Raynard Brown

Q: Where were you before Clayton?

A: My journey is huge. So I’ve been in teaching for 33 years. I started off in Lebanon, Missouri. I was there for about 16 years and then went to Parkway for about 15 years – I was at Parkway Northeast Middle – and then I went to Grand Center Arts Academy. In the process, I retired, so now I’m teaching here.

Q: What is your impression of Clayton?

A: My impression is that everybody here works really hard. Everybody here has a goal. I grew up in Alton, Illinois, which isn’t that far away from here, and Clayton is kind of – to me – its own little niche of the world. You pass by it all the time going to the Galleria ― who knew it was sitting over here? Right now, my impression is that I’m pretty excited. I’m pretty excited about having students who are genuinely excited about education.

Q: What is your favorite TV show?

A: Let me put it this way. My favorite TV shows would be anything that is Marvel. I like total escapism… soon you’ll come back in my room and you’ll see lots of Marvel stuff up, cause I totally get into that. That’s my thing, man. Anything X-men – oh my gosh! – I get into all that.

Q: What were you like as a student?

A: I was not this person you are talking to. When I was in high school, I was incredibly quiet. I didn’t have a lot of friends, which was okay, cause I have nine brothers and sisters so I didn’t need a lot of friends. We were so involved in the community and stuff, that I just went to school quietly. I was that kid that probably the teacher never had to say anything to. I was always doing what I was supposed to, cause, well, I like living. I would have been in so much trouble if I did. My parents would have hurt me bad. I was kinda laid back. I was really into my family and that was pretty much it.

Q: Do you have a favorite story from teaching?

A: Yeah, there is a favorite story. Once, I was teaching in a town called Lebanon, Missouri (that’s where I started) and the students in this particular town – a lot of them never get out at all of the town. Kind of a farming community. Choir was pretty big – this particular choir had about 120 kids in it. We got invited to sing at a national convention and we were going to rehearse with a conservatory in Kansas City. I didn’t realize – being from this area – that these students had never really been to a large city. So, we get to Kansas City and we go to Crown Center, and I give them all the rules. You know, “This is how you gotta go, you gotta stay in this many groups, yadda yadda yadda, be back at this time.” The time came for them to come back and I was missing like 25 students. Now, keep in mind I’m a young teacher, so I’m starting to freak out big time. I asked the chaperones where the kids were, they didn’t know. It got to the point where we had to call the police because we couldn’t find them – 25 kids. How was that gonna look on CNN? So I’m like running around, I’m tearing up because I’m thinking I’m gonna lose my job, I’m going to jail, I gotta explain to these parents. Well, the Crown Center is connected to a hotel. One of the rules was they were not to go into the hotel area. I thought, “they went into the hotel area!” So I go in, and I go to the desk and I go, “Excuse me, sir. I was wondering if you’ve seen about twenty-” before I could finish, he didn’t even look up at me, he just pointed at the elevator. The elevator goes *ding* *ding* and both elevator doors open. As they open, there’s this loud ruckus sound of kids giggling and laughing and screaming. It’s my students, riding the elevators. They had never been on an elevator! They were like “Mr. Brown, come, get on!” I still didn’t understand what was going on, so I thought, “I better go see what they’re doing.” So I get on one of the elevators. My accompanist – a grown man – is on the elevator with the kids, and he says “Dude, check this out.” They hit the top floor and the elevators go up and the kids start screaming and applauding. And they go “the bus gets smaller as we go up!” So, that’s my crazy story. I guess the moral of the story is: don’t take kids who have never been to the city and just turn them loose on the city.