'Make it happen'

In a high school where expectations have been low yet repeatedly not met, John Muir High School’s students and staff cannot be blamed for losing motivation. Muir High did not pass California’s state-mandated Academic Performance Index (API) targets five years in a row — passing for the first time last year — and has run through supervision by six principals within seven years. 

When Sheryl Orange took the position of interim principal last year, many believed that the cycle of inconsistent administrative leadership would continue, and that Muir would remain on its downward trend.

“At the end of last year, students and teachers came to my office asking, ‘Where are the boxes?’ They all expected me to leave like the principals before me,” Orange said.

But this year Muir High is different — its principal has decorated her office with a fastidiousness indicating an intention to stay. Teachers are no longer lauded for knowing their students’ names, but required to know students’ specific learning styles. And, not a single student’s midriff is visible — even when the temperature rises above 100 degrees. 

“When people think about ‘The Muir Reinvention,’ they automatically envision an entire educational overhaul,” Orange said. “But that’s not what it’s really about. The most important changes I’ve tried to implement have to do with accountability. Teachers are held accountable for their students’ success and students are accountable for their behavior and work ethic.”

While the concept of dividing Muir into four separate academies — Arts/Entertainment and Media, Business and Entrepreneurship, Engineering and Environmental Science and a freshman academy — seems like a radical divergence from mainstream practices, Orange maintains that her true intention is to revert back to the core standards of public schooling, where school represents a microcosm of society at large.

“Although we do not require school uniforms, I do demand that students adhere to a strict dress code,” Orange said. “Girls are not permitted to wear spaghetti straps or mini-skirts.”

Though Orange jokes that Muir students grumble at the new level of regimentation, calling her “strict” and “horrible,” these sentiments are clearly disingenuous.

Just walking through the hallway, Orange greets students by name — asking them about specific course work and athletic events.

As one young woman passed, Orange called, “I’m looking at those shorts, honey, and the next time I see you you’d better be wearing something else.”

“I love you, Ms. Orange,” the student responded.

“I love you, too, honey, but that doesn’t mean that your pants aren’t too short,” answered the principal.

Dress code and comportment aside, Muir’s “reinvention” has also brought the school undeniable success in reaching out to struggling students — the ones whose academic problems have produced Muir’s reputation as a low-performing school.

Manuel Rustin, a newly hired history teacher and member of the Arts Academy, said “I meet with the other members of my academy almost every day. Together, we talk about curricula and even individual students. I don’t know how a school like Muir ever functioned without academies.”

Orange concurred, citing a specific preparation meeting in which four teachers successfully devised a strategy to solve a student’s disciplinary problem.

“One of the teachers mentioned that she loved a particular student’s enthusiasm, but the other three all sighed, complaining that her exuberance verged on disrupting the class,” Orange said. “In the course of the meeting, the teachers came up with a plan to use this student as a classroom helper to curb her excess energy. It was awesome to see how attuned the teachers were to a student’s specific needs.”

In addition to discussing students, Muir’s new system holds teachers accountable for each other. In accordance with the “blackboard configuration educational model,” teachers are required to delineate and write out goals for each class period. Then, at the end of the class, another teacher from the department can judge whether the lesson plan had been accomplished.

“Basically, if a teacher writes on the board ‘Today we will learn about integers,’ students better walk out of that classroom able to explain what an integer is,” Orange said.

More than a Hail Mary tactic to pull Muir out of the abyss of failing schools, this reinvention represents an effort to change attitudes — and morale.

“When newspaper reporters constantly write about the decline of John Muir High School, students notice. Teachers notice. Most of all, administrators notice, and they become disheartened,” Orange said.

“I have a different philosophy. When a kid comes to me and asks, ‘what’s the point?’ I say, ‘Close your eyes and picture yourself in a cap and gown. Picture yourself walking up to receive your diploma and picture your mom and dad in the stands jumping up and down screaming. Then open your eyes and make it happen.’”