Community Unites Behind Rural School
By Sarah Jancich
Assistant Editor
Lewiston Elementary School was struggling with budget cuts. Morale among
the teachers, support staff, parents and administration was low at the
small, rural school in the Portage School District.
“We needed to find a way to connect after budget cuts affected our
funding,” said 1st and 2nd grade teacher Julie Zimmerman. “We
needed to connect with the community, allow them into the school and give
them a voice.”
That’s when retired WEAC organizer Jermitt Krage got involved. With
Zimmerman’s help, he spearheaded a School-Community Visions program
for the staff, parents and administrators.
Building relationships
During the first School-Community Visions meeting, the group outlined
a plan to build better relationships with the community. The first meeting
had a huge impact because attitudes began to change, Krage said.
“We built a common understanding of each others’ values relating
to children and the job of public education,” he said. “We all
realized that building a better public education system needs everyone
and benefits everyone.”
Over the next year, the group focused on getting much-needed resources
for the school’s 80 students.
Community members began to volunteer their time to help the school with
projects that had never been accomplished because there was no funding.
“We had some shrubs in front of the school that were in really bad
shape,” Zimmerman said. That’s when a parent volunteered to
landscape the area with 650 tulips.
Another parent and grandparent offered to a paint a mural of the 50 states
and capitols.
“It meant the world to us,” Zimmerman said.
A Portage high school teacher told Zimmerman about the Student WEA’s
Outreach to Teach grant. She applied, and Lewiston School was selected.
This is the fourth year of Outreach to Teach, in which Student Wisconsin
Education Association members lend a hand to a school with limited resources
and learn about the impact of school district revenue caps. The Student
WEA is made up of future educators who are students at colleges and universities
throughout the state.
The program is partly funded by the NEA as part of the CLASS grant, which
is earmarked for local association and community outreach. The rest comes
from the Student WEA budget and donations.
Video highlights need
As part of the application process, Zimmerman made a short video introducing
Lewiston Elementary and explaining why it is a great candidate for the
grant. She got help from Paul French, a community member who owns a video
production business.
After Lewiston received the grant, Student WEA leaders were invited to
the school for an assembly to announce the grant.
“We were presented with a binder full of thank you notes from every
child in the school,” Student WEA Secretary-Treasurer and outreach
coordinator Emily Shier said. “It was overwhelming.”
150 volunteers expected
At least 150 Student WEA members from the 24 chapters will visit Lewiston
April 14. They’ll spend the day painting, repairing playground equipment
and furniture, and landscaping.
“School-Community Visions has reached out in so many realms,”
Zimmerman said. “There were so many people around who wanted to help.
We just needed to ask.”
For more information, go to the Student WEA Web site at:
www.student-wea.org
Posted March 13, 2002