THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 5, 1995 TAG: 9502030250
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
An unusual post office will open Monday at Southwestern Elementary School, but letter carriers won't have to brave bad weather or menacing dogs.
Their route will be short and easy. Teepee Trail, Red Chief Avenue, Bald Eagle Boulevard, Arrowhead Avenue and Pocahontas Drive actually are five hallways. Mail boxes will be outside each classroom door.
Southwestern Elementary is Suffolk's first school to participate in ``Wee Deliver,'' a U.S. Postal Service that helps promote literacy.
Students will exchange letters to supplement regular reading and writing lessons. They also will experience some responsibilities and challenges they will face in the work world.
To make it all official, Suffolk Postmaster William Bunn officiated at a ``swearing in'' ceremony for the carriers.
Robin Brady, a second-grade teacher at Southwestern, heard about the program while attending Virginia Wesleyan College and observed it in action while teaching at a Norfolk elementary school. She suggested it at a school-improvement meeting, and Principal Wanda Hamilton thought it a good idea.
The program, which originated in Florida, also is used by Norfolk, Chesapeake and Hampton elementary schools.
Each classroom submitted two names for specific postal positions. Nominees were interviewed and took an exam.
Qualifications for fifth-grade postmaster included regular attendance and dependability. Tomas Topolnicki will serve for nine weeks. Responsibilities include picking up the mail from the central mail drop, supervising employees and filling in for absent employees, helping to train new employees and dividing the mail into delivery routes for the carriers.
Students from kindergarten through second-grade will be facers and cancelers, arranging all envelopes to face the same way and canceling all stamps.
``Nixie clerks'' from the second through fifth grades will check addresses for proper form. Incorrectly addressed letters will be stamped ``Return to Sender.'' Third-graders through fifth-graders will be sorters and carriers.
Mail will go into two boxes at the end of each hall, with deliveries in the morning.
``It's a great homework assignment to go home and write letters with a parent,'' Brady said. ``Teachers will write reminders to students through the mail also.''
She added, ``As a language assignment, my students may write to anyone, but. . . they are supposed to write letters we would want to get.''
``Pen Pal Mania Day'' will be held monthly. Each class will be paired with a buddy class, and letters and drawings will be exchanged. Students will design their own stamps and use penny stamps from the post office. One of the school's business partners, Hillhaven-Nansemond Convalescent and Retirement Center, made a donation for start-up costs.
``Teachers will set up the program and train the children, but this will be their job,'' Brady said. ``School needs to be for kids, and the kids need to feel a part of the school.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Postmaster Tomas Topolnicki, left, and teacher Robin Brady prepare
for their daily mail delivery.
by CNB