Bright Futures

During his junior and senior year in high school, he spent more time sleeping in class than listening. He was judged by teachers to be a failure and graduated “dead last” behind the girl who got dropped out of school to give birth. Sadly, no one bothered to find out why he was having problems with school.

Today, Josh Johnson fi ghts for students instead of judging them because of his own experiences.

He was sleeping in class because he was living in his truck in the garage of an abandoned house and worked until midnight. The only food he had was what he could cook on a grill he found in the trash.

Johnson, director of the Pea Ridge Academy, the Alternative Learning Center for Pea Ridge, clearly remembers one time when he, along with the rest of the basketball team, got o

• the school bus in the school parking lot late at night and he found his mother’s car in the parking lot with all the windows smashed out. He said no one asked, no one questioned, no one o

• ered help, but all knew he was living in a fearful situation with a violent step-father.

Johnson spoke Saturday morning at the Bright Futures breakfast to people who want to make the futures brighter for children in Pea Ridge.

“My teachers would never suspect that I would stand here now with a master’s degree,” Johnson said. “Sometimes it may seem like I’m taking the kid’s side or not willing to jump on the kid … I’m not willing to ruin their day, their education because of something I say. I will not have another student fail because of something I do.”

“Students can’t learn if they’re hungry, scared,” he said, adding that there are many, many stories from students within the Pea Ridge School District of children who are homeless, without hot water, hungry and living in fear. “I’m proud of our district and what we’re doing and can not wait to see the di

• erence this (Bright Futures) will make.”

Ironically, the morning dawned gray and cloudy, rain beating down upon the roof of the cafeteria where a free pancake breakfast was being served by Rick Neal, school superintendent. Just as the last speaker fi nished, sunlight poured through the win- dows brightening the room.

Dr. Karen Sherman, veterinarian, shared about a young man, one of several children in a family, who eventually rose above a dysfunctional family situation to graduate from high school, attend college and get a job. She said intervention from co-workers helped make the di

• erence for him. “When he was 16 years old, he had never owned a new piece of clothing. That’s an obstacle,” Sherman said. “He’s now an asset to society. He’s out of the ‘system.’ He has moved on.”

Police Chief Tim Ledbetter told of a home in town where young children were living in a roach-infested home with parents selling illegal drugs

“I’ve probably entered half of the houses in this town over the past 18 years… You hear it said you never know exactly goes on behind closed doors. That’s true,” he said, sharing how frustrating it was trying to get assistance from a government agency for the children in that home. “I’m in full support of Bright Futures. Anything you can do to contribute will be good.”

Neal said Bright Futures will allow community members to share their “time, talents, treasures” with children in need to remove barriers to learning.

Sherry Barnett, coordinator of Bright Futures, and Neal told of a room being prepared as a store room for supplies to meet the needs of students.

“Everyone’s got something to give,” Neal said.