When I wrote on Monday about the horrible circumstances surrounding Howard School, my greater anger at the Hamilton County School System was obviously apparent. I'm tired of reading about the sorry state of Chattanooga schools almost constantly while, in my daily readings of Knoxville and Nashville websites, I see nothing that can compare to Chattanooga's present-day crisis.

So yesterday, as I responded to the startling news the state board of education is now moving toward wrestling control of the historic and therefore wonderful predominately black school out of our hands, I'll admit I am still incensed over it. To me it is inexcusable. For the state to "take over" Howard School due to our repeated failures is so very appalling and - instead - I'm for the state taking over the entire Hamilton County education system and then building it back in a way it will finally work.

That said, let me show you how education should work, this in its best form. This is how I understand, how I can grasp the problem. Gary L. Rudolph, a graduate of Howard 30 years ago, responded to my rant with one of the best letters I have ever received. He is the youth director for a dynamic undertaking called the Tennessee Career Centers and is intent on helping every kid in our region get a job following a diploma.

More on that later; today I welcome a man who desperately wants what is best for Howard High, as well as all the children in our city. I beg you lend him your total attention:

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Mr. Exum:

By way of introduction, I am a proud graduate of the Class of 1980 of Howard High School. I have followed your work over the years and respect what you do for the community. Your insight and ability to paint a picture for readers is important to keep our community informed and able to make informed decisions.

In your March 15, 2010 posting on the Chattanoogan, “Let’s ‘Really’ Change”, you offered a variety of options for addressing the current focus on Howard School. It appears that there may have been a larger axe to grind with the Hamilton County Department of Education and Dr. Scales, but that is not the focus of my reply to your article.

The focus of my reply is to help you and the Chattanooga community give this issue true and valid context. The first thing that we should all do is stop and breathe deeply. I am finding that there are those in the community who have waited with high anticipation for the moment a serious discussion of closing Howard School might get entertained.

Then there are those who believe that this is planned obsolescence based on a pattern of feeder school closings and 10-year plans. In your article “Let’s ’Really’ Change”, your comments appear to rest on the side of those gleefully wringing their hands at the very dry notion of closing the institution that gave this city some really solid community leaders.

Your comments nearly waddled off-course to begin focusing on children fighting at schools. While never condoned, the reality is that children fight at school. Children fought when you were in school and they fought when I was in school. In fact, there may be a fight occurring as I write or when you read this message.

If the consequence of fighting in school is to broach the conversation of closing that school, then we must begin the discussion of closure with a few other schools not mentioned in your column. When you actually wrote that we should consider chucking the HCDE in the river and wishing Dr. Scales “a happy life” did you consider that we are all stakeholders and all responsible for the failures and successes of our school system?

There is so much good work taking place in Hamilton County Schools.

Education is in crisis across America. The issues cited at Howard High School are not unique to Howard. The issues at Howard are under review by states, communities and school boards in nearly every state in America.

It’s easy to cart out the glossy prototypes where creative liberty has been extended and a hand-picked roster of young, energetic, highly motivated teachers are truly allowed to practice principles of “no child left behind”. While we celebrate the Harlem Village Academies (Charter School) of the world, please understand that Harlem Village is a product of ideas and concepts and people listening to one another about what it takes to raise the standards.

Before Harlem Villages, there was a Howard (or two) and parents seeking an alternative were able to opt out of the failing school(s). Harlem Villages is not Howard fixed! It is the product of the discussion about how to fix the problems at Howard. We’ve seen this before and we celebrate it right here in Chattanooga.

I would love to have a private one-on-one conversation with you about what happens to those parents and students without options. We can’t address it here. I don’t feel that we are ready to write about it! I will have to show you the passion in my eyes when I talk about a vision that sees Howard with room to grow. It seems counter-intuitive that we are having a discussion about closing a school that has tremendous potential for a phased expansion over the next three to five years.

We can and should all want what Deborah Kenny introduced at Harlem Village in every school in Hamilton County, but we can’t build it with “baggage” in both hands and our fist clinched. To illustrate how deep our baggage seems to run, a fellow journalist from the Chattanoogan wrote a recent story about three male students with a gun at Orchard Knob Middle School. He went on to say that these students go on to attend Howard High School.

What was wrong with that statement? In your “…Change” article, you shared a story involving the Girls Leadership Academy as if Howard School was somehow connected. If the point that you were trying to convey had anything to do with fighting in school, you omitted the names of several schools (despite the schools profile for state takeover).

Okay, I will give you the benefit of the doubt on the fighting in schools, but come on, Roy, how did you in good conscience press the keys on your keyboard and suggest that shootings over the weekend were worthy of being linked to Howard School? I raise these issues as context for the type of baggage that we may all bring to the discussion table.

If we are truly going to challenge the status quo at Howard School or HCDE, we can’t start by implying that you are right and all the people who love Howard School are wrong. And, we certainly can’t get where we’re going if we play by the same old rules.

There are very deserving students who (like me) wanted a deeper and thorough high school education. All that I had in that day was “dear old Howard”, and I refused to get distracted by people who said that we would never amount to anything because we had a few scuffles in school.

Fifty-one percent of those children currently attending Howard deserve our support (yours and mine) because they will graduate from high school. The other forty-nine percent deserve our support in the same way and yet in much different ways. Few seem concerned about those who just walk away.

But, I assure you that there is a much bigger picture that may never be discoursed in the public realm because way too many citizens bring baggage that often gets plastered across the whole idea known as “Howard School”.

At the end of the day, if we are fair, balanced and honest about Howard School, you will see that the “tipping points” had begun to right the ship and no one was celebrating those achievements. Our baggage may be too substantial to see the achievement glass as “half-full”.

One thing is for sure, we owe it to those children who arrive to school on time, ready to learn and achieve not to destroy the pride that they take in their school. We owe it to those teachers and administrators and parents at Howard not to threaten change to the point of a closure notice.

We owe it to the Chattanooga and Hamilton County community to say that we were a little more creative and resourceful than to acknowledge failure on its face. We can at least say that we tried as a larger community. Right now we are simply admitting failure and allowing the state to have its way. It’s not the way that we have done things in Chattanooga.

When you check my record, you will find that I have been on a few of the teams supporting Chattanooga’s promise to reinvent itself. Now, I need Chattanooga’s help to use that same “can do” spirit, ingenuity and imagination to reinvent my school. We may not fix Howard, but we should not fail to try.

You hold a lot of power with your column. You, unlike many of us, are able to impact public policy with your words and ideas. Because of that, we need your support for not just Howard, but this city and county.

This may be a moment where history will mark the day and time that we checked our baggage, unclenched our fist, rolled up our sleeves and made something bigger happen than allowing Howard to no longer exist. I am appealing to you to use your platform to help dream a bigger dream for Howard.

Sincerely,

Gary L. Rudolph, Class of 1980

P.S. Keep doing good work in the Chattanooga community and leave a legacy.

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I dare say it is people like Gary Randolph who lend the greatest hope imaginable to the students, both past and present, of Howard School. He believes, as I do only so much more passionately, "we" can do it, that the Howard dream may be flickering but it has hardly burned out.

I thank God for Gary L. Rudolph, proudly a member of the Class of 1980.

royexum@aol.com