Keeping kids
in check-mate

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Brandon Rivera’s past behavioral problems in school landed him in a special classroom at Austin Meehan Middle School in Mayfair.
The youngster’s problems started at Solomon Solis-Cohen School, but he seems to have responded to the education program offered at Meehan by Arcadia University’s Building Behavior and Educational Support Teams, or B2EST.
"It’s a great atmosphere. I get emotional support from my teachers," Brandon said of John Barry and Shanga Tabb. "I enjoy going to school every day."
Today, Brandon is 14 and in eighth grade. He’s headed to a traditional classroom at Abraham Lincoln High School next year.
As part of the B2EST program, Brandon and his classmates play chess. The educators use the game to teach the students life lessons such as patience and how to strategize and plan ahead in a situation where actions have consequences.
"The program is based on positive behavior support, and I think those skills are very important," said Krystal Buhr, who teaches chess.
The B2EST program is at six schools: Meehan, Warren Harding Middle School in Frankford, H.R. Edmunds School in Northwood, Theodore Roosevelt Middle School in Germantown and Samuel Pennypacker School and Morris Leeds Middle School, both in West Oak Lane.
Buhr held an elimination tournament in the schools and selected the top 16 players to compete at the third annual B2EST Activity Day at Arcadia’s campus in Glenside, Montgomery County.
Meehan eighth-grader Thomas Maguire stormed into the semifinals with a pair of four-move checkmate victories over opponents from Harding. Rivera also won his first two games. Maguire and Rivera assured an all-Meehan final when they beat opponents from Leeds in the semifinals.
In the championship game, Rivera was a surprising winner over Maguire, who had gotten the better of him during the year. The winner will receive a bicycle.
The intense chess competition was only one part of an activity-filled day for the students. They played basketball and football, ate breakfast and lunch, watched a magic show, went on a scavenger hunt, made arts and crafts and built furniture in a partnership with IKEA. The students proudly wore commemorative T-shirts with a different color representing each school.
The day was the culmination of a year of programming that specializes in developing positive and effective approaches to deal with challenging behaviors. The ultimate goal is to improve academic performance and reduce discipline referrals and school violence.
The students are placed in the class if they are repeatedly late for school, refuse to do their work, disrupt the class, throw temper tantrums or commit other acts of disobedience.
Vicki Wilkinson teaches a dozen sixth- to eighth-graders at Harding. She uses a curriculum designed by the School District of Philadelphia and a behavioral concept developed by Arcadia.
Wilkinson works with a colleague, meaning there are two teachers for 12 students. In a traditional classroom, a troublemaker can be with 30 or so other young people who want to learn — a ratio that can be frustrating to the lone teacher.
Having 12 behavior problems alone in one classroom is a challenge, according to Wilkinson, but it allows the teachers to tailor their programs to the students’ needs.
"Sometimes it causes them to feed off each other, but it works out well for most of the children," she said.
Samara Mitchell likes the B2EST program. Her 11-year-old son, Todd Hill, is a sixth-grader at Edmunds, and she’s seen improvement in him.
"He’s doing really well," she said. "He’s learned so much in that classroom. He’s on the honor roll."
Maguire, the chess tournament runner-up, likes the mental aspect of the game and thinks it is fun at the same time.
His troubles in school started when he was at Henry Lawton School, but he’s now ticketed for mainstream classes at Lincoln or Bensalem high schools. He gives credit to his B2EST teachers.
"They gave me the work that I needed to do," he said.
Meehan eighth-grader William Rucker, who has been in a B2EST classroom for two years, spent the activity day building bookshelves and doing arts and crafts. He’s looking forward to attending Thomas A. Edison High School now that his teachers have shown him the importance of schoolwork.
"They helped me pass," he said. "I’m doing all my work." ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com