At Crest Hill, family comes first
by Jenni Luckett, NCSD Community Relations
The second-graders are sitting on the floor around their teacher when Principal Jim Stark walks into the classroom.
After a brief “hello,” he asks the Crest Hill Elementary students to share their favorite part of the day.
In unison, the children shout,” Math!”
“It sort of gives you a shiver, huh?” Stark says.
The bigger shiver comes a half-hour later, when a first-grader waiting for her turn in the lunch line says the same thing.
“I like the math and everything we do here,” Hannah says. “We get to learn new stuff, and we also get to learn about higher numbers.”
“It’s not all test scores”
It’s almost idyllic how much students at Crest Hill seem devoted to learning.
But staff members are slow to take credit for the environment. They point, instead, to a family atmosphere where staff, students and parents are all part of a cohesive unit dedicated to taking care of students’ needs, whether academic, social or emotional.
“As a team, we really work to educate the whole child,” said instructional facilitator Daria Dundas. “It is important that they are proficient and successful academically, but we also need to build social and emotional skills.”
“We hear that from parents, too,” Stark added. “They say, ‘It’s not all test scores.’”
Academics are important, and the school measures well against state averages on the PAWS test and other assessments. Crest Hill provides a wealth of resources to help students succeed. The 340-student school is home to classroom teachers, along with a math tutor, reading specialists, a social worker and a functional life skills classroom.
Instructional assistant Lori Lancaster runs the Writing Center, where students’ creativity is celebrated through anthologies, a school calendar and extra time to enjoy writing.
“It’s a wonderful place for kids to go be expressive and creative as they practice the craft,” Dundas said.
School librarian Bonnie White also is a boon for students and teachers, Dundas added.
“It’s not just what you remember in school, where you had a library visit and checked out a book,” Dundas said. “She incorporates writing trainings, works with teachers to see where they are and knows all about new technology and more ways to research.”
“She told me she had some great literature with math, and I left with a whole stack of books,” added math tutor Kim Hornbeck.
Working together
But Crest Hill is also the type of school where the sum is more than the whole. It’s not just the people in the building, but how they interact with each other and with students, that matters, Stark said.
“We have clubs that meet after school almost every day of the week,” Stark said, listing activities such as the robotics club, two math clubs, two art clubs, sign language club, student council and drama club for students.
“Our teachers are leading those, so they’re with kids after school and in different avenues,” Dundas said.
It’s also common to see teachers come in before or after class to work with small groups of students on specific lessons, Hornbeck added.
“That family is not just teachers and kids, but everybody,” she said.
Custodian Robert Mintle, for example, is a student favorite; he stands in the cafeteria to microwave food brought from home.
“I remember a work day about two years ago, he was in the gym with an opaque projector, painting our logo on the wall,” Dundas said. “When you think of family, it’s that kind of going above and beyond like this is your home.”
Mintle even made the logos into rub-on tattoos that he distributed to student athletes before games.
Parents, too, are an integral part of the school. It’s perfectly normal for parents to come eat lunch with their kids, or volunteer in classrooms or the library (even after their own children have moved on to junior high).
The school’s parent teacher organization is healthy and active, as well, Stark said. They help with the school’s two annual book fairs and fund a variety of purchases for the school, such as FM transmitters in every classroom or the bumper mats in the gym.
“When they see a need, they take care of it for us,” Stark said.
That, he said, is just how the Crest Hill family works.
“Where people are properly motivated, all you have to do is get out of the way.”