Five tips for a new school year: never skip back-to-school night, never just ask, “How was your school day?,” never turn down an opportunity for extra help, never make school simply a quest for grades, and never teach or preach perfection in sports.
This is the advice English Teacher Mr. Kevin Haney gave on the Today Show on August 27. Haney also appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show in October 2021. According to Haney, Kelly Clarkson’s producer recommended him to the Today Show.
“The Today Show producer ended up having dinner with the Kelly Clarkson producer, and it turned out that they needed somebody for this [educational] segment, and needed a teacher.”
NBC reached out to Haney about possibly going on the show for the segment.
“We talked on the phone [for] about a half hour, and they asked me to submit 30 tips for parents going back to school. They said they wanted 20 of them to be educational, and they wanted 10 to be about sports because they knew I was a coach,” he said.
Later that same night, NBC told Haney that they would love to have him on the show. They provided Haney with a train ride, a hotel, and a private driver.
“They were going to fly me up originally, but flying to Boston, back to New York. It was not something I wanted to do,” Haney said.
He was picked up in a 2024 Lincoln Navigator to get to the hotel the show provided.
“Every seat had access to an iPad in front of it, and you could project your phone screen onto it and even onto the windows,” he said. “It was the most luxurious car I think I’ve ever been in in my whole life. I was asking the guy, ‘Who do you drive around?’ He’s like, ‘I’ve had Oprah Winfrey, LeBron James. I’ve had presidential candidates.’”
Haney was supposed to be in NBC’s studio at six a.m. where he prepared for the show. Before he went live, he met TV Host Carson Daly and Weathercaster Al Roker.
“I was telling those guys how nervous I was because that’s not my life. It’s not something I do. And they were talking about how it’s kind of order through chaos, that even they don’t fully understand how the show works at any given time,” Haney said.
He later went backstage to the green room where he met the host for the segment, Sheinelle Jones.
“She [Jones] was getting me a little prep, ‘This is how the segment’s going to work. I’m just going to ask you questions, prompt you given some of the tips that you gave us, and all we want you to do is talk about those things,’” he said.
Haney became nervous before appearing live on the show.
“I was sitting in the morning with Carson Daly, and he was actually pretty transparent about some of his anxiety issues and how he struggles. Al Roker, being the old guy on set, was more laid back and relaxed, and just kept tapping me on the shoulders like, ‘You’re gonna do great. You’re gonna do fine.’”
To deal with the nervousness, he focused on self-talk and breathing.
“You’re always worried about, on TV, embarrassing yourself, because there’s only one take, that’s all. The Kelly Clarkson Show was taped. I had a little bit more common comfort with that, knowing that they could do some editing. Live TV? There’s no edits. It’s just what you see is what you get,” he said.
Haney was expecting to have to answer all 30 tips he gave them, but they only ended up using five.
“I didn’t realize it was all going to be three to five minutes. I didn’t know what to expect, but they wanted this full body of different things, and what they were doing was trying to figure out which questions were best suited for the Today Show audience.”
Interim Principal Mrs. Andrea LaPira highlighted the significance of Haney’s advice.
“Mr. Haney provided great back-to-school advice for students and parents,” LaPira stated in an email. “The one that resonated most with me is ‘Never make school simply a quest for grades’ because what happens at Haven every day is so much more than a letter on your transcript. Now is the time for curiosity, character development, and embracing every opportunity to learn about yourself and others.”
Senior Ryan Killeen resonated with Haney’s advice about parents having to ask more detailed questions to their children about school.
“I feel like my conversations with my parents after school get kind of dull, so those extra questions could definitely make the conversations flow better,” Killeen said.
Haney mentioned how incredible the Today Show crew members were as hosts. The Kelly Clarkson Show reached out to Haney again about a possible segment in the future.
“They want me to go back on and do a ‘Where are they now?’ segment. So, this is spun into something. I don’t quite know where it’s going to go, but it’s been really fun, and I’m enjoying the ride,” Haney said.
