Belief in oneself fuels program
SEATTLE. Wash (AP) — On a fall
morning. 14 students sit in Room
227 studying civics The lesson are
i itizenship and leadership The
issue is i him mg gum Students are about to vote
on whether they should be allowed to chew and
pop gum in class
Any where else, gum-chewing students would
have been ordered to spit out the rubbery mass
and that would have been the end of it But a
democracy, oven in a classroom, helps instill
respect in many kids who have never experienced
it.
This is the philosophy that fuels the Belief
Academy at Rainier Beach High School At the
acadurny. 2fi students diagnosed with learning or
behavioral disabilities are taught using various
techniques from integrating math and English to
rowing in the middle of Lake Washington. The
students enter in seventh grade and remain in the
academy until they graduate from high school.
It's all in an effort to keep them in school
On average. 40 to 50 percent of such students in
the district drop out — twice the overall district
dropout rate, according to a 10-year study by
Eugene Edgar, a University of Washington special
education professor and a founder of the Belief
Academy.
"It is a research project where we have taken a
single cadre of kids to see if we can keep them in
school longer than students with learning disabil
ities in regular district programs," said Erosyne
Mensendick. Seattle School District's director of
student services.
Of the civics class, teacher Joe Thaler said:
"These students need < onstant but positive rein
fon oment because a lot of them have never hail
guidance."
To Ik* sure, Belief Academy is about more than
feel good classroom teaching
Charles Gilbert. IS. lives with his 2.1-year-old
sister and two nieces. His mother is dead and he
doesn't know where lux father is.
Charles has been at the academy since seventh
grade when he arrived from Denny Middle School
with numerous school suspensions and a fierce
altitude
Last year, he polished off trigonometry and this
year professes to actually like homework
It s .ill about belief in yourself "The concept of
Belief is that (teachers) come in believing in the
students, the students Ixigm belies mg in the mac ti
ers and onlv then can they ixdieve in themselves,
said Ernest Johnson, n supervisor of the 4-vear-old
program.
"Try to think of an example where one could be
successful without believ ing in themselves
In 1489, Seattle was one of three c dies given a
SI million five-year federal grant to raise the aca
demic a< hievement of spec ml education students
and stem their burgeoning dropout rate
The school district matched the federal grant
with another $1 .5 million in teat,hers and supplies
over five years.
Of the district's 4.100 special-education stu
dents, most have specific learning disabilities and
a few, roughly 10 percent, an- labeled seriously
lie ha v i ora 11 v disordered
The program at Rainier Beat h is broken into two
components, one centering on careers and appren
ticeships and the other on at ademics
The students in the academic track are dis
bursed in regular classrooms throughout the dis
trict. They take study skills classes and attend
school on Saturdays at the University of Washing
ton.
There also are 20 seventh-graders enrolled in
Project Belief at Denny Middle School
While it is too soon to measure the program's
effectiveness there ant some early indicators. The
students' absentee rates have gone down and their
California Achievement Test scores, while not
going up. have not decreased either.
"We have some early indicators of success with
regards to parent satisfac tion and students' will
ingness to attend school." Mensendic k said.
Three hundred yards out on Take Washington
where the bright sun bounc.es off the water, acad
emy students am learning to row
Alxd Alefaio, 14. is the coxswain Ho is a leader
but he listed to be a runaway and gang member.
"I had some find friends who always wanted me
to make had decisions but now I'm turning 'em
down I tell them I have to get my grades up." Abel
said.
At the end of the 1994-95 school scar, the pro
gram's money will run out. Supporters hope the
district will pick up tile cost
Whatever happens, in Room 227. a c ozv class
room full of books and computers, sit 14 students
who believe in themselves.
Bombarding rocks
scare neighborhood
SPOKANE (API — For nearly four months, residents of sev
en homes in ihe same neighborhood have been frombarded day
and night by rocks that have broken windows, chipped chim
neys and hurt two people
Police say thev know who's responsible for the aerial barrage
in the Wost Central neighborhood.
But some BOO flours of investigative work, including night
time stakeouts and use of special night vision equipment, have
failed to turn up evidence needed to bring the culprits to jus
tice.
''I've done everything I cnn do,” says Detective Terry More
house. "I have no place to go. It's nuts."
The projectiles have ranged from small stones to rocks as big
as grapefruit. Some days, just a few rocks are seen or heard
slamming into houses and yards, while on others the number
tops 100.
Police say two people, including a child, have been hit and
injured. A flower pot was shattered out of a woman's hands, a
dog was hit and windows and vehicle windshields have been
broken with regularity.
Last weekend, a rock broke the windshield of a patrol offi
cer's police car.
While physical damage is estimated in the thousands of dol
lars, there's also been a human price.
Brian Parks called off a backyard birthday party for his son
on Saturday when the rock onslaught began.
"When it gets quiet for a while, all you can do is go hysteri
cal waiting for more rocks to fall," said a resident who gave her
name only as Francine.
Police believe the projectiles are fired from sophisticated
slingshots and large launchers that use surgical tubing. The
rocks are shot from outdoor hiding places, dark windows and
an alley near the targets.
Morehouse believes the offenders have nothing better to do
than terrorize their neighbors.
Before an arrest can be made, police must catch the culprits
in the act. prosecutors advised.
Officers have hidden in bushes and used as many as six
video cameras at a time. Probable witnesses have not cooper
ated. and a $500 reward offered for information in the case
has gone unclaimed, police say.
"They know they can't get caught." patrol officer Sue Mann
said.
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