THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 14, 1994 TAG: 9407120132
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
ON A RECENT weekday morning, a group of squealing youngsters tumbled out of a church bus and swarmed over the precious few slides, swings and gym toys at Northside Community Park.
Then a few of the kids spied Chrissy Dixon and Crystal Rhinehart.
The two Rosemont Middle School students held a poster picturing a brightly colored array of playground equipment - more than enough to fill a football field.
``How'd you like to play on this?'' Rhinehart, 12, asked, as more children crowded around for a look.
One small boy fell over backward in delight. ``Cool!'' shouted another. ``It looks pretty fun to me,'' a third said.
Dixon and Rhinehart, rising seventh-graders at Rosemont, beamed with pride. For them, the encounter validated months of effort by their sixth-grade class. And it provided inspiration for the work that remains in the year ahead - getting the project off paper and into the park.
``This is all going to be built by us and the community,'' Rhinehart told the kids.
In what may be a first for Norfolk, students at three public schools participating in a national pilot program to improve education are working together and with the community to build a better playground at Northside.
Teachers and students at Rosemont, Tanners Creek Elementary and Norview High hatched the project last September, basing their approach on the successful Kids Cove community playground built last year by volunteers at Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach.
This month, the Norfolk schools launched a campaign to raise $200,000 needed to buy and maintain playground equipment for Northside.
With community support, shiny new whirlwind slides, spiral climbers and other playground equipment could be in place at Northside by this time next summer.
``It's wonderful to know we have people in the community who care,'' Ida Bateman, day care director at Bayview Baptist Church, said as she watched kids gather around Dixon and Rhinehart.
The project planned by the three schools, teachers said, reflects goals set by ATLAS Communities, a private group composed of four education research organizations.
ATLAS, an acronym for Authentic Teaching, Learning and Assessment for all Students, in 1992 was one of 11 groups selected to design ``break-the-mold schools'' as part of then-President Bush's plan to overhaul education.
The Norfolk schools, among four systems in the nation selected by ATLAS, continue to fine-tune the pilot program after its first full year. The community-built playground illustrates the essence of the ATLAS concept.
``We're trying to create more innovative teaching techniques and generate greater involvement of parents and the community,'' said Norview High teacher Sandra Knight, who spearheaded the project with Rosemont teacher Diane Koffman.
A key ATLAS concept involves teaching students how their education is connected to the larger society, the goal being to ``build bridges'' between their schools and the community. Such learning is considered more ``authentic,'' Koffman said, because it shows students relevance beyond the classroom.
Despite such abstract-sounding jargon, results have been concrete. Lesson plans during the school year included assigning students to write and telephone local businesses and community groups to explain the project and solicit support.
Rosemont and Norview students interviewed Tanners Creek students to find out what types of equipment appealed to elementary age kids, a task that has fostered cooperation and understanding among students of varying ages and cultural backgrounds. The three schools plan to share such work as fund-raising, making wooden pickets to fence the playground and installing the equipment.
When students started the project last fall, nobody returned their calls or letters. ``They just thought we were playing around,'' Rhinehart said.
``I think the community is not used to kids getting involved,'' Koffman said.
With persistence, they've come a long way. Norfolk schools administrators didn't need coaxing. And the project dovetailed with the city's plan to redesign and expand Northside park.
``Until it becomes a reality, it's just a boast,'' Stanley Stein, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, said of claims that the 400- by 400-foot expansion would be the region's largest community-built playground. ``This is the type of thing that's very positive and we ought to try to promote it.''
``When I was bringing my kids out there 15 years ago, this is what was here; nothing has changed,'' Amparo Gasapo, a parent volunteer, said. ``This will probably be a place for my grandchildren. I think it'll be a good feeling to drive by and see all the kids having fun.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Crystal Rhinehart and Chrissy Dixon with Diane Koffman, a Rosemont
teacher. Koffman and Sandra Knight, a Norview teacher, head the
project.
A drawing of the playground proposed for Northside Community Park.
HOW TO HELP
Norfolk Public Schools this month launched a campaign to raise
$200,000 for a community-built playground at Northside Park on
Tidewater Drive.
For $25, individual and community groups can have their names
routed on wooden fence pickets students at Tanners Creek Elementary,
Rosemont Middle and Norview High plan to erect around the
playground.
The goal is to have the new equipment installed by next summer.
It would increase by as much as four times the park's existing
equipment.
Here's a sampling of the playground equipment that's on the wish
list and the money needed: a 14-foot whirlwind slide ($8,500), 16
swings ($3,900), a spiral climber ($900), a carousel whirl ($3,000),
a U-shaped climber ($900), a suspension bridge ($1,500) and an
overhead flier ($1,800).
Call 853-5066 for more information about the project and
donations.
by CNB