Bronx Principal's Tough Love Gets Results

Edward Tom Raises Graduation Rate to 84 Percent, Compared to 52 Percent in Rest of Bronx; Many College-Bound

(CBS)  On Friday, President Obama announced a new $5 billion initiative to improve local schools called "Race to the Top." The idea is to encourage more innovation and better teaching.

But in New York's South Bronx one principal has already given his students a head start as CBS News correspondent Russ Mitchell reports.

When the kids change periods at the Bronx Center for Science and Math, principal Edward Tom is waiting in the hall. He's on the sidewalk to greet them every morning. And when school's over he's out there again, often asking students to fix their uniforms.

Tom describes his approach as "tough love."

"I'm not always going to make the decisions that are popular," he said. "But it will be the decision that I feel in my heart would be beneficial to the children and their growth and development."

Tom is a hands-on principal working in the South Bronx - an area trying to escape its reputation for street gangs, shootings and drug dealers.

Bronx Science and Math is a magnet school founded four years ago with Tom as its first principal. Many of his students come from low income families and have been told by other schools they'll never succeed.

Tom bought in a regime of instilling confidence. He insists on punctuality, a dress code, and that homework be done on time.

He also introduced the kids to classes which broadened their outlook on the world, like a Japanese language class.

Education is a new world for tom. Twelve years ago, he worked as a men's clothes buyer at Saks Fifth Avenue. He quit to go into teaching, taking a 50 percent pay cut.

Tom says his friends thought he had "totally lost it."

Recently he got a big payback for his efforts when 84 percent the first ever senior class at Bronx Science and math graduated. The graduation rate for the rest of the Bronx: just 52 percent.

"When I first came he saw a different side of me - like, not that street, neighborhood kind of stuff," said senior Mike Muniz. "If I wasn't here? To tell you the truth, I'd probably be on the streets somewhere right now - probably doing something wrong."

"I believe in their abilities to excel," Tom said. "We have the college acceptances rates and letters to prove it."

Seventy-seven percent of the graduates will attend colleges and universities - some to top schools like the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth. The students have also won $3 million in merit scholarships.

"It's the students that make the school," said senior Kierzyn Lloyd "You don't have to come to school and worry about getting stabbed."

Lloyd sees herself eventually owning her own interior design company. And Mike Muniz - he wants to be a businessman.

So what if Saks called Tom tomorrow and asked him back - at double the salary?

"I'd say you can find someone else to order those Armani suits," he said. "I'm good where I'm at."

The Bronx Center for Science and Math has 108 places for the class of 2013. So far they received nearly 2,000 applications for those spots.

[poopingdale]

this is total BS! Mr. tom is rarely outside of the school or in the corner waiting for us, majority of the school year hes never there!!
i attend this school, and the school is pretty good, but the area is in is HORRIBLE!!! i cant tell you guys how many times students from my school have been jumped, robbed, assaulted, and stuff. i worry for my safety every day i go to school, and i cant focus in class because im wondering if im going to make it home safely or not. And when these things happen, all mr. tom does is walk us to the bus stop for like 2 days and thats it.

[olpenguin15]

@John_Merritt: Some of the parents of children at this school hit their children with a palu, or carved wooden stick. Let me assure you that if parents have lost any rights, its been only in a formal sense. The tough love Mr. Tom practices isn't maybe the same kind you are recommending.

@retiredteacher84: you are exactly right. The first two years were probably tough, but now the school is effectively skimming the best students from a pool of applicants. It's not fair to not disclose that they are an empowerment school that plays by different rules. And you're spot-on on the teachers - they make things like this happen, not principals. As to unions, what real good can they do to protect teachers when the school is in its first few years of operation and hasn't even set up a union yet?

@nocore: That original group of kids really must have been phenomenal, but how many of them were shuffled off into other schools or encouraged to seek alternative routes to graduation outside of the school when, during their junior year, their credit load made apparent that they wouldn't be graduating on time? I know this happens, and shoveling off bad kids so the school's numbers look good is an unacceptable tactic that is not being discussed enough.

@summarex: I couldn't agree more. We need more teachers with 8 years of class-room experience, and less salesmen publicly born again and becoming horrible managers of schools. Especially when they take the credit and spotlight away from the teachers, who are the ones actually getting it done.

@taryder: Yeah, the money would make a difference. But perhaps a step before that concerns the involvement of ROTC in our nation's schools. Why are they able to pay the schools and offer credit for their programming, which is just simply the recruitment of under-aged children?

@debinok1: There's some wisdom in what you say about the value of teachers and principals, but in the instance that teachers are bad, they must be supported, and even managed. That takes a background in education that is deep. A good principal who is too busy, or whose background is in a different subject area, is going to need assistant principals and coaches. Ultimately, the principal is not usually very directly connected to teaching quality unless they are very involved in teacher coaching, and already have some expertise in many areas. I'm not sure that's the case here. Anyway, I think matuliska said it best.

@adventurewords: what about this article leads you to believe that the principal is supportive of the teachers? They aren't even present in the story, which is a sad and misleading omission.

Yeah, I think this article is sort of duplicitous...

Obama should leave education alone. He has absolutely no teaching credentials and is messing in an area he knows nothing about.

We already had welfare reform by non economists. It's called "child support". We had child abuse reform. It's called CAPTA. Anyone lose a child to adoption. That's called ASFA. And now he's dictating education?

[John_Merritt]

From what I understand the Pres. was a constitutional law professor. But than again I read it based on a story through the media, which never tells the entire facts, do they?

[adventurewords]

Leadership is paramount in a school. In Madras Oregon they routinely get rid of experienced teachers and high first year teachers to reduce cost - the leadership NEVER stands up for the teachers. Moral is low and kids have a high drop out rate. To have a principal who supports teachers and students is great!!

[retiredteacher84]

There was a large omission in this story. Does anyone think that the students would have achieved what they did without the hard work of the teachers? The principal is important, but the teachers are ones who educate.

[debinok1]

I disagree. You can put a teacher under a BAD principle and it does not matter how hard the teachers work. Even a BAD teacher under a GOOD principle will have success. It all comes down to how the students react, and whether or not they have respect for the school, if they respect the principle they will work hard regardless of what teacher is teaching them. Under a Bad principle you may have a few students who respect a GOOD teacher but it wont be the whole school.

[debinok1]

And if your ID is an honest one, then as a retired teacher you know that a good teacher only goes so far, where a good principle can change the dynamic of the entire school for the better, students and teachers alike, a bad principal can change the dynamic of the students and teachers for the worse.

[matuliska]

Change has to come from the entire school. No change will succeed without both the leadership and the teachers on board (and often the community too).

[glidescube]

all schools could be like this one a lot sooner than you think if they bust those unions.

[retiredteacher84]

What makes you think that the teachers in this school are not union members?

[taryder]

Of course the students will do better. He PICKS who comes to t he school. I wonder how he would do with regular kids in the community. You know, the ones with special needs. Uniforms and spanking/corporal punishment/pull yourself up do not add up to making kids feel good about themselves and achievement.

Perhaps we could quit SPENDING the BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS to fight wars and put our money into a FUTURE for our children....future for our country!!.......Let's just take a look at the MILITARY SPENDING and the war mongering country we have become. I shudder to think what THIS teaches out children at the get-go. What we spend and how important we think education is is a joke, compared to our big WAR MACHINE. I think THATZ the problem. Duh!!!

[nocore]

He did NOT pick the students with whom he achieved these results. He achieved these results with a pre-existing student body at a school whose grad rates were no higher than anywhere else in the Bronx. His ability to select only exists now in the wake of his proven results.

Be careful with that runaway cynicism of yours. It'll cause you to miss out on an awful lot.

[summarex]

Please

Theatrics doesn't improve anything.
The last thing we need in NY edu is
more grandstanding showmem.

[retiredteacher84]

Not to take away from his achievement as a principal, but to use him as an example of what can be done in poor areas is really not valid. His school is a magnet school for pupils that are interested in science and math. He can choose 108 prospective students out of 2000. I would like to see what can be done with the children that are not focused and are in a school that has to take everyone.

[matuliska]

Agreed. Odd way for CBS to frame this story.

[nocore]

This is a misunderstanding of the situation. Yes, NOW he has this massive demand for slots in his school. But that is not how it started. At the beginning, he worked with student body that was handed to him. And it is was with this group of students that he achieved these results. He did not achieve these results with some cherry-picked group. There's a great new documentary on Edward Tom called "Whatever It Takes." It's well worth watching.

[matuliska]

Its a magnet school. Of course it gets better students than other schools in the area. In fact, it makes the job of the other schools even less likely to succeed by taking away the best of the best. I'm not saying he hasn't done a great job, but its clear that this has never been an equal comparison.

[John_Merritt]

Excellent job. Now if we could only allow the parents a 'little tough love' than we might get somewhere. When we disallowed corporal punishment by parents, it became 'Katie bar the door' when it came to the raising of our children.

Parents are afraid of the law, and now they are becoming afraid of their children because parents have lost their right to raise their own children. What is wrong with this picture?

Anyway, good job to educators everywhere who do care about our children and go overboard everyday to help those young teaches and young students. You have my congratulations and my sympathies.

[firenewt]

A good story, but ultimately a sad story. Sad because they only have 108 openings with almost 2000 applicants.

[debinok1]

These are the types of Teachers and Principles we NEED for our kids NATIONWIDE. Way to go Mr. Tom. Way to go kids.

Bull!

"No Child Left Behind" most likely led to the influx of quality students from schools "under review" coupled with the expulsion of problem children from Mr. Tom's school and their placement into grant-funded special ed schools.

So a confluence of boondoggles fell to Mr. Tom's favor and he ended up showing a hug "improvement" when in reality a shuffling of students likely caused his "success".

$5 Billion dollars will cause lots of shuffling and in certain cases will give the appearance of success.