I had a very happy visit to the Bishop Maginn High School in Albany, N.Y., today, I got to see the preparation for the new Computer Lab (the Army Of Good bought 26 laptops, and the new Science Lab (we bought 24 microscopes.) The new music room is finished.
This is a landmark happening for the school, a poor Catholic School in a tough urban neighborhood in Albany, the school is drawing a large number of refugee families attracted by the small class sizes, individual attention, and growing reputation as a warm and caring place.
Some years ago, the school had 1,000 students and a sprawling school. But as the families in the school moved to the suburbs, the enrollment shrink to less than 200, the school has been further pressed by the scandals and controversies that engulfed the Catholic Church.
In the past several years, the Church committed to supporting the school and its mission to serve the very needy refugee children and the poor, even though they are themselves pressed financially.
With the refugees, the school’s enrollment is rising – the school is generous for admitting children even if their families are poor. That has made the school a refuge and a magnet, it has also made the school poor.
There is a vibrant new atmosphere at the school now, sparked by a young and dynamic principal, Mike Tolan, and famously dedicated teachers. One of the teachers asked me to thank the Army Of Good for all their help. “We are blessed, we feel that we have been adopted.”
Mike Tolan works very hard to admit gifted students, refugees, and others, and asks that they each pay something. We have helped to admit three refugee students, the AOG has funded a small tuition fund, another first for the school.
Bishop Maginn is clearly on the upswing, restoring the arts and music programs and athletic programs (they now have basketballs), and now teaching computing and science. There is tremendous optimism and energy at Bishop Maginn.
We are supporting the remarkable new and inexpensive Bishop Maginn Teacher’s Amazon Wish List, teachers from all over the country are responding to this new Wish List, compiled by the school’s teachers themselves.
Their choices are revealing.
Each one was asked to add three items they needed for their classrooms (things they have often bought with their own money.)
Donations are tax-deductible.
It is touching to see how teachers and others care for one another. One teacher from Minnesota bought something and the list and e-mailed me: “We’ve all been there, buying supplies out of our own pockets, we are standing alongside one another all over the country. Somebody has to care for these kids.”
These new labs mean that the refugees and other students will, for the first time in most of their lives, get to learn computing. Very few of the refugee families have computers or WI-FI at home. It has been several years since the school had a working microscope, now there are enough for a full class.
The laptops are still being hooked up to the school’s WI-FI system, my next idea is to see if we can buy some banners to hang when the school opens in September. Let the world knew they are on the move. The school needs to sing its song to the outside world.
(If you wish to contribute to the purchase of these banners, you can do so via Paypal, [email protected] or by check, Jon Katz, Bishop Maginn, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. I’m guessing they will cost around $500)
I am very proud to show you the fruits of our labor and faith. Let the politicians and screaming pundits eat each other up. We are doing good, more than I imagined we could.
Bishop Maginn is a special place, we are once again showing the power of small acts of great kindness and love. Thank you. Please check out the new wish list. I believe this is one of the first wish lists in the country to come so directly from teachers and their needs.
We’re just getting started. I think the bounded, focused, no-nonsense approach is working, our explorations of new technology and old fashion personal communications and obsessive transparency have been working. I am nothing but lucky to be a part of this.
I’m just wondering if the school also needs some printers (plus ink and paper.)
Thanks Barb, if they do, we’ll put it up on a Wish List…
Yes, the biggest resource for teachers has always been, teachers. Forget the bureaucrats.
In the 1970’s when I started my teaching career, my classes began to include children fleeing Viet Nam. Many of us had relatives still in that jungle, but we rallied around the children (they were not in the jungle fighting after all). In the 1990’s classes began to include children fleeing from the Middle East. Then classes began to fill with children from South America. To teachers it did not matter how the children came to us. They found us. They needed us. They loved us. We loved them.
Some adults compare the immigrants in the great waves of migration during the 1920’s and 30’s, to the immigrants today. We are told that the children in the 1920’s and 30’s did not have Esol classes nor special books or teachers, and that those children survived. How sad for most of those children. But I’ll bet that many of them had teachers who gave extra help, extra time, even food and clothing. That’s what real teachers do.
It is such a wonderful opportunity for us to be able to help a school that just turns that help right around to the children and the community. No extra paperwork, no special permissions, no justifications, no climbing the bureaucratic ladder of futility.
May the students, teachers, administrators, and their community have their most amazing school year in their history! And thank you for what you have done!