged to a school." According to Debbie, Charlotte was responsible for making the inclusion of kids with disabilities work successfully in RISD. Charlotte, in addition to diagnostics, was responsible for deploying the 30 RISD teacher's aides. She was careful to establish the aides in placements where students rather than teachers needed them to be successfully included. She was always on the student's side.
After staring cancer down and winning, we lost this champion of our kids suddenly to heart failure this week. The funeral was standing room only but Ben got there in plenty of time. After the service Ben slipped up to Charlotte's husband, Gene. In his quiet but firm voice Ben told him, "She was the only one who cared. She was my hero."
A memorial scholarship fund has been established to honor Charlotte Garner through the RISD Retired Teachers Association of which she was President. The scholarships will be for RISD students in special education who wish to further their education in any way after high school. Please send donations to The RRTA Charlotte Garner Memorial Fund,
% Bob Stamps, 524 Carol Court, Richardson, TX 75081.
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Nancy Lambert Davenport
EMAIL: ndavenport@ticnet.com
URL: http://www.nancyldavenport.com