Dedication To Education Willard Elementary’S Inventive Approach To Education Wins It National Recognition

Joseph Williamson was sent to the principal’s office last week and he went with a smile. It was his seventh birthday. And like all Willard Elementary School students, he knew that a birthday means a special visit with Mr. Wooley.

For a few minutes, Gene Wooley joked with Joseph, took his picture with a “magic” camera and made it into a birthday badge, then filled the boy’s small hands with a top, a toy car and other fun gadgets — plus a coupon for a free pizza.

He watched as Joseph giggled and trotted off to lunch, satisfied.

“It’s fun to come to work,” he said.

That attitude trickles down from Wooley to teachers and staff to students, like hot fudge dripping down a sundae. Teachers want to be at Willard — they even volunteer vacation time to improve themselves and the school — and students do too.

That’s part of why the U.S. Department of Education recently named Willard one of this year’s Title I Distinguished Schools.

Each year, about 100 schools are chosen from around the nation for the honor. The program targets schools with poverty levels of 50 percent or more. Past recipients from Spokane include Longfellow and Bemiss elementary schools.

One of the district’s largest schools, Willard welcomes a healthy mix of students. About 12 percent speak English as a second language, adding Russian, Vietnamese, Hmong, Bosnian, Spanish and German accents to the daily lunchroom chatter. About 60 percent of Willard students qualify for free and reduced meals and, last year, about a third of the students transferred in and out during the school year.

To be considered for a Title I Distinguished School award, schools must prove students have been improving academically for three years. They must be well-connected with business and parent partners, and show that all children are progressing and being challenged.

“Distinguished schools are recognized for the achievement of their children above and beyond what’s expected - especially for areas of poverty,” explained Carol Olsen, Title I coordinator for Spokane School District 81. “The schools are models we can visit and get ideas from.”

Willard is absolutely bursting with ideas.

Last year, the school started requiring students to keep a homework notebook - kind of like “FiloFax 101.” The skills it teaches are so important, teachers thought, that they devoted a Saturday during their summer vacation to an in-service course on notebook use.

Every student in kindergarten through third grade gets the same blue plastic folder; older students get three-ring binders. They also get pencil bags and pocket pouches for loose items.

From the first day of kindergarten, students are taught to keep separate papers that “go home and stay home” and those that “go home and come back.” Older students are taught to record due dates on a personal, month-by-month calendar, and to keep assignments in the proper section of their binder.

“This way their papers aren’t stuffed in a book or in a PeeChee folder. There’s a place for everything,” said Rona Williams, an administrator who implemented the notebook program at Willard. “And it’s not just a school skill, it’s a life skill.”

To further ensure homework gets home and gets done, Willard started a homework hotline. Parents and students can call anytime to check daily assignments.

Ask students what they like about Willard and they’ll share a lengthy list of activities. Before- and after-school clubs and classes cover a range of interests, so that everyone can find something to get involved in.

There’s an after-school homework center, technology club, and math and book clubs.

“We give up before-lunch recess so we’re ready for (algebra) next year,” said sixth-grader Raeanne Cumbie, a member of the pre-algebra club. “It’s hard, but now I feel better about it.”

Other programs go beyond academics.

Students can try out for Willard Chorale, a Wednesday-morning music group that lets kids experiment with things they might not get to in regular music class.

The Cool Cougars Club focuses on teaching disruptive kids appropriate social skills and ways to deal with difficult home situations.

“We know we can’t cure what they have to go home to every night,” said Title I facilitator Mary Anne Stuckart. “But we can teach them coping skills.”

All-school checkers and pingpong matches - with the winner battling Wooley for the title “Champion of the Universe” - are held just for fun and school spirit.

Using results from the state assessment test as a guide, teachers examine the areas that need work and devise ways to improve those skills. When test results showed that students had a tough time comparing and contrasting passages they read, for example, teachers started a novel club in which the aim was to do just that.

“We all work together to decide our goals and how to get there,” said early childhood facilitator Karrie Brown.

Those goals are then shared with parents and neighbors, so that sources of support stretch far into the community.

Businesses such as Godfather’s Pizza on Division and Office Depot offer freebies to kids who make the honor roll, and also display students’ work on their walls. School neighbors and parents volunteer time as literacy tutors and mentors.

Academic success for 675 students does not come easy and teachers know they must always be working to keep up with changes in education. Stuckart said staff members constantly ask each other, “Is there anything else we can be doing?”

It’s a level of cooperation and dedication that can be seen even by those outside the school community.

“The staff and principal have really come together to agree on a vision for the kids,” Olsen said. “They’re hard-working and show appreciation for each other. When you give that message as an adult, it provides a good model for the children.”