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CLIFTON Bailey should have, long ago, been recognized for the hero he has been in Hawaii education. As a brand new principal, he had the courage to embark on a new and untried school reform path even though it departed from the direction in which the Department of Education was moving. Bailey inspired
creativity in teachersFor 12 years he continued on his way, with minimal support and acknowledgment, and without the formal up-the-line recognition due a successful reformer.
He had seen ills he could not abide and had the courage to confront them head on.
Bailey was named principal of Kapaa Elementary in February 1989, his first and only principalship. He was disturbed to find youngsters as young as 7 being slotted into tracks from which they could never escape.
He was saddened to see children still in elementary school being taught in high school fashion, with 50-minute classes and a different teacher for each subject. He was dismayed about the tight grade-level organization that interfered with fourth-grade teachers coordinating with third and fifth.
So he did something about it. When the chairman of the Senate Education Committee visited Kauai and publicly declared Kapaa to be too big, Bailey saw his opportunity. He realized that he could help Kapaa's 1,500 youngsters by dividing the mammoth campus into separate schools within schools.
He did so by giving teachers the opportunity to design and operate their own distinctive programs collaboratively.
He used to tell the story of how, having obtained a grant from the Senate to pursue the idea, he sadly announced he was returning it when no groups stepped forward. Finally, the night before the deadline, two groups did step forward albeit tentatively.
Over the years, it grew to five groups and, finally, eight. Today, there are seven.
The arrangement had been tried on the mainland but was brand new to Hawaii. Bailey made it work.
He did so by empowering teachers to be creative and then helping them to become so.
He used discretionary funds that came his way to employ a "teacher facilitator," a role he created to provide assistance to teachers on whatever matters they sought help in, including grantwriting.
Bailey put the teachers in charge of their own design teams. Not all Kapaa teachers were enthusiastic about the new arrangement, but on anonymous questionnaires several years later, more than 90 percent acknowledged that they were being encouraged to stretch and grow, and that they were being helped by the principal in assuming the risks of trying new teaching approaches.
He knew how to be a leader. He put assistant principals in charge of managing the school, while he focused on leading it. And while teachers are always suspicious of administrators, Bailey's gentle, patient manner, and his transparent desire to see people grow narrowed the typical divide between teacher and principal.
IT'S too bad we don't have medals for educators, as we do for soldiers. Bailey certainly earned one. In a highly centralized system like Hawaii's schools, he showed extraordinary courage in continuously risking his personal welfare -- his professional future -- for the children in his care.
It took an accomplished leader and a solid administrator, as well as a person willing to dedicate himself completely to the task, like Cliff Bailey. With his death, he leaves a terrible void. The children of Hawaii have lost a champion who not only empathized but who really managed to come through for them.
Mary Anne Raywid is an Oahu resident and
a nationally recognized expert on education
policy and reform.