THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412090294
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HOLLY WESTER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
THROUGH RAIN, SNOW, sleet or hail, the postman always delivers the mail.
For 40 students at John B. Dey Elementary School, this philosophy has become a routine way of life.
``Wee Deliver,'' an in-school post office program in its first month of operation, teaches the basics of mail delivery. Student postal employees do everything from mail collection to sorting to delivery on a daily basis.
Letters and cards, written by parents, faculty and students for faculty and students, are handled by ``Wee Deliver.'' Interested writers just need to check the school directory in the office or in the front hall for proper addresses.
``It's a very thorough process,'' said first-grade teacher Tracy LoAlbo, chairman of ``Wee Deliver's'' 14-member committee. ``They go through it from beginning to end.'' Dey is one of many area schools with this type of postal program.
After a lengthy application and interview process, students, from grades two through five, were chosen based on their citizenship and work habits, grades, school and home activities, as well as teacher recommendations. The committee received more than 120 applications in all.
Students were trained by both the committee and U.S. Postal Service representative Fran Sansone. They were told their responsibilities and given a hands-on practice.
For nearly two weeks, these students have worked as postmasters, ``nixie clerks,'' sorters and letter carriers. Ten special education students serve as facers and cancelers.
``They're running it themselves,'' LoAlbo said. ``They do all the work.'' Parent volunteers, such as Bobby Callis and Kevin Maume, have contributed by making the main mailbox and sorter boxes. Other parents come in before and after school to offer help.
The program begins each morning before classes start when the two fifth-grade postmasters collect the mail from a blue wooden mailbox in the school foyer. On the average, they collect 100 letters a day, but their record is 207.
The postmasters then supervise employees or fill in for absentees. ``It's not really hard, it's fun,'' said one of the postmasters, 10-year-old T.J. Browning. ``I think it's doing a lot of good for the students at John B. Dey. All the people who work learn about the post office.''
Three third-graders serve as ``nixie clerks,'' and their job is to check addresses for proper form. There must be a return address and a stamp on each letter.
The stamps are squares of blue paper with the school's mascot, a sea gull, drawn on them and are available in all classrooms and in the main office at no cost. If something is not correct, the clerks stamp the envelope ``return to sender'' and send it back.
The sorters, who come from both fourth- and fifth-grade, place the mail in street sorting boxes, arrange letters by address, rubber band mail for each classroom and place the mail in one of the four route bins.
The facers and cancelers mark through the stamps before the end of the school day, when four second-graders deliver the mail to the proper destinations. The kindergarten- and first-grade wing is known as ``South Sea Gull Cove,'' the second- and third-grade wing is ``North Sea Gull Cove'' and the annex is ``Dolphin Drive.'' The portable classrooms are ``Sea Gull Lane,'' the cafeteria is ``Seafood Place,'' the clinic is ``Lifesaving Lane'' and the gym is ``Mussels Court.''
The students will work until March 1. Then a new batch of workers will take over. ``With the children we have working, they really make the program work,'' LoAlbo said. ``They have a hard-work ethic. This couldn't exist without the kids.''
Besides teaching post office basics and giving students a taste of a real world career, ``Wee Deliver'' encourages students to use everyday skills.
``We thought it was a great way to promote reading and writing skills across the grades,'' LoAlbo said. ``A lot of teachers have chosen to integrate it into their classrooms, while some choose to do this as an extracurricular activity.''
Fourth-grade teacher Linda Wahab is planning to use it in an upcoming lesson on the effects of junk mail. Some teachers have set up pen pal programs. Special education teacher and SCA adviser Mardy Schreiber will use ``Wee Deliver'' during the holidays for a fund-raising program.
``It's wonderful,'' she said. ``It's a good way for the children to get involved in the school.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by HOLLY WESTER
Neil Turner, 10, is one of eight sorters in John B. Dey Elementary
School's 40-student ``Wee Deliver'' program.
The program begins each morning before classes start when the two
fifth-grade postmasters - including T.J. Browning, 10 - collect the
mail from a blue wooden mailbox in the school foyer.
THE WEE DELIVER POSTAL WORKERS
Students involved in ``Wee Deliver'' are:
Postmasters: T.J. Browning, Brooke Reese, Angela Bolton and Chase
Abrams.
Sorters: Katherine Swaim, Kristopher Durham, Neil Turner, Travis
Willson, Brandon Price, Jennifer Crawley, Evan Gordon and Jonathan
Banworth.
Nixie clerks: Sara Vanagas, Cyrus Rassool, Kimberly Holihan,
Lindsey Hosek, Meghan Brindley, Tessa Jamison, James Adams and Donna
Kopf.
Letter carriers: Curt VanHooser, Chip Snyders, Maggie Guy,
Katherine Dorey, Shaun Pick, Katharine Scott, Sarah Hostetter and
Abbey Harr.
Alternate letter carriers: Lee Callis and Renee Bond.
Facers and cancelers: Robert Adams, Rachael Atol, Anne Carey,
Eddie Cunningham, Crystal Frederick, Justin Diemer, Kaye Hall,
Willie Konefal, Wesley Marshall and David Reyes.
by CNB