I recently had the opportunity to stop by and tour the Camelot
school in Pensacola—and I was glad I did.
Camelot is an alternative school for students who have been
removed from their regular classes, students who have failed to meet
established behavior expectations. While
I had heard about the great things happening at Camelot, I had not yet had the
opportunity to drop in and visit until one day this past week.
Executive Director Drew Stem and several of his staff
greeted me, and took time to show me around the classrooms and the facility; they
also explained some of the successful techniques utilized at Camelot to
maintain order, discipline, and learning.
One of the interesting things that Camelot does is to allow
students to “earn” their way into positions of authority. The “Tiger-Shark” is a designation that
carries with it certain privileges and a different uniform (yes, all students
at Camelot wear uniforms), and so therefore most of the students who come to
Camelot want to achieve this status.
Tiger-Sharks are leaders in the school, they set the examples for other
students by following house rules such as the school’s prohibition on talking
between classes as students “transition” from one class to another. These students also take on responsibilities
like showing guests around the campus.
My two “Tiger-Shark” escorts were Tevin and Brittany. They were very polite and did a very good
