Only 12 schools earned this national distinction, and a Topeka-area school is one of them

Joshua Snyder is used to people asking God to bless him after telling they hear that he works at a middle school.

The Seaman Middle School principal understands the rap that middle schools get — research shows that the elementary-to-middle school transition is usually the most challenging in all of education.

But if that transition is challenging for students, it also represents their first experience with freedom in school, Snyder argues. For new middle school students, gone are the days when the students move through hallways in single file lines, and students even earn the freedom to pick many of their classes.

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"It's one of the hardest times for our kids because they're getting that opportunity to exercise freedom, and with freedom comes expectations," he said. "But the cool thing is, if you model your school the right way, it gives the kids the opportunity to make choices that lead to success."

It's an approach that has worked well for Seaman Middle School in the past few years, and it's one that is earning the school national recognition.

Seaman Middle School is one of 12 recipients of the Association for Middle Level Education's inaugural School of Distinction award.

The award "both recognize(s) exemplary schools and guide(s) them through a process of strategic vision setting to help foster ongoing growth and success."

“We are excited to champion these schools and look forward to seeing them grow and positively impact their students,” Lisa Harrison, chair of the organization's Board of Trustees, said in a release. “We congratulate all of the dedicated educators and their respective school communities on this outstanding achievement.”

Seaman Middle School's distinction award reflects years of work

As a whole, Seaman USD 345 has a rich history of academic and extracurricular excellence, Snyder said, and the AMLE award and others has only been a been a byproduct of the school's focus on supporting students.

"It reinforces the work we've been doing for a long time," Snyder said. "All we needed to do was fine-tune a few things, and we did that, we took off."

Seaman Middle School, as well as several Seaman elementary schools, have also been named Project Lead the Way Distinguished Schools for the past two school years.

For the AMLE award, though, schools had to pre-qualify to even apply for the inaugural award. Schools were initially evaluated in various categories, including culture and community, curriculum and instruction, and assessment and leadership.

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Seaman Middle School scored near the top for all three categories, after which the school was allowed to apply in November for the final award. A review committee then held a day of interviews with several school stakeholder groups to gauge how their thoughts correlate to the school's hard numbers.

That committee was particularly impressed with family and student responses about their feelings toward the school.

"We were always hopeful we'd win the award, but in the end, just having the opportunity to learn all the great things families think about the school and having a moment to celebrate with the people you work with — that was just the cherry on the cake," Snyder said.

Award affirms everyone in the Seaman Middle School community

In qualifying to apply for the award, Seaman Middle School scored particularly high in the leadership category, which Snyder said was more a reflection on the school's administration model rather than on him personally.

Most decisions are made at the ground level, with three separate leadership teams meeting with the school's constituencies to make informed decisions on building matters.

Student support is more than just teachers, though, Snyder said. The school's cooks, custodians, paraprofessionals and secretaries are as much a part of the school family as their licensed educator peers.

While not directly in the classroom, their work to keep students clean, healthy and fed in the classroom has also been a critical component of the school's success and awards.

"This award validates those people, too, who might not be seen as often," Snyder said. "A great school is made up not just of one person, but the sum of its parts."

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Although it's just a few weeks into the summer, Snyder said school staff and leaders are already thinking to the future. Seaman Middle School and the eleven other Schools of Distinction will be recognized in November at the organization's annual conference in Orlando.

The AMLE award is a reason to celebrate, but he said it's mostly a recognition of the school's ongoing journey to prepare children for success.

If there's anything challenging about middle school, it's only in learning how to accommodate children as they transition to teenagers, Snyder said, and celebrating when the school does it well.

"I can tell you, the children who come here just grow into themselves and become great people," the principal said. "So yes, middle school can be an awkward place, but we're good with awkward."

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Seaman Middle named national School of Distinction