thedrifter
02-10-08, 10:04 AM
Against the odds
Stuart Mesa Elementary nurtures children affected by the war, leading them toward success in school
By Bruce Lieberman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 10, 2008
CAMP PENDLETON – In Liz Wing's reading class, the war seemed far away.
In the quiet room at Stuart Mesa Elementary School on Camp Pendleton, three second-graders sat at a curved table. Wing sat across from them, orchestrating a series of exercises to hone their pronunciation skills.
Andrea Hoffman, 8, ran her index finger across the page of a workbook, tentatively sounding out the letters before her: “S-K, S-T, N-D, N-T, M-P.” Andrea and her classmates next sounded out the sounds in “r-i-sk,” “t-e-st,” “w-e-st” and other words. Finally, each student read from a short passage filled with the words they had just studied.
At this kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school, which is part of the Oceanside Unified School District, its 664 students struggle with much more than reading, writing and arithmetic.
The stress of war and financial strains at home take a toll on base children – and on their academics.
Nevertheless, Wing's class is part of an intensive effort that has boosted academic achievement against tremendous odds.
The state recently recognized Stuart Mesa for its success, particularly with poor, low-performing students who receive special attention under the federal Title I program. It was the second year in a row that Stuart Mesa has received the award, called the Title I Achievement Award.
Of the 664 students at Stuart Mesa, 116 of them – about 17 percent – are targeted for special Title I assistance, which can include services such as tutoring and counseling.
But staff members at Stuart Mesa see all their students as worthy of extra attention.
The students have had to endure a protracted war with repeated separations from fathers, sometimes mothers and sometimes both. The stress of an uncertain future can grip the children with anxiety, confusion, fear and depression – crippling their ability to focus on school.
For many students, war has shaped their home life since they were born, said Patsy Gaffney, a marriage and family therapist based in Carlsbad who counsels students at several Oceanside Unified schools at Camp Pendleton.
“It amazes me that they just think that war is normal,” Gaffney said. “But it doesn't make it any easier.”
Despite the odds, Stuart Mesa has steadily improved the overall academic performance of its students. The success is the result of a combination of small-group instruction, before-and after-school tutoring, intensive counseling, a big brother/big sister program and other measures, Principal Lois Grazioli said.
“We really support them, not just academically but emotionally,” Grazioli said.
The school serves families who live in Camp Pendleton's nearby Stuart Mesa Housing complex. Many parents regard the school as an anchor in the base community, the one constant in an otherwise unpredictable world.
Amy Hoffman, Andrea's mother, said Wing and other teachers go above and beyond to work closely with parents.
“The communication is wonderful,” Hoffman said. “I depend a lot on her suggestions, and we work together as a team. ... It's almost like the school is an extension of your family.”
Rising achievement
Student test scores reflect the school's efforts to keep students on track.
Since 2004, Stuart Mesa's score on the state's Academic Performance Index, which reflects test results and other measures of academic achievement, has increased from 776 to 842. The state has set an API score of 800 as a target for all public school districts.
The 2007 score of 842 was 98 points above the overall district score and 115 points above the overall state score.
Low-income students at Stuart Mesa also have made gains, increasing their API score as a group from 752 in 2004 to 833 last year – 131 points above the district score for that group and 171 points above the state score for that group.
Elementary school students in grades two through five are tested by the state every year in math and English, and fifth-graders are tested in science.
Stuart Mesa's success is particularly significant because of the high transiency of its students. Military families move a lot during peace time, but during a war the student population at a base school can be in continual upheaval.
Fourth-grade teacher Laurie Benes said she started the school year last fall with 31 students. Her class is now down to 24.
New students from other states come in throughout the school year, sometimes with poor academic skills, Benes said. The school moves quickly to get such students intensive help.
It took some time after the start of the Iraq war to catch up with student needs, Benes said.
“We were floundering a bit in the beginning, trying to get services for the kids,” Benes said. “Now everything is gelling, and we're finding more and more ways to help these students.”
Benes said she and her colleagues nevertheless have to grapple with the emotional strains that war places on families.
“The needs are growing as the war drags on,” she said. “These kids are becoming more needy.”
A team of educators that consists of classroom teachers, resource teachers such as Wing, the school's psychologist and nurse, and Grazioli meets every Thursday to discuss students in need of extra attention.
The team develops an individual plan for those children, and after consultation with the parents, it may recommend counseling with Gaffney or another counselor at the school.
Sometimes a parent will call the school and ask for help, Grazioli said.
“The fact that there is a schoolwide, systematic response to intervention is a factor in the student's success,” Grazioli said. “Our whole philosophy is to catch them before they fall, to intervene early and continue that support to get them up to grade level.”
Extra support
Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County and a separate mentoring program called Operation Hero provide children with a break from the daily stresses of home life. Operation Bigs – the Big Brother Big Sister program – is the first of its kind in the nation. Sponsored by Jack in the Box Inc., it pairs students with an adult who visits the school once a week for an hour after school.
Several big brothers and big sisters are Marines on base. Volunteers vary in age from their early 20s to their 70s.
“That one hour is all about them,” recruitment specialist Jessica Lopez said of the children. “They don't have to go home and worry about family. ... Their big brother or big sister is there to dedicate that one hour to them and to just be a kid with him or her, to be just a friend.”
Tracy Trauthwein, a retired Marine who works at Camp Pendleton as a civilian, said he wanted to do something to help military families. He was paired with an 8-year-old boy.
“He worries a lot,” said Trauthwein, 52. “We'll be playing in the playground, and he sees the helicopters go by or the Marine convoys and he knows that people die from this.”
The youngster has had trouble focusing at school, but he relishes Tuesday afternoons with his “big brother,” Trauthwein said.
“It's taken a while, but he's very open now,” Trauthwein said. “He trusts me and tells me some of his worries about outside situations with the world.”
For Elleven Still, 8, Stuart Mesa will soon be a memory. Elleven's stepfather, Staff Sgt. John Stock, was killed Sept. 6 in Anbar province. Elleven and his mother will be moving back to Longview, Texas, this spring, where they'll live near relatives.
Elleven, a slight boy with a thin voice and big blue eyes, speaks frankly about Ramadi and the Humvee that his stepfather was killed in when “a bad guy drove into the car and blew it up.”
Gaffney has worked with Elleven to help him cope with his grief and mentally prepare for the transition to a new life in Texas.
“I think this is a very supportive place,” Gaffney said of Stuart Mesa Elementary School. “It feels good to be a part of it, to try to put the pieces together that, because on the circumstances, naturally fall apart.”
Bruce Lieberman: (760) 476-8205; bruce.lieberman@uniontrib.com
Ellie
Stuart Mesa Elementary nurtures children affected by the war, leading them toward success in school
By Bruce Lieberman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 10, 2008
CAMP PENDLETON – In Liz Wing's reading class, the war seemed far away.
In the quiet room at Stuart Mesa Elementary School on Camp Pendleton, three second-graders sat at a curved table. Wing sat across from them, orchestrating a series of exercises to hone their pronunciation skills.
Andrea Hoffman, 8, ran her index finger across the page of a workbook, tentatively sounding out the letters before her: “S-K, S-T, N-D, N-T, M-P.” Andrea and her classmates next sounded out the sounds in “r-i-sk,” “t-e-st,” “w-e-st” and other words. Finally, each student read from a short passage filled with the words they had just studied.
At this kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school, which is part of the Oceanside Unified School District, its 664 students struggle with much more than reading, writing and arithmetic.
The stress of war and financial strains at home take a toll on base children – and on their academics.
Nevertheless, Wing's class is part of an intensive effort that has boosted academic achievement against tremendous odds.
The state recently recognized Stuart Mesa for its success, particularly with poor, low-performing students who receive special attention under the federal Title I program. It was the second year in a row that Stuart Mesa has received the award, called the Title I Achievement Award.
Of the 664 students at Stuart Mesa, 116 of them – about 17 percent – are targeted for special Title I assistance, which can include services such as tutoring and counseling.
But staff members at Stuart Mesa see all their students as worthy of extra attention.
The students have had to endure a protracted war with repeated separations from fathers, sometimes mothers and sometimes both. The stress of an uncertain future can grip the children with anxiety, confusion, fear and depression – crippling their ability to focus on school.
For many students, war has shaped their home life since they were born, said Patsy Gaffney, a marriage and family therapist based in Carlsbad who counsels students at several Oceanside Unified schools at Camp Pendleton.
“It amazes me that they just think that war is normal,” Gaffney said. “But it doesn't make it any easier.”
Despite the odds, Stuart Mesa has steadily improved the overall academic performance of its students. The success is the result of a combination of small-group instruction, before-and after-school tutoring, intensive counseling, a big brother/big sister program and other measures, Principal Lois Grazioli said.
“We really support them, not just academically but emotionally,” Grazioli said.
The school serves families who live in Camp Pendleton's nearby Stuart Mesa Housing complex. Many parents regard the school as an anchor in the base community, the one constant in an otherwise unpredictable world.
Amy Hoffman, Andrea's mother, said Wing and other teachers go above and beyond to work closely with parents.
“The communication is wonderful,” Hoffman said. “I depend a lot on her suggestions, and we work together as a team. ... It's almost like the school is an extension of your family.”
Rising achievement
Student test scores reflect the school's efforts to keep students on track.
Since 2004, Stuart Mesa's score on the state's Academic Performance Index, which reflects test results and other measures of academic achievement, has increased from 776 to 842. The state has set an API score of 800 as a target for all public school districts.
The 2007 score of 842 was 98 points above the overall district score and 115 points above the overall state score.
Low-income students at Stuart Mesa also have made gains, increasing their API score as a group from 752 in 2004 to 833 last year – 131 points above the district score for that group and 171 points above the state score for that group.
Elementary school students in grades two through five are tested by the state every year in math and English, and fifth-graders are tested in science.
Stuart Mesa's success is particularly significant because of the high transiency of its students. Military families move a lot during peace time, but during a war the student population at a base school can be in continual upheaval.
Fourth-grade teacher Laurie Benes said she started the school year last fall with 31 students. Her class is now down to 24.
New students from other states come in throughout the school year, sometimes with poor academic skills, Benes said. The school moves quickly to get such students intensive help.
It took some time after the start of the Iraq war to catch up with student needs, Benes said.
“We were floundering a bit in the beginning, trying to get services for the kids,” Benes said. “Now everything is gelling, and we're finding more and more ways to help these students.”
Benes said she and her colleagues nevertheless have to grapple with the emotional strains that war places on families.
“The needs are growing as the war drags on,” she said. “These kids are becoming more needy.”
A team of educators that consists of classroom teachers, resource teachers such as Wing, the school's psychologist and nurse, and Grazioli meets every Thursday to discuss students in need of extra attention.
The team develops an individual plan for those children, and after consultation with the parents, it may recommend counseling with Gaffney or another counselor at the school.
Sometimes a parent will call the school and ask for help, Grazioli said.
“The fact that there is a schoolwide, systematic response to intervention is a factor in the student's success,” Grazioli said. “Our whole philosophy is to catch them before they fall, to intervene early and continue that support to get them up to grade level.”
Extra support
Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County and a separate mentoring program called Operation Hero provide children with a break from the daily stresses of home life. Operation Bigs – the Big Brother Big Sister program – is the first of its kind in the nation. Sponsored by Jack in the Box Inc., it pairs students with an adult who visits the school once a week for an hour after school.
Several big brothers and big sisters are Marines on base. Volunteers vary in age from their early 20s to their 70s.
“That one hour is all about them,” recruitment specialist Jessica Lopez said of the children. “They don't have to go home and worry about family. ... Their big brother or big sister is there to dedicate that one hour to them and to just be a kid with him or her, to be just a friend.”
Tracy Trauthwein, a retired Marine who works at Camp Pendleton as a civilian, said he wanted to do something to help military families. He was paired with an 8-year-old boy.
“He worries a lot,” said Trauthwein, 52. “We'll be playing in the playground, and he sees the helicopters go by or the Marine convoys and he knows that people die from this.”
The youngster has had trouble focusing at school, but he relishes Tuesday afternoons with his “big brother,” Trauthwein said.
“It's taken a while, but he's very open now,” Trauthwein said. “He trusts me and tells me some of his worries about outside situations with the world.”
For Elleven Still, 8, Stuart Mesa will soon be a memory. Elleven's stepfather, Staff Sgt. John Stock, was killed Sept. 6 in Anbar province. Elleven and his mother will be moving back to Longview, Texas, this spring, where they'll live near relatives.
Elleven, a slight boy with a thin voice and big blue eyes, speaks frankly about Ramadi and the Humvee that his stepfather was killed in when “a bad guy drove into the car and blew it up.”
Gaffney has worked with Elleven to help him cope with his grief and mentally prepare for the transition to a new life in Texas.
“I think this is a very supportive place,” Gaffney said of Stuart Mesa Elementary School. “It feels good to be a part of it, to try to put the pieces together that, because on the circumstances, naturally fall apart.”
Bruce Lieberman: (760) 476-8205; bruce.lieberman@uniontrib.com
Ellie