Grady lost many valuable faculty members during the teacher transfer. Mr Harold Miller, a former assistant principal, and a friend to many of the students and teachers was asked by the SOUTHERNER to write about his new school.
Any attempt to put my feelings about Grady High School on paper would be an impossible task. I always felt that each of you was my children -- all 1300 of you. So, it was with deep regret that I had to transfer to another school. However, this is not the time or place to consider the past, but the future. You, the students, are the future and what is best for you is what is important.
NEW FRIENDS
Howard High School is the fourth Atlanta school I have been assigned to
during my tenure in the Atlanta System. I hated leaving each one of them,
but I soon found people are the same where ever you go. No one likes leaving
a place where he knows all the people; where he has the security of friends;
where he knows the routine. This fear of the unknown is one of the problems
transfer teachers faced all over tile city, and it was a factor in the unrest
that went with these transfers. You have and will face this same fear of
the unknown many times in your I lives.
People are people whoever or wherever they may be. Black, white, red, or yellow -- all people react to the same basic principles. Everyone has desires, dreams, and goals, and we can learn from each other.
GOOD AND BAD
I feel that I have benefitted a great deal from my experiences at my new
school. The students here are just like those at Grady -- 95% are good sound
citizens and your problems come from the other five percent. As you know,
I have great faith in your young people of today.
My reception at Howard High School has been excellent by faculty and students alike. Had I been given a choice in my transfer, I would have chosen Howard. It will take time until the new teachers and myself can master all the new ways of doing certain things. Mr. Ashmore and your new teachers face the same problems-, so please help them by being in the right place with the right attitude.
The problems throughout the city since the teacher transfer were, in the main, created by the individual teachers. I feel the basic reasons for these problems were failure to adapt to new situations with the right attitude either on tile part of the teacher, the students, or the school administration. So work at it -- go up to new teachers and tell them your name, etc., in that "good old Grady spirit" that I remember so well and see the results.
MELTING POT
Thus, I leave a challenge to each of you. Here at Howard, the student body
is of just one race and we do not have some of the problems you have. Grady
has always had varied racial and religious groups in the student body. You
are the future; and, you can prove to the city, state, and nation that all
people can work together for the common good of all. I know you will!
All of you will always have a place in my thoughts, and I will try to come back from time to time and visit.
May God Bless each of you,
Harold B. Miller