Play Shows the Importance of Education

Rather than just telling Chartiers Valley school administrators about the need to take an active role in molding young students, two women from the Education Trust in Washington D.C. decided to show them.

Brooke Haycock and Natasha Ushomirsky turned into a miniature theater with a red curtain that was used as a small backdrop during their 20-minute performance.

Haycock played numerous roles showing the lives of two young, minority studetns who felt that school had nothing to offer them. But she also acted out the parts of school administrators to show how different outlooks on their role as educators molded the two boys in starkly different ways.

As Haycock flowed from character to character—wearing hooded sweatshirts or glasses or fleece vests—the mood and morale of one boy, Carl, clearly improved while the other, Isaiah, fell into despair.

“Maybe the only difference is us,” Haycock said of teachers and school administrators at the end of the presentation.

Chartiers Valley Superintendent Brian White Jr. said he saw the presentation from the education advocacy group five years ago and thought it would be important for his faculty and staff to see it.

“The message was great,” White said. “Setting high student expectations really makes a difference. And I thought it was fitting with having new board members coming in and making changes. I thought their presentation connected well.”

White quipped during the Tuesday night meeting that the board would be “watching theater in the board room and not creating it.” But the point of the presentation, which also was seen earlier in the morning by 70 administrators from the Principals Academy of Western Pennsylvania, is that high expectations for school districts matter.

“We set the expectations collectively,” White said. “If we give up—as much as you saw between the two principal (characters)—chances are the kid is not going to get what he needs. It can be done, was the message.”

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