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Discipline the focus for Combs
He replaces Jim Sims who took a position in Georgia. Combs got his Bachelor's degree at Alabama where he played football as a backup kicker for former coach Bill Curry. In his last year, the team won the SEC and went to the Sugar Bowl. He received his Master's degree from Alabama State University. Although he grew up in Mobile, Combs said he was already familiar with Thomasville. "I have a lot of family in Marengo County, that's where most of us are from," he said. "I knew the schools were a very good situation here in Thomasville and I always said if I become an administrator, I would come here." While only in his first year as an administrator, Combs isn't waiting to see if he can make a positive impact. He's bringing some fresh ideas about discipline to the school this year. The first change includes the institution of after-school detention. He pulls out a stack of discipline write-ups for students. "This is as thick as what we had at Denton Middle School (in Mobile) but here, they're for much more minor things," he said. The detention program is designed to give time back to the teacher in the classroom when dealing with those minor things. Now, instead of writing up a student, and spending time it might take to administer corporal punishment, the teacher can now send students to afterschool detention to work instead. "I saw in Mobile where the teachers didn't feel like they had any power to deal with student behavior issues and here, we were taking a lot of time away from the classroom dealing with minor violations," Combs said. "I told the teachers, you give me the kids." Combs himself administers the detention program. He's said he's already seen some changes. "Some of these kids would much rather get a paddling, because it's over a minute later. But here, I'm calling his or her parents, and if they're taking time out of our day, we're going to take time out of their day." But it's not all about the punishment. Combs has also instituted a program of giving out cards called "gotchas" for kids who are caught doing good things, and teachers are encouraged to give them to the students who may be struggling with discipline problems but are doing well at a certain point. Students can save them and spend them on prizes later in the year. Combs said the prizes will range all the way to iPods the student will be able to purchase if they've garnered enough of the tickets. "It's a way to reward good behavior and we're already seeing some positive reinforcement," he said. Combs knows he has a difficult task. "This is the toughest age to teach, even the Bible talks a lot about adolescence, but we're going to make something positive come out of this." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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