Everyday Heroes: Franklin Middle School assistant principal 'never lets a kid slip'

WHEATON – Joe Kish is known as somebody who "never lets a kid slip."

The Wheaton resident, 48, who serves as assistant principal at Franklin Middle School in Wheaton, does that by getting to know his young charges.

“The old saying, ‘Relationships are the foundation for growth,’ is true,” Kish said. “You can never know too much about a kid when you’re trying to help them.”

Kish is one of the recipients of Suburban Life Media's Everyday Heroes awards.

Whether it’s in the halls, at the bus stop or down the street, Kish makes kids feel important.

He understands students who may otherwise fall through the cracks, at an age when they’re changing physically and socially and trying to establish their own identity.

“School was not necessarily easy for me,” Kish said. “I can on a personal level, due to my own experiences, relate to kids that struggle a little academically, socially or behaviorally at school. I was a kid that made my fair share of visits to the principal’s or dean’s office. I think I’ve become older and, hopefully, wiser, so you try to put more thought into what is causing kids to struggle. It could be a situation at school. It could be an issue at home. It could be a parent out of work, divorce or often a combination of things. Again, you can never, never know too much about what is on a kid’s shoulders as they walk through the doors each day.

Kish said one of the mantras at Franklin is "happy kids learn best."

"We try to put that before test scores and grade point averages," he said. "If a kid feels safe and valued and they’re happy, they’re going to learn better."

Seven years ago, the school formed one of the only formal skate clubs in the state, made up mostly of kids who aren’t involved in other extracurricular activities.

“Every kid has a hook,” Kish said. “If a club has a way of engaging a kid, we’re all for it.”

Kish also has been known to make sure at-risk students have school supplies, uniforms and even food.

His unique approach to fundraising benefits students and charities alike. He’s raised tens of thousands of dollars through the annual Dodgeball Madness event, which brings together hundreds of athletes and first responders from around the state.

The wildly popular event has grown from one day to four, drawing hundreds of players, including students, the Chicago Police Department and even the FBI.

“It’s just an amazing team effort on the part of our students, staff and parents and a ton of great people that have gotten involved over the years,” Kish said.

Kish also came up with an unconventional idea that helps raise money for non-funded school efforts like incentives, lunches, reading program prizes and resources for kids and families in need.

“We sell firewood,” said Kish, who tries to steer clear of asking kids to sell things like cookie dough, where profits go mostly to private companies.

A tornado that moved through the area several years ago gave him the idea.

“People always need firewood in winter,” said Kish, who rallied the community to retrieve, store and help process the wood, which makes the school about $5,000 a year in freewill donations.

Kish usually delivers the wood himself.

“We’ll do a stacking party and have an assembly line,” he said. “It’s cool team-building too.”

And as if that weren’t enough, the self-described “unremarkable person who enjoys helping people” also coached football at Wheaton Warrenville South High School for 25 years.