Lessons Learned from Rural Schools - Alabama Department of ...

LLS-0010 Lessons Learned_Pub.qrk: 4/25/09 3:02 PM Page 15
some of the best for any school in the state is evidence
that a true sense of family and a willingness to work
together are keys to continuing success.
Further evidence of this is the fact that 132 teachers
at these schools have never taught at another school.
Even more remarkable is that combined, the staffs
have 2,711 years of teaching experience in these
10 schools.
Look for help anywhere
you can find it
While none of these schools are awash in funds, either
from their local school system or community
deep pockets, they don’t sit around wishing things
were different. Instead, they look for help at each and
every opportunity. “We work with any outside source
available,” says Amy Hiller of Meek Elementary.
“This may be the Department of Human
Resources, a local center that helps families and
troubled children, Head Start, and local churches
and organizations.”
When F. S. Ervin’s Richard Bryant looks for support,
he has one thing in mind. “I don’t think of it as
much as asking for help as I do asking for local ownership,”
he says. “For instance, I may ask a parent if
they can help us mow grass Saturday morning. If they
have other plans, then I ask them for a gallon of gas
for a lawnmower. It’s not much, but it’s a way to get
them invested in their school.”
Bryant also works hard to maintain a good relationship
with the nearby International Paper mill according
to Anita Smith, training manager and chair of the
local International Paper Foundation.
This has paid off in many ways. IP has helped with
reading projects, science fairs, Dr. Seuss Day and has
awarded F. S. Ervin more than $17,000 in grants over
the last four years. “We’re glad to help,” says Smith,
“especially when the school let’s you know how much
you’re appreciated.”
Calcedeaver has long benefited from its relationship
with the DuPont Chemical plant down US Highway
43. Beth Basham, plant manager, says the company
works hard to be a part of the community and their
work with Calcedeaver goes back more than two
decades.
Lessons Learned from Rural Schools – May 2009
“We’ve helped in a number of ways,” says Basham.
This includes sending one or two employees to the
school routinely to work with second and third
graders on reading, having maintenance and construction
employees build ramps and birdhouses,
providing workbooks for science education, sponsoring
essay contests and recognizing both students
and teachers.
“Students even put information on the company’s
bulletin board telling about their activities,”
says Basham.
In Perry County, Superintendent John Heard leaves
no stone unturned in an effort to find grant funds to
help meet needs. “Someone is going to get some of
this money, it might as well be us,” he says.
In the last six years the Perry County School System
has received more than $2.5 million in grants to be
used for dropout prevention, a virtual health science
classroom, distance learning, arts education, HIPPY
(Home Instruction for the Parents of Pre-School
Youngsters) and other projects.
Buddy Dial, principal at Albert Turner Sr. Elementary,
works for Heard. “I’ve found that you may have
more response asking for services than for money,” he
says.
The staff at Fruithurst Elementary understands this
concept well. Principal Christy Hiett has called on her
father many times to handle repairs at the school.
The kindergarten classroom at Fruithurst has a great
tree house in it, thanks to the work of the teacher’s
husband who builds log homes. Another husband is a
cabinet maker and has built a number of cabinets at
the school.
Jacqui James was listening to National Public Radio
one day when she heard about Judge David Bell of
New Orleans who was a special education student and
did not learn to read until the third grade.
She got in touch with Judge Bell and asked him to
come to Choctaw County and talk to her students. He
accepted her invitation and his only request was for a
home-cooked southern meal.
“Two of our retired teachers volunteered to cook
lunch and as we say in this part of the world, ‘they put
on the dog,’” she recalls with a laugh.
Each of these schools also understands that excellence
has its rewards. Most have received financial
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