Last week, we showed our #CPSDPride by giving a #SuperSchoolShoutout to Lochburn Middle School with math teacher Amelia Pernell and seventh grader DK Crawford.
Pernell joined the Lochburn team shortly after graduating with her master’s degree in 2019. This is her first year as the math department chair and she is enjoying the challenge. “I am proud of myself for stepping into this role and finding my own way to help our team be successful,” she said.
Pernell is driven by understanding what her students need for their future. She instills them with math tools they can use in everyday life. “I want my students to have a support system that makes them feel successful outside of my room so I’m not their only resource,” she said.
Pernell teaches honors algebra and seventh grade math. “I like the real-life concepts in seventh grade when students start solving things that connect to their world,” she said. “You can see the light switch on in their brains between lessons when students learn they have the tools to answer everyday problems.”
In seventh grade, DK is having an “all around” good time. “The teachers are really nice, I have a lot of friends in my class and I’m the class treasurer in ASB,” he said. “It’s cool to learn how to manage money and I get to work with awesome students on my team,” he said.
DK enjoys math class with Amelia and science class where he gets to learn about paleontology and studying maps. However, this year his favorite class is history with his teacher Ms. Sykes. “My mom used to teach me about history and where I’m from, so I think that’s why I still like history a lot,” he said.
DK is excited to play on the Lochburn basketball team this winter but envisions his future on the field, not the court. “My dream is to be in the NFL as a wide receiver,” he said. “I don’t have a specific team I want to play for. I just know it won’t be the Cowboys or the Jaguars.”
Go Lions!
350 word “puff piece” which gives no indication of Lochburn’s academic collapse in 2024. Since May 2024 Lochburn has dropped to 533 out of the State’s 535 middle schools academically. Quite an accomplishment for the Board of Distinction and Superintendent of the Year.
Me Arbeeny. I’m assume you are proud to call yourself a gadfly if that term is still in use. The article is poorly titled. Lochburn is terrible academically but it does have one teacher who seems to have her head on straight.
I’m not sure what your point is. I don’t consider myself a “gadfly” but rather a concerned parent, grandparent and tax paying citizen who lives in the CPSD area.
I did not write this article. It is the product of CPSD’s “community relations” office, not Lakewood CARES.
“Lochburn is terrible academically but it does have one teacher who seems to have her head on straight.” I completely agree with you that there may be superior teachers and students in even the worst academically performing schools in District. Would they not be even better performing if their schools were also better performing? That’s the task before the Board, Superintendent and administration.