BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — Ben Hawkins is coming back to the Bradford School District, this time in his first position as principal at Bradford Middle School.
Born and raised in Bradford County, Hawkins is a 1992 graduate of Bradford High and describes his youth as a typical small-town experience.
He went on to study psychology and sociology at the University of Florida with an eye to toward counseling. It was during an internship at a boys’ youth ranch that he decided he would like to work with kids before they found themselves in that situation and steer them to a better path.
That turned him to teaching and coaching. He began at Bradford’s former Renaissance Center before teaching intensive reading at the middle school. He also began coaching and transitioned to the high school where he taught American government and economics and served as a resource teacher for ESE students. Budget cuts took him back to the middle school where he continued working with ESE students and co-teaching social science before bouncing back to teach ESE students at the high school.
In addition to kids with physical or mental disabilities, Hawkins said he feels an affinity for working with troubled students.
“No kid does anything for no reason,” he said. “There’s always a reason. It’s just whether they trust you enough to share with you, or there’s trauma or what have you. So, the first thing that most of these kids do is they act out or misbehave because they want people or expect people to just toss them aside and disregard them.”
“That’s never really worked on me because I know it’s just a cloak, a shield. So that’s when you kind of dig in. You’ve got to get in there to do the heavy lifting, and hopefully, you make a change.”
Hawkins is grateful for second changes. Around 10 years ago, the district was projecting he would go into administration, but his life took an unexpected turn. He and his wife were on vacation when he was attacked verbally and physically in a casino by a man he described as intoxicated. Hawkins said he was struck multiple times, and when he retaliated with a single blow, it proved fatal. The teacher and future administrator was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 90 days in jail.
It was a life-altering event that showed Hawkins who in his life was genuinely there for him. It has also become a way of relating to kids when he speaks to them about the importance of life decisions and how five seconds can truly change your life and someone else’s. He is living proof that it doesn’t have to destroy you.
“If you are consistent, hardworking, and truly show people who you are, I would say you can come out of just about anything,” he said. “How people are resilient and rebound from things, I think that’s something a lot of our kids need to learn and see and experience, because a lot of them just give up.”
Hawkins said it’s just as important for adults to understand as well, which is why he is willing to talk about it with anyone who approaches in the right spirit, and not to interrogate of judge.
“I think everybody’s 1,000 times better than the worst thing that they have ever done or has ever happened to them,” he said.
To this day only a handful of people are privy to all the details of what happened. Among them were the Department of Education officials who allowed Hawkins to retain his education credentials.
Hawkins returned to work in Hamilton County, again working with ESE students, but for the first time in an elementary school. That led to his first administrative position at a larger elementary school where he ran a lab and served as a part-time dean. He said he got used to being crawled on like a jungle gym and had a great experience at the elementary level. He still preferred the heavy lifting and moved back into high school where he began writing a plan for an alternative school for the district.
While working with failing students to get them promoted, Hawkins was promoted to ninth-grade administrator. After a couple of chance encounters with someone from another district who had once tried to recruit him from Bradford, Hawkins — who said he doesn’t believe in accidents — was hired by Levy County as a dean at Williston Middle High School. After two years, he was promoted to assistant principal. Now, coming full circle back to BMS, he will take on the role of principal for the first time.
Having had the opportunity to visit the campus, Hawkins observed disciplinary issues that could use some strategic work, but he also said it’s to be expected with kids that age. It is a call for more structure and guidance.
“I’m a firm believer that you can curb a lot of discipline issues with consistency, structure and just your presence,” he said. “I believe in being a creature of consistency and treating all kids the same.”
It helps having a great staff, which comes with being someone they can rely on.
“You need to have your people’s back. You need to support them. You need to make sure you’re building them up because, the truth of the matter is, nothing moves on a school campus without the teachers and support staff. Without them, you’re just a man on an island,” he said.
Consistency, a strong work ethic, unique life perspective, and a love and concern for kids are all things Hawkins said he would bring to his new job at BMS. He intends to be an active problem solver.
“Versus having a phone call with some people, I would prefer to knock on their door and sit down and at their dinner table and see if we can sort through things, you know, because, as I said, before, no kid does anything for no reason,” he said.
“If a kid is hungry, or a kid didn’t sleep last night, or doesn’t have a place to sleep, obviously, some of the collateral damage is that when that kid comes to school, they’re going to either sleep or they’re going to do certain things. So having that background knowledge, that foundational knowledge, will help you put them in the best situation to be successful. And parents, adults, we all have our struggles, so trying your best to help facilitate them as well as their kids will help that situation out. I think that that’s hugely important.”
Hawkins, who lives with his wife, outside of Waldo, said he’s looking forward to working in Bradford again.
“Some of the most imperfect people make the best educators, whether it’s a teacher or not, because you’re educating kids about life experiences. And they’re more likely to accept that from someone that is battle tested, or that has gone through certain things, because it’s a practical reference, it’s more relatable,” he said. “The days of you do this because I told you so are long gone. These days with kids, you’re going to have to earn a level of respect and a level of legitimacy. I think you can do that by being honest with kids.”
Hawkins said kids cannot be coaxed into compliance.
“Hey, if I need to ‘pin your ears back,’ I’ll do that. But after that I’m going to brush you off, give you a hug and love you, same way I do my own kids. I think that helps build a young person and lets them see that someone can be hard on you and still care about you.”
