School staff and administrators want the community to know what's right about Wright Elementary School.
"I'd like you to start the article with Wright is not closing," Principal Richard Adams says.
The opposite is true, he says.
Article Photos
Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec
Fourth-grade teacher Andrea Papp watches as Brianne Foor, 10, works on a technology board at Wright Elementary School.
During the last three months, a newly School Improvement Steering Committee came up with and began implementing the plan Operation Wright Focus.
The plan outlines goals in four areas: curriculum, community and parent involvement, the physical school building and character education. Each grade level is represented on the committee and each developed an action plan for goals.
Tours of the school and a free spaghetti dinner will be offered Thursday for school families to show off all the happenings.
Fact Box
Spaghetti dinner & school tours
When: 5 p.m. Thursday
Where: Wright Elementary School, 1809 11th St.
Who: Sponsored by the Wright Q-SITE and School Improvement Steering committees
The neighborhood surrounding Wright Elementary School, located at 1809 11th St., has a reputation as being a rough part of town.
Adams says the reputation of Wright as a challenged school is not true.
"We're already a great school. People don't realize," Adams says. "That's the part we're missing."
Fourth-grader Aislinn Pardellas, 10, enjoys the technological advancements the school is offering to its students, such as interactive whiteboards.
"I think it's easier and fun," Pardellas said.
The school has wireless laptop computers for third- through sixth-graders. The interactive whiteboards and 42-inch classroom TVs were obtained through grants written by Adams.
"We love using the laptops," teacher Lori Crawford said.
In the works are some outside improvements, including resurfacing blacktop over the summer and a Wright Day in which students plant flowers and pick up trash around the school.
The school plans to start holding morning assemblies next school year to kick off each school day on the right foot.
Perfect attendance is up at the school. Thirty-eight students received perfect attendance in the 2007-08 school year, compared with 28 in the 2006-07 school year. Adams says the school has a 95 percent average daily attendance.
Participation at the school is up, as well. Adams said last year 300 parents signed up to attend the spaghetti dinner, and this year the total is at 500.
"This is a warm, caring environment, and I think people are missing that point," Adams says.
PTO president Kathy Custren thinks so too, with programs such as STAR, which recognizes students for showing respect, courtesy, responsibility and self-control.
"It's a very positive place to be for the kids," she says.
