Summer School with Steve Chapman
Carolina Ramirez“Summer School” is an ongoing series designed to take you inside the programs and community partnerships that serve HEB ISD students during the summer break. The entire series is now available in three parts below. For more on individual teachers and classroom cultures in HEB ISD, visit our story archives here.
Part 1: Educating the Whole Child
Schools have always been an important resource for families. A place for children and their parents to connect with the community, to learn skills and habits that will shape their lives. But in recent years, public education has grown in scope. Modern schools serve, to some degree, as daycares. Job training. Exercise. Reliable nutrition. In the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District, kids come to school with a wide array of needs. If they’re going to succeed, they have to be given a safe and healthy environment.
“Part of our strategic plan — Goal 4 — talks about educating the Whole Child,” said Steve Chapman, Superintendent in HEB ISD. “That’s an important piece for us. We have to do more than just concentrate on the academic needs in the classroom. We really have to look at ‘how do we meet the needs of the whole child?’”
That’s a year-round challenge. Classes might end in May, but kids still need to eat in June and July. More than half of the children in this community depend on free and reduced meal plans provided by their schools.
“For some of our kiddos, the best meals that they have each day are the free breakfast and the free lunch,” Chapman said. “So, when the summertime comes — and in the past we haven’t been able to provide that breakfast or that lunch — we’re not sure what type of nutrition those kids are going to get during the day. I think it’s really critically important to try to sustain some of our kiddos over the summer, and I’m really glad we have the opportunity to do that.”
The District’s Summer Dining program — the first of several initiatives featured in our “Summer School” tour — is relatively new; a Federal program executed on the local level by HEB ISD and their community partners. Any student under the age of 19 can visit one of ten dining locations that rotate during the summer. Most of those stops are on school campuses but some, like the one we visited at Midway Park, are public spaces selected for their accessibility.
Like so many things in HEB, feeding at-risk kids in the summer months is a collaborative effort. The Summer Dining program requires hard work and partnerships from educators, volunteers, civil servants, and hard-working parents. And even after those kids are fueled up and ready to go, they need something more: they need a chance to amaze us.
Part 2: Great Expectations
Most major obstacles to education are easy to identify. We understand that kids can’t learn without supplies; can’t focus without a good night’s sleep and a full stomach. But, according to the superintendent, one of the most detrimental obstacles our children face is our own lack of ability to trust and challenge them.
“We underestimate our kids. Kids can do amazing things, if given the opportunity and the support,” Chapman told 6 Stones. “It’s not as much about the Performance Gap that gets a lot of play in the media. It’s really about the Expectation Gap that exists for kids… we don’t expect enough out of kids. And then, it’s the Opportunity Gap. We don’t give them enough opportunities.”
Starting with the previous superintendent, Dr. Gene Buinger, HEB ISD has committed to providing students with every resource and opportunity imaginable. The Career and Technical Education Center that bears Buinger’s name houses a Culinary Arts program, a complete AV/TV studio, a Law and Public Safety cluster that pairs students with local police departments, optional clinical rotations at a nearby hospital, and more. During the summer, incoming eighth graders can explore their options during a three day “Camp Connect” program.
Just down the road at Central Junior High, students ranging from 6th to 11th grade can take part in a multi-week culture and language camp called STARTALK. Thanks to a Federal Language Assistance Program grant, Beginner and Intermediate students dive headfirst into immersive instruction in Hindi, Arabic, and Mandarin Chinese at no cost during the summer. Almost all of their teachers are native speakers of the language. Many live and work right here in HEB. It’s a challenge, but — again — one that students are more than ready to tackle.
“One of the things we realized several years ago is that we need to be able to prepare our students to compete on the global stage,” Chapman said. “We believe that cultural diversity really weaves a rich tapestry through the fabric of this school district. I think one of the things our students are learning is an appreciation of other cultures… they’re learning that we can all exist here together, and we can do so in a very positive way.”
So how does a multicultural community like this one — with students from 119 nations who speak more than 70 languages and dialects at home — come together as effectively as they do? And how can a faith-based nonprofit launched by a church be part of the process without stepping on any toes?
Part 3: Filling the Gaps
HEB ISD and 6 Stones are intricately interwoven. Both Steve Chapman and his predecessor served terms on the nonprofit’s Board of Directors. But at the beginning of the partnership, Dr. Buinger made one thing very clear: for the partnership to work, 6 Stones had to be a place for everyone.
The fact that this ministry started in a church — and remains faith-based even after becoming an independent organization — doesn’t stop schools or governments from partnering with it. In fact, a diverse set of partners is a source of strength. As long as everyone follows a few basic rules and sets out with the community’s best interest in mind.
Few projects showcase that inclusive spirit as well as the new “Lunch and Learn” in Euless.
6 Stones has owned a two-suite storefront next to the Westdale Hills apartment complex since 2009. Until this summer, that space sat almost unused, save for a church that meets there on Sundays. Scott Sheppard, the CEO of 6 Stones, offered the space to Chapman and his staff last year. In the span of a few months, district employees converted one suite into a Summer Dining stop and the other into an interactive learning space.
Three local libraries help to staff the Lunch and Learn, which is open from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm, Monday-Friday. HEB ISD teachers and volunteers from other local organizations — the Lions Club, for example — help to flesh out the staff. Attendance at the Lunch and Learn often exceeds fifty, with families stopping in for lunch and sticking around to play with the educational toys available next door.
“We have about 350 kiddos who live in that complex alone and need some type of summer activity that would be a positive summer activity. [One that can] keep them engaged in learning,” Chapman said. ”It’s a collaboration with 6 Stones, with our three cities, in order to provide a great summer opportunity for our kids that would not, otherwise, exist.”
Ultimately, that’s the goal of every School-Based Initiative. Thousands of kids in this district are economically disadvantaged. They likely won’t have opportunities unless the community creates them. That’s probably why Operation Back 2 School is such a recognizable rally point for the men and women of HEB.
This year, Operation Back 2 School will provide school supply kits and backpacks for 3,000 children in grades K-6 and another 3,000 kits for local junior high and high school students. The elementary event will also connect families to dozens of social services that can support them all year long. That support allows HEB ISD to focus their energy on what really matters.
“Kids need to be able to start school with the essential tools to learn,” Chapman said. “that is a tremendous gap that 6 Stones fills for our students and our parents.
“[Without 6 Stones] there would be a lot of needs that would go unmet in this school district because we can only do so much. We wouldn’t be able to maximize opportunities for kids the way that we can with 6 Stones.”