Stone Soup

Many of you may be familiar with the story, Stone Soup, where a stranger comes to a village and succeeds, with a little help from everyone, to make a delicious soup which he starts with a stone. It is an apt analogy for our Extreme Makeover Day which was a positive event on a variety of levels. Throughout the day, items such as plants, mulch and machinery from families, crushed stone and paint from local businesses, even a chipper from the highway department appeared to support the efforts of over 1,000 students and adults who worked to refurbish South Kingstown High School.
Gary Brierty of Narragansett Rubbish Removal, who donated dumpsters that would have cost over $900, told us that he hauled away nine tons of trash! Sheds were emptied, re-organized and painted, beds were weeded and mulched, rooms were painted and much of the school was scrubbed.
I told the students Wednesday morning that while there is a referendum which is the talk of the town scheduled for June 9th, in many ways the Extreme Makeover day was a referendum on their growth, maturity and school pride as students at SKHS. And they responded. We had over a 90% attendance rate (it usually runs around 95%) and only 17 tardies – much lower than most days. All but 19 out of 300 seniors arrived on time. It was truly an impressive effort.
In de-briefing with the students afterwards, we know there are some organizational issues we need to address; there is some talk of expanding the day beyond the high school and its surrounding environs to local families and/or businesses who could use some help. Based on the overall comments from teachers, students and parents, this will not be a one-time event but something we can build on for the future.
One local official told me an individual had questioned whether the event was appropriate because it was difficult to directly link it to student achievement. If our main goal is truly to prepare students to function in a participatory democracy, then perhaps we need to think of such events as ones that reinforce the concept that working together, we can accomplish great things: as a school, a community, a nation. Extreme Makeover may not improve our math scores but it does remind us that ultimately, schools are inhabited by people who are more than student achievement numbers.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have comments or suggestions.