A sad update, posted Sunday, November 2, 2014: The man who inspired this story from last month, Tyner Middle principal Mark Smith passed away Saturday night at the age of 53. Friends say he had seemed fine through Friday, and reportedly died of a massive heart attack. He was a kind, loving man. He will be missed by his family, his faculty, and his students. Funeral service will be held Saturday November 8 at Mt. Canaan Baptist Church on Highway 58, at 2:00 p.m.
Lenell Roberts, the secretary at Tyner Middle Academy called me and said, “David, you need to come over. Our principal, Mark Smith is doing wonderful things here. Every morning, he shakes 500 hands, greeting every child, letting them know he’s glad they’re here. And once a week, he asks them to dress for success. They wear ties, and their best clothes. If they don’t have good clothes, we try to find them some, and we’ve had churches make donations. You ought to put this on the news.”
Done! Principal Smith and his assistant principal, Travis Miller are in the middle of a Tyner turnaround. Too many (80%) of the students who enter sixth grade are not proficient readers. Many come from homes and families that are unable to offer much in the way of early education. In years past, they tell me, their school sent too many non-proficient 8th graders across the street to high school without the basic skills they needed to eventually graduate. So they didn’t.
The result: dropouts galore. Students who had been “socially promoted” to save themselves the embarrassment of being a 16-year-old 9th grader. Mark Smith and his team are doing everything they can to keep that from happening at the new Tyner Middle. Or as he puts it more bluntly, “We’re not going to send a child to high school unless he or she is prepared to succeed in high school.” Read that last sentence again. Mark Smith said it like he meant it. He’s tired of seeing history repeat itself. Teens on the streets, with no education, up to no good. Blame it on whoever you wish. All I know is, Tyner Middle’s principals and teachers are working their butts off, putting in extra time, and giving students extra attention, to get it right.
Principal Mark Smith giving out a tie
There’s no windfall of money pouring into his school, but there’s a fountain bubbling over with enthusiasm. It’s a joy for me to see a diverse group of students, in that important middle school age group, wearing ties, their Sunday best, and big smiles. I know what you’re thinking, and it’s the same question I asked: “What about kids who come from families that can’t afford nice clothes?” You can do what I did: donate a tie, or a gift card, or something nice a child could wear. It’s a cool thing watching a sixth grader learn to tie a tie (a skill I didn’t grasp until much, much later in life).
So, you can ride the bad news train, or embrace something special.
what a beautiful story, great concept to inspire students and now he’s gone, how unbelievably sad!!! God bless this man, his family and all the children whose life he touched.
How unbelievably tragic for these students to lose Mr. Smith so suddenly. His story is beautiful and inspiring. Sounds as if he was a wonderful, caring human being. Hopefully, his students will carry on in the manner that he inspired them to. Thoughts and prayers to all who knew and loved him.