Today, Marge Borchert, principal of Allendale Elementary School in the West Seneca Central School District, an inner-ring suburb of Buffalo, NY. joins our honor roll. She loves the children who attend her school. She sees each of them as beautiful human beings, growing and learning, not as data points. Many of her children opted out of the state tests. This caused Ms. Borchert to get a zero growth score. She is so proud of her children that she wears her score as “a badge of honor.”
She wrote the following letter to her students:
Dear Boys & Girls,
I wanted to write you a letter telling you how very much I enjoyed and continue to enjoy all of the painted rocks that you made. They are a great addition to our beautiful garden. I loved looking at each and every one of them this summer. I stopped to admire them when I checked on the flowers that were planted by your parents. Quite honestly, they brought a smile to my face even on rainy days. The rocks are as unique and colorful as each one of you. Each rock is painted with your own unique story.
The butterfly bush that is growing outside of my office window is blooming, and it is the most beautiful shade of purple that I have ever seen. A ruby throated hummingbird has been visiting that bush every day since it bloomed. I am looking forward to seeing a butterfly visit. The baby sparrows in the birdhouse have learned to fly, and have moved away. The crow that was tormenting the baby rabbits seems to have learned not to poke its beak in their home. Several of us watched in astonishment as the mother rabbit chased after that crow, jumped in the air and batted at that crow with its front paw. This was the first time that I have ever seen such a sport! That mother rabbit had strong protective instincts– just like your moms. We can learn so much by observing nature. Who knew that there was so much to !earn by just taking some time to stop, look, and listen.
So…..by now all of you are wondering why I was inspired to write you such a long letter. It is simply for this reason. I want each and every one of you to know that you inspire me on a daily basis. Each and every one of you is unique and colorful in your own special way. Each of you has a special talent, and you are loved. I intend to hold on to these thoughts when I look at the New York State scores, and I encourage your parents to do the same. The scores are not a true picture of who you are in this world. You can and will bloom when you are ready. You will fly when you are ready. It is entirely up to you to decide what you will grow up to be in life. It all depends on you. Remember the mother rabbit who used her own unique talents and skills to “fear that nasty crow nevermore. ”
In my heart — you truly rock!!! I can’t wait to see you in September!!
Love Always,
Mrs. Borchert
P.S. These are the books that I read this summer:
The Diary of Anne Frank
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Recidicide by Kelly Gallagher
The Story Killers by Terrence 0. Moore
David & Goliath by Macolm Gledwell
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Children of the Core by Kris L. Nielsen
The Bible
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane, this is turning out to be one of your greatest days as a blogger! This post from Rochester is so inspiring that I feel like getting qualified to teach in the schools in New York State. I love the message that says ‘you will fly when you are ready’. That could be the definition of what education is all about.
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I agree.
I began my elementary career with such a principal, lucky, lucky me. The day before my first as an elementary school teacher, she joined me in my room and explained that the only thing she asked of me was that I took the children out to play whenever I thought they needed it.
And if my room were noisy with the sound of laughter, she asked me not to quiet the children – fourth graders – when she entered because that was the best part of her day.
Were there more like Ms. Borchert our system of public/neighborhood schools could be humanity’s ace in the hole. It’s about time for a renaissance
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Name names, michael. Who was that wise principal who gave you such sage advice?
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Offtopic – with all the buzz on the news stations about the recently released celebrity photos that were stolen by hackers, there is one detail that is getting left behind in the sordidness.
iCloud was hacked. That’s Apple’s #1 storage product – the conduit by which all a person’s iData is stored and used to communicate between devices.
Do we think Apple had rinky dink security on iCloud? Did they hire some second rate programmers?
If Apple’s cloud isn’t safe – a mega pot of all of our student’s data couldn’t be – this news should be sending up flags about putting stuff in clouds that we don’t want other people to see – including our lifelong school records and health information.
Incidentally, it’s anticipated the next release of iOS will contain an app to condense and store your health information across doctors…
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I am also very concerned. This raises my doubt of rejecting ipads at school to another level.
This school is very fortunate to have such a wonderful principal. I can only hope our new one comes to love the kids as much as the author of this letter does!
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Wow! This piece is fantastic. Thanks so much!
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diane, I posted this on facebook to let people know how threatened we are in California. the sf chronicle just posted an editorial attacking torlakson and promoting his opponent. this is very scary. they get to say their people are reformers, makes me crazy. can you continue to publicize this election, held in only 2 months? torlakson specifically being attacked for appealing vergara.
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Words used with incredible artistry.
Thank you for sharing this, Dr. Ravitch.
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I agree.
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What a lovely and joyful letter. My heart sings reading this but my head is heavy as this is but one principal in a sea of many (who are as good inside but who do not follow her brave ways). There are so many principals out there “waiting to be as good” but who currently are mired in reams of data and tracking related reports and feel shackled by the reforms. They know inside THIS CURRENT REGIME IS WRONG. I hope they read this Rochester principal’s letter and feel inspired to speak out too. In unison there is hope for voices to be heard. Children deserve to love learning and to love school because it enables them to do so. Here is my question… are we teachers and principals mandated to report Arne Duncan for mandating policy that is tantamount to child abuse and bullying?
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Marge Borchert, thank you for gifting this message of love and dignity to the children in your care. Caring words are never forgotten by children, and always strengthen their fragile hearts and souls. In modeling this type of loving guidance, and in the leadership you must likely model for staff and parents daily, I am positive, the students in your school will grow into absolutely compassionate, amazing individuals. And Diane, thank you for sharing this wonderful inspiration with all your readers. What a gift both of you are to children!
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There are so many decent and compassionate people hurt and destroyed by the hatred and greed of the reform movement.
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THIS is the person I want in charge of my child’s school.
I bet Bill Gates tries to hire her for his kids’ school.
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Just to clarify, Marge Borchert is principal of Allendale Elementary School in the West Seneca Central School District, an inner-ring suburb of Buffalo, NY.
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Marge Borchert’s delightfully, descriptive message brought tears to my eyes. She has tapped into the energy that makes the gardens grow. Kindness, empathy, encouragement, insightfulness, keen sensitivity, coupled with great intelligence sums up to a Master educator: Marge Borchert. I am sending this message to the four corners of the earth.
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“fear that nasty crow nevermore.”
I can see the meme now! She certainly belongs on the Honor Roll.
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Thank you both for reminding us on this Labor Day of who it is we labor for.
I’m wondering, Diane, if it might be possible to post the names on your Honor Roll on your webpage on a continual basis. On those days when the nasty crow is hovering nearby, it would be a balm to click a link to one of our heroes to inspire each of us to take a swipe like the mother rabbit.
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Good idea, Christine
I think there is a category button
If you open honor roll, the posts pop up
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What times we live in when—
“One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.” [May Sarton]
A worthy addition to Diane’s honor roll.
A wonderful posting.
😎
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Never thought a West Seneca Principal could be considered a Rochester one!
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My mistake
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Apologies… think this was my mistake not Diane’s (from my first comment)!
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Mrs. Borchert is someone who deserves to be applauded for her wisdom is recognizing while it is important to stimulate a human mind, it is not important to make a mind a statistic by creating data to determine someone’s ability to learn.
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Marge,
Were I to be so lucky to have as enlightened administrator as you! (and I am certainly no fan of the vast majority of administrators) May you have an especially great year with your students and teachers and may the karma come around and give you some big abrazos and besos!!!
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With apologies to Edgar Allen Poe
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Duncan just above my classroom door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow: Common Core;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies doting on the Core
Shall be lifted – nevermore!
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SomeDAM Poet:
TAGO!
😎
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Oh, please! Tell me what TAGO is!
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That’s A Good One!
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Special Educator NY: all credit to Duane Swacker—
T[hat’s]AG[ood]O[ne]!
😎
And to the most esteemed SomeDAM Poet:
I am surprised that you don’t seem to know the Secretary of Education’s favorite song.
According to the usual unconfirmed rumors, it is pasted on the ceiling of his DOE office. So on those frequent occasions when he is resting from his tiresome toiling on behalf of “the kids” he can recite the “Song of Myself.” [Note: he, er, “borrowed” without attribution the title—as educrats are wont to do with many things on their resumés—from Walt Whitman, just as he, er, borrowed the words and tune to the song. But let’s leave that for another occasion…]
“I could wile away the hours
Conferrin’ with the flowers
Consultin’ with the rain
And my head I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’
If I only had a brain.”
Wow! Talk about not seeking refuge in the unexamined life! Socrates—we’ve got a live one!
😧
The only catch: he hasn’t told his speechwriters.
*But not to worry: they already know. That’s why in his speeches over the last two years he is steadfastly for & steadfastly against & steadfastly somewhat for/somewhat against high-stakes standardized testing.
Rheeally! In a Johnsonally sort of way…*
😏
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Allendale elementary sounds like a great school that no doubt reinforces the cohesion of neighborhood where it is located. I am surprised that an inner ring suburban school of Buffalo is 95% white, has only 28% of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch, and has no ELL students, but I don’t know much about the geography of Buffalo.
All demographic data from this site: http://www.greatschools.org/new-york/west-seneca/4054-Allendale-Elementary-School/?tab=demographics
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Well put! We forget sometimes that each child is not molded and formed the same way as others are. We need to look at each child to see what they can do and accomplish.
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I wonder if you need shoes in Heaven.
That’s the best I can do for a catchy opening. I’m sorry.
One of the most splendid teachers I never met just passed away.
I never once met her.
Never heard her voice or studied her face. I don’t know how tall she was or how she styled herself. But I will forever wonder what sort of shoes she wore.
Marge Borchert. That was her name. Try not to forget it.
Marge was a long-time principal at Allendale Elementary School in the West Seneca Central School District … outside of Buffalo.
She slipped me the news of her sudden retirement decision in mid-June. Abrupt stuff. Hinted it was a health decision. People my age know the code.
We’d met in the internet ether a few months earlier. We were destined to crash into one another because we shared an identical pledge … to protect children. And their childhood.
So I set out to scribble stuff and Marge went about teaching kids to marvel at ruby-throated hummingbirds and purple bushes. And to wonder about shoes.
Marge was way over-supplied with clever. And she was a real-deal anti-testing warrior. A total original.
While other school leaders practiced solemn soliloquies or earned fire-brand status with hot speeches, Marge would have none of that spotlight stuff.
Instead … she whispered directly to her children in a letter. But she whispered loudly enough so that their parents could eavesdrop … and understand her sweet magic.
There were no pre-test rah-rah sessions or post-test number-crunching. Nothing like that at all.
So … in a quiet rage against this testing madness … Marge penned this letter to every child and carried on about painted rocks and ”a butterfly bush that is growing outside of my office window”.
And she huffed sweetly about some menacing crow she and some students encountered in the woods that was “tormenting the baby rabbits” … and how it had been run out off by a very brave mother-rabbit who “jumped in the air and batted at that crow with its front paw.”
That … Marge thought … was the sort of drama her kids needed. Not that testing drama.
And then she hat-tipped every single mom by comparing them to that fearless mother-rabbit. Brilliant. That’s how she earned the love of those kids and the devotion of those parents. And that’s how… together … they body-slammed those miserable tests.
And her school not only had opt-out numbers to boast about, but state scores that indicated zero growth. Absolutely ZERO! And Marge was totally delighted with ZERO because that wasn’t the sort of growth she wanted for her kids. And the parents agreed.
So the parents were on board with hummingbirds and painted rocks and hero rabbits. And Marge Borchert went about saving childhood. And asking for shoes.
Shoes.
“Gently travelled shoes” as she called them.
Shoes for less fortunates in far away places like Uganda and Haiti and India. Shoes for kids to wear to school. Shoes to start a micro-business. Shoes that wouldn’t meet their end in a dreadful landfill.
And slowly the shoes piled up in her school.
They’d arrive in single pairs or in great big bags. She’d find shoes dangling from her door knob or piled on the school steps.
All sorts of shoes. Elegant and practical. Brand new and not-so-brand new. Some for kids and some for bigger feet.
The kids sorted them and banded then and re-laced them. And Marge turned those shoes into imaginary passports by asking kids to wonder where those shoes had been. Who had walked in them. And what the future had in store for those sneakers and sandals and boots.
“We had some very animated conversations about where our shoes had walked, what nature trails they might have covered, what animals they may have seen, and what sort of seeds might be stuck to the bottom off the shoes.”
What wonder! What sorry folks we’d be without sweet wonder.
Those shoes taught her children all about charity, too … which is the first shuffle to understanding caritas … a sacred sort of love I first learned about from my almost-Jesuit father.
Caritas is mankind’s elixir. The tonic for all humanity. And Marge made certain her cherubs had their first sip with her.
And now Marge is no longer here. Called away.
But there are still lots of tiny souls who need to walk in mini-forests … and laugh at nutty squirrels … and wonder why forest moss looks just like carpet.
And they also need to learn that their lives on this planet can be measured in all sorts of different ways. Perhaps by shoelaces. Or by kindnesses they do for people who live only in their imagination … or in their heart.
Who wouldn’t want their child in the company of a Marge Borchert?
Now … now she’s off on another sweet adventure … in a new dimension. Perhaps called away because her lessons are complete. And the rest is up to us.
Or maybe God wants Marge there … to teach some very little angels all about red-throated hummingbirds. And painted rocks. And shoes that tell the most wonderful stories.
Denis Ian
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