Word: hankerson
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...turn those problems around. Instead of suspending football at the school altogether, reform-minded Miami-Dade Schools superintendent Rudy Crew purged much of Northwestern's administrative and football coaching staff. Then, he brought back a respected former Northwestern head coach, Billy Rolle, and hired a veteran principal, Charles Hankerson, with a mandate to emphasize grades over gridiron. "Monday through Friday we're really not talking about football," says Hankerson. "In some ways, we have to re-culturalize a whole population here, but I think we're having success driving the message home...
...school loudspeaker too often missing before. Students who participate in sports and extracurricular activities must attend a Saturday school program - and are urged to bring parents along - to keep up in the classroom. All kids must wear their school uniforms and IDs - although, if they meet weekly attendance targets Hankerson sets, they can wear blue jeans on Fridays. That program has helped raise average student attendance this year to almost 94% - a key to raising class performance, say teachers...
...Incentives apply to the football players, too: to stay on the team, they must keep a 2.5 grade-point average (out of a possible 4). Staff and students agree that Hankerson, himself a former Miami high school basketball star, has generated a renewed air of discipline and academic purpose. "We've only had a couple fights on campus this year, where we'd probably already had 15 this time last year," says Marcus Forston, 18, a senior defensive tackle with a 3.5 GPA. "We're getting pushed in the right direction...
...that reason, Powell - who like many critics remains skeptical about Northwestern football reform - disagreed with allowing the Bulls to travel to Texas in September to play the nation's No. 2-ranked team, Southlake Carroll High School, in a game televised nationally on ESPN. (Northwestern won, 29-21.) Hankerson insists it was proper to let his kids enjoy a national spotlight, "as long as they prove they're student-athletes with good character. They know now they have to earn the opportunity, and this year's team has. They're good young...
...Still, Hankerson acknowledges that the U.S. has "lost perspective about what sports should be at this age." Northwestern is hardly the only prep football powerhouse to face embarrassment of late. Nor are such problems confined to poor minority schools. An investigation recently found that staff at Hoover High School in affluent, mostly white Hoover, Ala., had changed grades for football players. So, while the Northwestern Bulls handily won their second consecutive state championship in last Saturday's final, to Hankerson, "our true state championship comes in March, when our students take the FCAT." His goal: to raise Northwestern's grade...