Veterans are class acts
Enlist to work at NY charters
When you’re used to bullets, spitballs won’t rattle you.
As part of a new initiative, the Success Academy charter school network has hired 40 military veterans to work in a variety of roles across its network, from classroom teachers to business managers.
Led by former Navy SEAL Brett Chappell, the MILVET program hopes to expand rapidly with an additional 60 former servicemen and women on Success Academy’s staff by the 2018-2019 school year.
Chappell, 49, said many veterans struggle to find meaningful work once they are discharged.
“I tell these guys that hey, if you still want to serve, this is a way to do it,” Chappell told The Post.
The Colorado native said that vets have only recently begun to consider teaching as a career after hanging up their uniforms — and that they’re always receptive to his sales pitch.
Chappell said the specific skills veterans develop, like knowing how to handle pressurized environments and challenging teamwork, translate seamlessly into schools.
“Anything that happens in a school is an easy day for a veteran,” he said. “The kids sense that.”
Envisioning their bravery and battlefield heroics, kids often offer ex-military school staffers a type of respect that city teachers can sometimes find elusive, Chappell said.
“Kids want to know that they are safe in the classroom,” he said. “They know they are looking at someone who is used to high-stress situations. It’s a sort of street cred.”
And Success Academy's emphasis on discipline delights veterans used to structure.
“People think discipline isn’t fun or it’s just miserable,” Chappell said.
“But kids want to know what’s expected of them. In the end, they understand that it’s you caring about them.”