 Katherine Myers '73 reads to her first-graders in an activity designed
to expose them to rhyming. The district focuses on reading and writing
English during the first years of school, skills that will serve
students through high school, where many will find themselves in
advanced-placement courses.
And then there's the basic business of teachers. First-grade
teacher Katherine Myers '73 draws out her sentences like slow
syrup, sweet and rich. Her charges are rapt as she points to words
in a story book.
Though she's reading, she's also watching, noting. Manuel is
having trouble sitting still. Instead of chiding him, she looks to
a neighbor. "Kevin, I like the way you're paying attention. You're
going to know what to do," she says. Manuel and a few others get
the hint. Maybe she's just following the first of the class rules
posted on the dry-erase board: "Be nice to everyone."
This reading time is crucial. Myers's first-graders spend their
mornings alternating between clusters of knee-high desks and the
reading corner, where they settle into the soft carpet around her
feet. Their goal this school year is simple: learn to read. It is
the foundation for the next 12 years of education.
The effort is paying off. Last school year, 62 percent of the
fourth-grade students were reading at the state standard, up from
48 percent just two years earlier and 20 percent in 1998.
It isn't just the students who are learning. In spite of his
busy schedule Schmidt has managed to find time to pursue a doctoral
degree in education at WSU. "WSU's task is to help us understand
the theory," he says. "We take that theory and put it into practice
here in the district."
"One of the things that makes this community neat is a
willingness to try new things, sometimes radically different new
things," he says. The district has found creative ways to get and
use grants, finding funding for projects on the school grounds,
like building baseball dugouts. The work provided good summer jobs
for the students and at the same time invested them with a sense of
ownership of the schools, which in turn cut down on vandalism and
truancy, notes Schmidt. The superintendent is especially proud of a
USDA fruit and vegetable grant, which brought the school close to
$30,000 for the purpose of providing students with fresh fruits and
vegetables during afternoon recess every day.
In an effort to rekindle town pride, teachers and students have
reestablished the annual Bridgeport Daze to celebrate the town's
history, taking up where local volunteers left off. And to ensure
that it's attended, they've scheduled it on graduation weekend.
The schools are really the heart of the town, and their success
or failure will ultimately affect the community, says Schmidt,
who's also president of the chamber of commerce.
If the national awards and the improved test scores weren't enough,
Michelle Lopez is a sign that the district is doing things
right-raising expectations, pushing students to work harder and
take risks.
When Michelle was five, her family moved from California to an
area northeast of Wenatchee. There they found a small town tucked
alongside the Columbia River just beneath the Chief Joseph Dam, one
with a school district, just a few businesses, and an affordable
quality of life. "And we stayed," says her mother, Gina Cruz.
"Bridgeport was a calm town. It seemed like a good place to raise
our children."
Twelve years later, the family made another big move several
weeks before Michelle started school, trading an address on Fisk
Avenue in Bridgeport for a small house on Fisk Street in Pullman.
Gina recognized an opportunity in Pullman for Michelle, as well as
for herself and her youngest daughter, April. She's looking for
work, planning to take classes, and seeking ways to expand on her
teaching and bookkeeping credentials from Mexico and her U.S.
preschool teaching certification. Michelle's opportunity at WSU has
become an opportunity for everyone.
With a healthy class load of biology, psychology, theater, math,
and world civilization, she has started down the path toward a
psychology major. "I want to do counseling or something like it,"
she says.
Her family and friends back home support Michelle and her
choices, says her mother. "She's such a hard worker." Then in four
simple words, Gina summarizes the philosophy the school district
has applied to every one of its students so far: "She deserves this
opportunity."
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