At the Checkout Lane, Helping Hart Middle Is as Simple as Sliding a Card

If you have despaired for the District's public schools but wondered what you could actually do to help, I have a suggestion: If you shop at Giant or Safeway, you can help provide a much-needed boost to one school that's trying to turn itself around.

That school is Charles Hart Middle School in Southeast. It's the school I'm hoping readers will support with their Giant and Safeway loyalty club cards. More on that later, but first I want to tell you about Hart. It's a school that last year was in the news for all the wrong reasons: students assaulting students; students assaulting teachers; parents assaulting teachers. Almost lost in the melee were these facts: Just 17 percent of Hart's students are proficient in reading; 13 percent are proficient in math.

"That's unacceptable, because they're smarter than that," said Billy Kearney, Hart's principal, as he showed me around the school recently.

We walked past a classroom the door of which was covered in signs riffing on the familiar milk campaign: "Got Compassion?" "Got Love?" "Got Pride?" "Got Dedication?" It was a reminder that inner-city schools face challenges beyond merely teaching the times tables. If there are problems in the community, there are problems in the school. Thirty-five families with kids at Hart are homeless. Most of the toddlers who will go to day care when Hart's recently refurbished preschool reopens soon are the children of current Hart students. Multiple social services agencies have a presence at Hart, helping to remove barriers, said Principal Kearney, "so kids, when they come, can focus on learning."

That wasn't always so easy last year, when numerous fights broke out. Two principals were let go in quick succession, and Billy Kearney was brought in. He grew up in Silver Spring, graduated from Kennedy High School and earned an engineering degree from North Carolina A&T. His heart wasn't in engineering, and he gravitated toward teaching, joining Teach for America in 1994 and teaching math and science at a D.C. junior high. He worked for Teach for America in New York, which is where he met Michelle Rhee. When she became chancellor she plucked him from Memphis, where he was the director of that city's New Leaders for New Schools program. Before he took the helm at Hart, he worked selecting principals for D.C. schools that had been restructured.

"Last year, all of the fights were after lunch," he told me. And the majority of the fights were girls fighting girls -- usually after being egged on by boys. Principal Kearney's solution: The girls eat lunch together, while the boys cool their heels in the gym. Then the boys eat lunch.

"It's a lot more manageable," he said. This year -- knock wood -- there haven't been any fights.

The students aren't happy with the change. They come up to Principal Kearney in the halls and ask when boys and girls will be eating together again.

"I tell them, 'You all get to eat together when you all make the honor roll.' " (It's also helped that Hart has dropped the sixth grade and is now only seventh and eighth grade, with a student population to 430.)

What would Principal Kearney like to spend the Giant and Safeway money on? Computers for students is one possibility. Another is enrichment programs to help bridge the gap between middle school and high school. There are intensive summer programs that cost as little as $100 and help boot-camp students before starting ninth grade. That's out of reach for some Hart parents.

But, with a little help from the community, it doesn't have to be.

Helping Hart

If you have a loyalty card that isn't assigned to an area school, please designate that it raise money for Hart. Here's how:

Giant's program, A+ BonusBucks, runs from Friday to March 25. People must re-enroll their Giant cards every year. You can do that at http://www.giantfood.com/aplus. Put in your 12-digit Giant card number and the first three letters of your last name and enter Charles Hart Middle School's identification number: 00271. Or you can call 877-275-2758. (If you don't know your Giant card number, call 877-366-2668.)

Safeway's rebate program runs from October through May and is handled by the California company eScrip. Participants must renew every year. To re-enroll, go to http://www.escrip.com and click on the red check mark that says "Renew your commitment to Safeway stores." Search for Hart, or enter the school's Safeway group ID number: 500023031. To sign up, go to http://www.escrip.com and click "1. Sign Up." You'll need the 11-digit number from your Safeway card. If you punch in your phone number at checkout instead of using your card, you can get your card number by calling 877-723-3929.

Having problems? E-mail me and I'll try to help: kellyj@washpost.com.