 05.11.03
The Dynamo at SCPA
Suddenly I looked at her arms. The tape recorder was spooling away and I had been looking at the small white haired woman with her animated face and cheerful bearing, listening to her pleasant Ohio Valley accent and trying to decide which side of the River was hers. Then I saw her arms. The muscles in her forearms were bulging with energy and fell only slightly from the skeletal structure. She is seventy-seven years old and has the radiance of someone less than half that age. She is Rhoda Klein, known to everyone at the School for Creative and Performing Arts as Grandma Dynamite.
Rhoda Klein went to SCPA as a lunchroom monitor after retirement in her 'fifties from a executive secretary's job at Wadsworth Electric Company in Covington. Before that she worked for Carpetland as a sales consultant. Her husband was a Cincinnati Policeman and they raised three daughters. Mrs. Klein is now the oldest employee of the Cincinnati Public Schools and has been at SCPA since 1980. A lot of graduates of this Over-the-Rhine landmark and their parents, the faculty and the loyal supporters of the school remember her with devotion, affection and maybe some amazement too.
It is easy to understand why when Mrs. Klein talks about the school and its students. Lively kids these are with the added dimensions of their talents and their drive toward potential success. Of course, sometime those drives, those dimensions lead them astray and that is where they encounter Rhoda Klein who despite her diminutive size can intimidate the largest and the loudest of them. This is done with such a gentle authority that the majority of them don't know they are being disciplined because the discipline comes with consistent love. Such consistency is not always found in their home lives.
Rhoda Klein remembers growing up without. Both of her parents were disabled, there were several other children to look after. Eventually, she was sent to live with a couple in Covington who cared for her and raised her by steering her in the right direction. She always worked. There was a paper route and then at the newspaper there was a job collecting court news and delivering it to the city desk. From a papergirl's bicycle she graduated to a Harley and you can imagine how the SCPA students love the image of Grandma Dynamite on her hog. She learned to dance and later studied belly-dancing. Sports were always important in Rhoda Klein's life and in the 'Seventies she would play in as many as five different softball and hardball leagues. She is a professional magician, plays serious pool and medals at the Senior Olympics. She drives racing cars. She leafed through her clipping files for me and I was stunned as I tried to imagine this sweet looking grandmother in all these powerful roles as a winner. Truly, Rhoda Klein is awesome. She is dynamite. But it has to be said once again that all of this dynamism is directed beyond her personal success and toward the benefit of others. She cares for her husband who is loosing his sight. She cares for her family and for the generations of the SCPA family that she has been mothering these last twenty-three years. Wherever she goes in Cincinnati or across the nation she runs into SCPA graduates who hail her, embrace her, lift her up off her feet. They are the grandchildren of her extended family. --i-- Photos by Gina Hartmann About SCPA Education with a focus on the arts can enhance learning. Both national and local educators agree that arts education is a stimulant for academic achievement as well as training for artists and the development of cultural appreciation. Cincinnati's School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) is one of a small number of schools nationwide that combines intensive arts and academic programs. With its very high academic ranking, SCPA is a testament to the studies indicating that arts education complements academic achievement. Admission to SCPA begins with an audition in the arts disciplines. Potential as well as existing talent is considered, and approximately one of six students is accepted into this exciting and demanding environment. The balance between artistic development and academic preparation is the heart and soul of the school. SCPA students consistently score above the norms on national achievement tests. An average of eighty percent of the graduating seniors continue on to colleges and universities each year. Racial balance is an important part of the student selection process, and the resulting student body is a diverse one. The school draws its enrollment from the Cincinnati Public School District, whose residents pay no tuition to attend, and from Tri-State residents outside the district who pay a yearly tuition. In addition to offering a full college-preparatory curriculum for grades 4 through 12, SCPA offers the following major courses of study: Dance, Drama, Instrumental Music, Music Theatre, Technical Theater, Visual Arts, Vocal Music, Writing. 
Publication of this GrassRootsImpact article by iRhine.com is made possible through the generosity of
the Smith Family Foundation. Special thanks to Gale Smith for his ongoing efforts to improve Over-the-Rhine.About iRhine iRhine is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with the mission to develop a central community focus of communication for the many diversified offerings in the historic Cincinnati neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine (OTR). Through the Web site, educational meetings, events, and volunteering, iRhine supports and encourages socio-economic development for the Greater Cincinnati Region. |
I stared while she was telling me about herself leading off with the things she's proudest of such as her work on behalf of American veterans. Rhoda Klein's commitment to service men and women began in World War II and continued through Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars. Not only the soldiers, but also the survivors have been her concern and she lobbied the government for benefits for war widows. Among the photocopied documents she had brought to give me for background was a moving tribute she had authored for Memorial Services in June 1987. Reading them now, her words make my eyes sting as I think about how appropriate they are for our own times.
Mrs.
Klein is now assigned to the front door of the school.
She greets everyone who enters and in her CPS security
uniform she looks official enough, but the offer of
candy from a box in her desk sweetens the effect. While
she was working the lunchroom she kept order quietly
and efficiently talking to almost every child every
day and noticing especially who was not eating. Usually,
a bag lunch had been forgotten or wasn't ready when
it came time to leave for school. No lunch money had
been provided for some students. Rhoda Klein supplied
the spare change and won the students hearts for making
the "loan" with tactful discretion showing just how
much she cares about their well being.