THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603200177
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Parents in the Butts Road Primary School neighborhoods had a double treat last Tuesday evening: They didn't have to cook, and their kids enjoyed dinner without the usual parental exhortations to eat.
About 30 teachers, media specialists, teachers' assistants and guidance counselors from Butts Road Primary traded in their rulers and books and donned aprons and visors, grabbed spatulas and ketchup bottles and offered a little McService to moms, dads and kids for ``Butts Road Primary Family Night at McDonald's'' at the franchise at Centerville Turnpike and Kempsville Road.
From 5 until 8 p.m. the school's faculty and staff bussed tables, flipped burgers, chopped onions, cooked French fries, waited on customers and even rang up sales on the cash registers as a way to raise funds for much needed school equipment.
During that time, the restaurant donated 10 percent of all its sales to the school.
The project, which will be repeated on April 9 and May 7, came out of the Partners In Education, plan which links local businesses to nearby schools.
The nearby McDonald's is the primary school's partner, said vice principal Calvin K. Hankins Sr.
``They came to us and said that they were interested in forming a partnership with the school,'' he said. ``Their emphasis is on reading, and they have offered us coupons for Happy Meals, French fries, sundaes, cookies and others as incentives to students to improve their reading skills or to get them to read more. They've also donated meals to the `Teacher of the Week' winners. This just shows that businesses and schools need to work together to form a partnership. We're both concerned with the same thing: the improvement of education and the betterment of our children.''
Hankins said he got together with franchise manager Laura Sechriest to formulate the Family Night plan.
Having the school's faculty and staff act as fast food franchise workers shows the community's children that teachers and principals are good sports and just plain folks, said Elizabeth S. ``Liz'' Stublen, Butts Road Primary principal.
``All of the kids at school were excited about this,'' Stublen said. ``They all think it's wonderful that teachers and the administrators would do this kind of thing. And it went on right here in the community.''
Besides bussing tables, manning the counter and cooking food, the franchise's temporary workers acted as wait staff and even ate with their own students.
``The fact that we have more than 30 of our faculty and staff members sign up for this just proves that we have the best staff in Chesapeake Public Schools,'' Stublen said. ``It's really a team effort here, and we have such wonderful parental support, too.''
Stublen and Hankins said word about the event was publicized at PTA meetings and through posters, the parents' newsletter and fliers sent home with students.
``I heard several moms say, `Oh, good! I don't have to cook,' '' Stublen said. ``All kids love the food they serve there. Parents didn't have any trouble getting their children to finish their dinners. I know we sold a lot of Happy Meals.'' by CNB