Other Books
Here are some of the other books written by Dr. Kellmayer.
About Teacher On The Brink
Steve McQueen, a 26-year old security guard and nightclub bouncer from Philly, had been raised in an abusive environment where violence, racism, and alcoholism were every day experiences. Struggling with internal demons such as impulse control and alcoholism, he is unfairly fired from his job as a security guard at LaSalle University after an incident in which he was attacked by three men. A recent graduate of LaSalle, McQueen is on the brink of homelessness when he’s offered a long-term substitute position teaching in Project Hope, an alternative program located inside John Tenner High School. His students are violent, disturbed, consume drugs and alcohol like they were oxygen, and are racing to devour the most gratification from life before it kills them The principal hires McQueen because he can’t find anybody else to teach these students,
McQueen undergoes a profound personal metamorphosis as he teaches these students, whose personal demons are even worse than his own. Events at Project Hope take a tragic turn, however, and McQueen finds himself facing a new and completely unexpected teaching challenge.
Teachers are tired of being scapegoated for everything that’s wrong in society.
Just as the protagonist of Teacher On The Brink is in jeopardy from personal demons and systemic failures, hundreds of thousands of teachers are on the brink as well, because of bashing by public officials, unfair accountability demands, unsafe teaching conditions, salary and benefit reductions, and the misguided efforts of some in the school reform movement. Teacher On the Brink tells the unforgettable story of one such teacher.
About The Mouse in the Microwave
The Mouse in the Microwave tells the story of a county-wide alternative high school for chronically disruptive and disaffected students that in 1986 John Kellmayer was hired to establish on the campus of Atlantic-Cape Community College, about fifteen miles east of Atlantic City. The Mouse is the story of young people who had been written off by society. For many of these students, happiness was a mirage, unapproachable, like a pool of water that you see at the end of a long stretch of highway on a hot and humid summer afternoon. The alternative school students were racing to devour the greatest volume of gratification before it killed them. The state grant that provided the initial funding for the school describes the student population: a history of violent and aggressive behavior; academic underachievement; substance abuse; learning disabilities; low self-esteem; depression; dysfunctional home situation; emotional and psychological problems; suicidal ideation. The alternative school would serve every known social and learning pathology and group except adolescent serial killers and vampires. There was even a student who drank human blood and another student, a White supremacist, who wore a Whizzinator to try and beat a drug test. The staff at the alternative school would become as used to conflict, even tragedy, at the alternative school as the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening. But the staff was fortunate that their successes outnumbered their failures. Today, many of these young people, now in their twenties or thirties, are well adjusted and contributors to society. A few are well known in the film and music industries. The Mouse in the Microwave isn't a scholarly book but rather a book about struggles, dreams, and rising to meet challenges in the face of adversity. Told with a sense of humor, The Mouse is a poignant story about the underdog, about redemption, and about perseverance. It's a story of treating troubled at-risk youth with kindness and decency; treating them as people rather than prisoners.
About How to Establish an Alternative School
Despite the many `alternative' schools and programmes in the United States designed to redirect the lives of at-risk youth, the majority of these in fact serve to isolate and segregate. This challenging book presents a comprehensive plan for those interested in creating truly alternative educational programmes for this group. John Kellmayer outlines the key characteristics of alternative programmes, describes alternative models and explains how to implement and manage these programmes. He also provides strategies on how to empower teachers, involve students in their own education and evaluate alternative programmes.