The Saints Are Golden..But Homeless

In Newport News, the Saints are without a home.

Amazing as the statement may seem, Chaplain Deborah Mitchell from the World Outreach Center in Denbigh insists it is true. For years, the Golden Saints, the football and cheerleading teams representing the Center in the Peninsula Youth Football and Cheerleading Organization (PYFCO), have played games here, there, and everywhere…else.

For the record, the Saints are not a small operation. There are four teams, players and cheerleaders, for each of the age groups represented in the PYFCO. They include the Mites (ages 6-7), the Mighty Mites (8-9), the Midgets (10-11) and the Juniors (12-14). In all, the Golden Saints are represented by a contingent totaling over 150 individuals - 91 players, 32 cheerleaders, 19 volunteer coaches (16 for football, three cheerleading), and another volunteer staff of 13 which handle everything from equipment, parent volunteers, photographs and the team website (www.leaguelineup.com/goldensaints). Their annual budget exceeds $20,000, which pays for uniforms, referees, league fees and other necessary expenses. It is a figure which is becoming increasingly harder to reach.

By comparison, PYFCO, (www.pyfco.org/home) known as the Peninsula Youth Football Association (PYFA) until this year, is also a fully built organization. The league, now in its 52^nd year, has expanded from a four-team league centered in York County to a regional force with over 60 teams representing 16 groups from around the Peninsula, as well as Gloucester and Middlesex. In all, over 1,700 athletes and nearly 800 cheerleaders participate in what the promoters like to call the “Best Game in Town.” It is the culmination of a dream started by Vernon Taylor and George Teagle, Jr., long time youth league supporters and the driving forces behind the success of PYFA. Both men passed away recently, Taylor in 2007 and Teagle in 2008.  

The culmination of each season is the league “Super Bowl”, when the championship games for each division are played in succession. Last year, the finals were held at Wanner Stadium in Williamsburg.

Because of the strong community support for the league’s teams, all of the organizations enjoy a home field to practice and play their games on. While the Golden Saints are allowed to hold their practices at nearby Lee Hall Elementary, it is not a marked field; therefore, it is unsuitable to play games there.

Somehow, it is ironic that the only Christian-based team in the PYFCO league is also the one searching for a permanent home.

“There are two things we need,” says Mitchell, herself a beacon of positivity and hope, known for greeting everyone with a “How are you?” and “God Bless You!” “Mike Barber from the Newport News Department of Parks, bless his heart, was kind enough to give us Lee Hall to practice. In the month of October, it’s very hard because there are no lights. We make a formation and use the headlights from cars.”

The problem is greater than the lack of lights.

“It doesn’t have a community feel because we don’t have a place to call our own” adds Mitchell. “All these other teams have theirs (home fields). Some teams have had theirs for years.”

The team does have substantial support when it comes to sponsorship.

“We are thankful for the help we have received from various organizations in the community. Out of 123 children, 34 are sponsored. The church itself sponsors 10 individuals who wouldn’t be able to play otherwise. The dad or mom might be in jail or strung out on drugs. Single moms with three or four children can’t afford to pay $110 for a child to play ball. But by them practicing every night in August with us, they’re off the streets.” Indeed, the Saints practice four nights a week through the fall, leaving only Wednesday open so the families can fulfill their religious obligations. The church, in cooperation with Newport News Public Schools, provides meals, which they can’t receive from school because of the summer holiday. Because of their Christian affiliation, some of the traditional moneymakers, such as raffles and the like, are off limits because of the gambling nature of such activities. “We did car washes every month in the summer. It’s not enough to bring in sufficient income; we’re still in the negative right now.”

What Mitchell and the Saints need are a blessing and a helping hand.

“We would like to find somebody who sees the work that we’re doing and is willing to say, I like what you all are doing, let me help you. We need two things – a home and land to play on from August to November.”

In other words, a saintly act.

Doing the Right Thing

For this week, we are going to try something different. This will be our first guest blog entry and to do the honors is my partner in education, as well as life, Elizabeth McGrath. Looking at the amazing series of news stories streaming out of Happy Valley, otherwise known as State College, PA, over the past several weeks, I was inclined to dedicate some of this space to sharing some of my views about the incident and its rippling aftereffects. However, after listening to what Mrs. McGrath had to say, I happily deferred..... Elizabeth..you're on... :)

Normally, I reserve comments regarding recent events until all sensationalism subsides. In reference to the recent news involving Penn State, I will make an exception. The following is not about football. It is not necessarily about Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky, the Second, Third our Fourth Miles. The entire scope is about "Doing the Right Thing" honoring and protecting children. Despite age differences, experiences, and vocations in life, we in the world are all someone's child.

It is acceptable, commendable, and expected to call authorities in a time of need. Without coaching (and please excuse the word choice), common sense prevails that an ambulance is called for medical emergencies and the police in regard to criminal investigation. The general subjects appropriate to treatment are "who", "what", "when", and "how." The "whys" and particulars to the behavior vary with each inquiry. Blackened eyes, bruises, and broken bones do not happen alone. Someone and something inflicted the pain.

The same thought applies to sexual abuse--who, what, and when. Based on several published documents, Sandusky first abused his authority and position during 1996 to 1998 with a participant in his Second Mile organization. With courage, the young man told his mother, who immediately reported the incident to campus officials. Criminal charges were not filed, though investigators eavesdropped on conversations between Sandusky and the victim's mother where the coach reportedly expressed remorse and shame.

Coach Sandusky retired from the university the following year but maintained entry to the university campus and facilities, after the first allegation? Reporting the incidents to a superior was the most crucial dimension to the case. Those who first reported sexual abuse needed to double and triple check on investigations. Now, it is almost 15 years later and there are eight victims.

What is the right thing? Tell. Document and take every piece of evidence to the police as well, not just university police or college officials. This advice includes every instance of assault--from child abuse, spousal/relationship abuse, to college date rape. The right thing includes additional safeguards in following through each report, training all who work with children from preschool to university for signs of all abuse. When it comes to the right thing for children, break the chain of command and tell.

The modern point of view with any type of activity is to 'not snitch.' That is a huge barrier to overcome. The right thing is to not think of the revenue generated by names and sports brands. If speaking the truth prevents further abuse but decreases revenue, then fine.

Young man, you did the right thing by telling your mother. Thank you for your courage. Mother, you did the right thing by reporting the abuse to the university. Again, thank you for reporting the incident. As for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, university officials and community: how could it grow to at least six additional known reports of abuse without anyone doing the right thing?

Pilot Study Update - Characteristics and Pedagogical Techniques of ESL Teachers

My pilot study into the characteristics and pedagogical techniques of ESL (English as Second Language) Teachers is in full swing. I have conducted four interviews with local teachers and am in the transcribing, member checking and coding process now. The transcribing is becoming difficult as elementary teachers tend to be more rushed and have the capacity to communicate a lot of information in a very short time, thus turning my 4.5 minutes for transcribing each minute of the interview into a 7:1 ratio. Thus, a 17 minute interview is taking two hours to type out.

However, I am gathering great information and developing a number of significant codes. Working with 21 right now, which fall into five categories, but feel that the number of codes will flesh out to 40-50 after I complete the transcription process.

After the class presentation on December 7th, I will certainly aim to post some highlights of the study. Of course, there are issues of maintaining the anonymity of the participants, who I am indebted to for their assistance. Their love for the job is obvious and the energy with which they talk about their students is infectious.

There are a couple of items which I can probably address right now. First, I did not realize how important such a study could be for this region at this time. Granted, a pilot study only clips the top off the iceberg, but I am becoming aware that a more in-depth type of study, especially for a dissertation, could assist a number of school leaders not just here, but in other regions where the ESL program is in its infancy stages. I am seeing the challenges that come when such a program is put into place. There are issues of teachers earning the necessary endorsement, the balance between how often the ESL students should be included in regular education classrooms, testing and accountability, and certainly a number of sensitivity issues, which lead to the larger topic of cultural competence.

At this time, I don't have the answers. But, to mimic a recent Anderson Cooper show commercial, I am developing the questions, and this current study is helping me a great deal to view the larger issues with a keen lens.

PHONICS: A Large Phoneme-Grapheme Frequency Count Revised – Was Fry Right?

Recently, I was looking back at an article that I reviewed a few years ago. Written by Edward Fry for The Journal of Literacy Research and published in the spring of 2004. Fry aims to retrieve previous data gathered by academics such as Hanna et al (1966), Thorndike and Large (1944) and to simplify this data and make it more usable. Fry’s research centers around two questions:

1. What are the most useful (highest frequency) phoneme-grapheme correspondences?
2. What are the most frequent ways of spelling these phonemes?

I found the author’s research to be well prepared and well presented. By using data from over a half-dozen

studies covering a sixty year period, Fry brings a wealth of data to the table. He can divide his study between vowel classification and consonant categories, One interesting note about the former comes from the tidbit that Merriam Webster dictionary’s vowel classification system went from 33 vowel sounds to 22 to facilitate their original algorithms.

The consonant section gets more technical with multiple phonemes and consonant digraphs mentioned at the forefront. Fry points out the differences among the studies while focusing on certain items – such as the digraph TH and how it is used in high frequency words (i.e. this, that, these), but only used in 411 different words. I was surprised by the intensity of the findings and how the author attempts to make sense of such a plethora of information.

It surprised me at the beginning of my English teaching career to learn how little I knew about phonics. I gained a new respect for the remarkable work that reading teachers accomplish on a daily basis. Working with their students is like detective work, in that the teacher employs different techniques to find the problems while simultaneously developing solutions to the specific problem. When I first read this piece, I looked forward to using some of the methods myself to help reading students, but in a sense, I felt like the student. In summary, Fry makes a compelling argument.