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Debra White doesn't own a car and isn't very familiar with bus lines, so the few times she visits her daughter's elementary school come courtesy of a teacher who drives her there.
But Tuesday was different. The elementary school came to her.
"We can be pretty intimidating people. So coming to a picnic like this really helps build relationships." |
Dozens of teachers, principals and other staff members from Madison and Verona schools joined hundreds of residents at an evening block party in the Allied Drive-Dunn's Marsh neighborhood. Among them were principals from both of the Madison schools that White's children attend - Crestwood Elementary and Memorial High School.
"I came here to have fun, but I also look at it as an opportunity," said White, who wanted to discuss a few school issues face-to-face with the principals.
That was one intent of the block party: bring school officials and parents together on the parents' turf.
The Allied Drive-Dunn's Marsh neighborhood includes 6,000 people south of the Beltline between Verona Road and Seminole Highway. The racially diverse area straddles the cities of Madison and Fitchburg and has a high concentration of low-income residents.
"This is unprecedented," said Dan Wood, a school social worker assigned to the Allied Drive area. "We haven't had an even like this where all of the schools were invited."
Students are bused to 11 schools between the two school districts, making parent involvement and neighborhood cohesiveness difficult, said Mary Kirkendoll, executive director of the Allied-Dunn's Marsh Neighborhood Center. The center organized the block party with Dane County's Joining Forces for Families.
"Kids don't have a chance to know each other, and that makes it harder for the parents to know each other," she said. "Those natural introductions don't happen."
The neighborhood has had block parties before, but the push to include schools was new.
"One thing we always wonder about is whether parents feel comfortable approaching us," Memorial Principal Pamela Nash said. "We can be pretty intimidating people. So coming to a picnic like this really helps build relationships."
For some teachers, Tuesday was the first time they'd been to Allied Drive, considered one of the rougher parts of town. The block party gave those teachers a convenient way to get to know the area while providing timid parents with an avenue to meet school officials, said Jeannie Retelle, assistant to the registrar in the Madison School District.
"There are people who are afraid to come out here, and there are people here who are afraid to go to the schools," she said.
Posted September 1, 1999