In the halls of Jones Leadership Academy — the former Jones Elementary School, now reborn as part of the district’s plan to transform itself — one of the most striking transformations taking place may be centered around one of the world’s oldest forms of competition: chess.
In 2013, students under the guidance of coach Warren Woodberry won the 10th Annual TPS Chess Tournament, covering 35 schools from all over the Toledo area. For any group of kids to rise to the top in such a competition is impressive. But for a program only a few semesters into its existence — from a district struggling to reinvent its academic reputation in a time of restructuring — it’s extraordinary.
Jones Leadership Academy chess students honored by Toledo City Council. Photo Courtesy Warren Woodberry
Yet the coverage for this achievement was almost nonexistent.
“If we were a football team or a basketball team in 2013, and we won the championship, we would be covered in the sports page, we might be mentioned in your academic books or your newspaper,” coach Woodberry said in an interview with Toledo Free Press. “How a little inner-city school, with a mix of African American, Spanish and white — diversity — we beat every school in the city. Out of the 35 schools, we won first place as a team, and first, third and fourth as an individuals.
“That’s Ottawa Hills, that’s Maumee Valley, that’s Start, that’s Central Catholic. That’s all of them. Not a peep,” he added. “For one of the inner-city schools that has decided to do this, and win in chess — which is one of the most difficult sports — why wouldn’t there be some coverage, or some encouragement or something?”
The story of Jones students embracing one of the most demanding of all games may have largely gone unnoticed at first, but the seeds of the students’ newfound passion have begun to sprout in arenas far removed from simple competition.
“We actually started the program as ‘Kids, Cartooning and Chess,’” Woodberry said, recalling the program’s early days. “But once we got here and we introduced the chess segment of it, we found the kids really gravitated to that.”
The impact of introducing a game with such rigorous structure to his students has not been lost on Woodberry. He cited numerous studies that demonstrate how students who did well in chess had improved scores on standardized tests, with gains even greater among children with low social and academic skills.
“Also, the emotional intelligence of children in chess — it’s a game where they have to be polite. Where they have to learn to lose — they can’t stand up on the table and punch someone. So it’s a game where they have to show control and respect. It’s a very good game for people who have anger management [issues], because we have kids that have that.”
The fruits of the program’s labor have begun to be born in Jones classrooms, Woodberry said.
“A lot of the teachers marvel at the fact — we have letters from the teachers — that we can get a child to sit down in our class for two hours, play chess, not make a sound, and they would have sent them to the principal’s office three times for acting out and clowning.
“So there’s a lot to the game that makes an individual take responsibility for his actions. He acknowledges the fact that, when he loses, the person is better learned than him. You can’t be a bully in chess. You can’t be a clown. It doesn’t matter whether you’re rich, poor, black or white. You’re using your mind.”
And as results begin to show, so too is acknowledgment beginning to trickle in. On June 17, Toledo City Council officially recognized the Woodberry Park Chess Program, as well as its efforts to promote National Chess Day, Oct. 11. In March, Jones returned to the Toledo Public Schools Chess Tournament and finished second.
Woodberry stressed how an extraordinary amount of credit must be given to superintendent Romules Durant, officer James Gault and Jones principal Ward Barnett for helping introduce chess into the school system.
“The kids that we brought in were excellent at what they did, to defeat all the other kids — the kids that have chess coaches,” Woodberry said. “These kids don’t have that background, but they are willing to learn.”
