Mt. Vernon Elementary School Union #42
Mt. Vernon Elementary School with 114 students and 8
staff members is located in Maine’s Western Kennebec
County. The school is part of School Union 42, comprised of
the towns Manchester, Readfield, Wayne and Mt. Vernon. Each
of these schools maintains its own budget, has its own
school board, and they share superintendent services and
office. The current Superintendent is Rich A. Abramson.
The Need
On October 26, 2004 Mt. Vernon chose as their goal for an SLL Project:
To identify and build a lasting local network (parents, grandparent, and community resources) that will result in a directory of resources for Mt. Vernon Elementary School.
The SLL Team and staff elected to work with KIDS Consortium.
The SLL Project would:
- Build on community resources already identified;
- Incorporate relevant resources from the town’s business directory and school district directory;
- Provide support to facilitate planning with Mt. Vernon staff;
- Involve various stakeholder groups (PTC, students, Scouts, teachers, athletic committee, etc.);
- Involve all students in some way;
- Create a sustaining process that can be used from year to year;and
- Be sensitive to the amount of work the school staff is already doing.
The Intervention
A KIDS training for staff on January 11, 2005, included a refresher on service-learning material, then focused on the KIDS Framework and steps of a service-learning project. The project was introduced to the students at a school “Morning Meeting”.
In February KIDS led team-building activities with faculty and students. Each classroom was involved in a “carousel of ideas” day eliciting names of community experts by curriculum themes/topics.
From March through May actions took place at the classroom level. Each student took home a survey to gather information and each classroom contributed artwork for the guide. The fourth grade students typed data in an after school club. On April 1, a student team presented the project at KIDS Student Summit in Gorham, ME. Also during this time the Principal noted, “We are finding the ‘whole school’ aspect quite challenging to coordinate in terms of giving students opportunities to have input on next steps.”
The KIDS staff, from August through October, led three workshops to check on progress: 1) reconnecting, 2) alignment to the elements of service learning, and 3) action planning for the final phase of the project.
Noticeable Results
SLL Facilitator collected data about the project from conversations with the service provider, from a reflective meeting with the Mt Vernon staff on April 11, 2006 and a follow-up interview with Principal Cheryl Hasenfus.
The project was described as long, frustrating, and laborious. Staff reported, “It took a lot of time in addition to all that we were already doing. There were changes in team leadership. The community survey did not come back in a timely manner. The process was forced and did not fit our curriculum.”
The staff met the project goal of creating a resource guide. They felt success in building on community resources already identified, and with incorporating relevant resources from the town’s business directory. The staff also felt that they only partially involved various stakeholder groups such as the PTC, students, Scouts, staff, athletic committee. No one felt the project met the criteria of being sensitive to the amount of work that the school staff was already doing.
The staff identified next steps to move the draft guide into final form by adding missing addresses, a table of contents, page numbers, and a special thank you page and editing. All the resource information is in a database. Another next step is deciding how to update the files to create a sustainable product.
The Learnings
The learnings cluster around implementing and systemic work. The contracting was clear.
| Implementing | Systemic Work |
| Service Learning Projects work best in classrooms
rather than buildings because of the time involved in
coordinating aspects of the work. Parents could have done the work. |
Service Learning Projects need ownership. |
| Service Learning Projects can work at a school
level, if there is lots of energy for the project. |
Projects and initiatives need to have PASSION. |
| Certain students were able to shine with data entry. | Projects and initiatives need to have consistent leadership who have been identified. |
| I learned how to do a Service Learning Project. I could now do it on my own. |
The reflective staff meeting became the closure meeting. All breathed a sigh of relief that the project was coming to an end. They concluded, though, the guide would have a positive impact on curriculum and would continue to provide a community involvement opportunity.