Monday, May 31, 1999

Principal imparts wisdom in book

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25-year career offers insight

BY MIRIAM SMITH
The Cincinnati Enquirer

John Lazares wrote Please Don't Call My Mother years ago, but didn't have time to shop it around. | ZOOM |

        The student who started it all was finally scared.

        The eighth-grader at Wilson Junior High School in Hamilton was a frequent visitor to then-Principal John Lazares, who had used most every legal disciplinary tool.

        Exasperated, Mr. Lazares told the boy that maybe it was time for his mother to sit with him during class.

        Suddenly, the student pleaded, “Mr. Lazares, do anything you want to me ... but please, don't call my mother.”

        That reaction sparked a disciplinary technique at Wilson in 1987 that garnered national attention for Mr. Lazares: If parents were willing to spend a day or two in class, their child's three- or five-day suspension would be lifted.

        That attention, including a segment on NBC Nightly News, led to about 20,000 letters from people wanting to know more about Mr. Lazares' programs.

        Many asked whether he'd written a book about his experiences.

Shelved for a while
        Then Mr. Lazares — with help from Coleen Armstrong, a Hamilton High School English teacher — spent three years on and off writing about his experiences and the importance of parental intervention. But he had to put the manuscript on the shelf because he didn't have time to market it.

        He dusted it off two years ago after meeting Judy Wood, a professor of special education at Virginia Commonwealth University who publishes educational books.

        Ms. Wood was conducting in-service training for Warren County administrators. When she heard about some of Mr. Lazares' techniques, she asked: “Can I see your manuscript?”

        In December, he learned it was being published.

        Now, 12 years after that life-changing disciplinary encounter, Please Don't Call My Mother: An Administrative Philosophy and Parental Intervention Plan That Works is being sold at independent bookstores in Greater Cincinnati.

At Barnes & Noble
        The 52-page book uses humor and anecdotes and addresses student discipline; parental involvement; school management; public relations as a tool; and student, teacher and parental morale.

        Brandon Koch, spokesman for Judy Wood Publishing Co. of Richmond, Va., said Please Don't Call My Mother is easy to read and targets parents, teachers and administrators. It will soon be picked up locally by Barnes & Noble bookstores, Mr. Koch said.

        William Drury, associate dean of the University of Dayton's School of Education and

        Allied Professions, said the business of having parents sitting in class with their children is not something new. However, Mr. Lazares made the technique part of the school's discipline policies at Wilson, he said.

        “My own experience would lead me to believe with some children it would certainly be effective,” said Mr. Drury, a former superintendent at Beavercreek Schools near Dayton. “I think given our social structure today and the problems schools are having with discipline, I'd say any attempt to improve that situation is a positive.”

        Bringing parents into the classroom won't help students in all situations, he said. Yet, “the more we involve parents in the education of children, the more we get them to be part of the solution,” Mr. Drury said.

        Mr. Lazares, an educator for 25 years, is now superintendent of the Warren County Educational Service Center. In the past 10 years, he's also been superintendent of Norwood City Schools and Kings Local School District and last year launched the Warren County Alternative Center.

        “Parents are the key to their children's education,” he said. “Schools need to get parents involved as best as possible. The more parent involvement you have, the better off you are.”

        Mr. Lazares, who lives in Maineville with his wife, Patricia, and children Gus and Eleni, said school leaders and parents need to work to bridge a perceived gap in education. “It seems like it's a battleground between parents and schools. You're dealing with people's most precious things — their children,” he said.

        He said parents need to compete with their busy schedules to make time for their children, and teachers must compete with children's shrinking attention spans. “Children need a lot more attention ... A lot of parents are exhausted from ... work. They don't have that extra time and energy to spend with their children.”

        A series of school shootings across the nation has brought renewed awareness to how societal problems have filtered into the schools, Mr. Lazares said.

        After spending his career in the schools, Mr. Lazares would impart: “That children are our most valuable resource and if we don't spend the time with children, don't teach them the simple wrongs and rights, as a society we're going to pay for it down the road.”

       

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