SOLVED. Non-fiction: headmistress writes about her experience turning around a no-hope school. [s]

[Sarah]

I read this in abbreviated form in a Readers' Digest magazine. Probably in the '80s, possibly later. The book is *not* LouAnne Johnson's 'Dangerous Minds'/'My Posse Don't Do Homework', but is same genre; the author tells her story of taking up a job as headmistress at a no-hope school (I think inner city) and making a difference by her willingness and optimism. Pretty sure it was in the USA.

Bits I remember:

On the first day, she complains to the janitor about the urine smell in the toilets. He tells her it's soaked so deeply into the floor that there's nothing to be done about it. She proves him wrong by scrubbing the floor herself and getting the smell out. This makes a good impression straight away, because the staff now all know there's no job she considers herself above doing.

At one point, someone official who's come in from outside to test the children tests a child who's supposed to be too badly learning disabled to manage in a normal class but was making good progress in such a class with a sympathetic teacher; the tester ignores what the staff have to say about the child's progress and just insists that the child has to be in the class for children with more severe learning disabilities. The teacher who's been teaching the child simply waits until this person has gone and then goes and leads the child out of the other classroom and back to hers.

There is some talk near the end about the crack epidemic and how badly prenatal crack exposure is damaging children's brains.

Thanks.

[Rainbowheart]

For the Children?

[Sarah]

That's it! I checked the snippet view on Google Books, and could see bits there about the scene with her scrubbing the toilet floors. Thank you!

[Rainbowheart]

Awesome, glad to help out!