6/23/2021
Education and Outreach
Joel Bradley credits his background in business management for his accomplishments as an educator.
“I know how to build plans and make things happen,” says Bradley, a former executive with companies like UPS, who now serves as a student success advocate at Jerome Mack Middle School.
Bradley began teaching math and science in 2012 in order to spend less time on the road and more time at home with his family.
Because of his impactful efforts since then, The Smith Center named Bradley one of the top 20 teachers for its sixth-annual Heart of Education Awards, honoring outstanding Clark County School District educators.
When his school asked him in 2020 to set aside his classroom teaching and instead help lead the school’s 13-person wellness team — tasked with meeting essential needs for hundreds of students and their families — Bradley knew he was the man for the job.
“It was challenging at first, especially with all the fear around the pandemic, but we found a way to work together as a team,” he says.
Building Trust with Families
Bradley and his team conducted widespread outreach to meet students’ basic needs as a way of improving the school’s chronic absenteeism. Approaching families in person, they used Google Sheets to keep track of what students and families needed and to divide up the work.
But getting families to answer their door wasn’t easy in the beginning.
“Initially we dressed up in business attire to visit students’ homes,” Bradley says. “Once we realized that people weren’t answering the door because they thought we were the police, we dressed down.”
Over time, Bradley and the team gained the trust of hundreds of families.
“I probably gave my phone number to as many as 500 families this past year,” he says.
Relying on donations from more than 40 local organizations, Bradley and the team provided a wide range of aid, such as helping with technology issues, furnishing four students’ homes, delivering more than 200 beds and providing food to families in need.
In exchange, parents agreed to make sure their kids were in school every day.
“Ultimately, it’s all about taking away any reason why a kid can’t be successful in school,” says Bradley.
As a direct result of the wellness team’s efforts, the school’s attendance rate climbed to 95 percent, a dramatic improvement from the previous 80 percent.
Working Through Adversity
On August 17, despite taking multiple precautions, Bradley tested positive for COVID-19. His wife also tested positive and ended up in the hospital for seven days.
Bradley kept working through the illness, even when he was confined to his bed for an entire week.
“I knew how much our students and their families needed help,” he says. “I couldn’t let them down.”
With the pandemic impacting families in so many ways, Bradley and the entire team didn’t let their guard down. Even the school’s cafeteria staff got in on the action to make food for families affected by a COVID-19 case.
“The single most powerful conversation I had the entire year was when a mother who had COVID thanked me for taking care of her child when she wasn’t able to,” he recalls.
To meet the ongoing need of the community, Bradley and the wellness team will continue to do home visits over the summer to check on families.
Home Is Where the Heart Is
Bradley grew up in the same east Las Vegas neighborhood as Jerome Mack Middle School, so the area has sentimental meaning for him.
That’s why he leapt at the chance to teach at the school after a friend told him the school could really use him.
“I would rather be in a Title 1 school than anywhere else,” he says. “The kids are much more receptive to the help you give them, and you can see it on their face when they just need a hug or a willing ear.”
After overseeing summer home visits and a stint teaching summer school, Bradley will continue in his role as student success advocate next year.
“I miss the classroom, but with this job I get to interact with more kids, which makes me very happy,” he says.