Back to SCHOOL; Students in Holbrook to Help Spruce Up School

The Patriot Ledger

HOLBROOK – When students report to classes Sept. 7 at Holbrook Junior-Senior High School, they will be returning to a place they have helped spruce up.

Students will join school officials and residents in a cleanup of the school on Friday. “When the kids do things on their own, they take more pride in it,” said Maggie Gallagher, who is organizing the 2nd annual Bulldog Pride Clean-up day. “They’ll take more ownership over the building.” During the all-day event, residents will clean out the woods, paint the bleachers and plant flowers outside the 49- year-old building. Inside, they will start a sports mural in the locker room, paint the teachers’ room and touch up lockers in the halls.

“It’s an old building. It needs a little bit of help,” said Gallagher, a high school English teacher and student council adviser.

In addition to a clean building, students also will get a new high school principal. Edward Dunn, 52, of Plymouth, joined the district last month after serving as assistant principal at Silver Lake Regional High School.

“I’m looking forward to meeting the students, getting the year started and having an exciting year full of learning,” he said.

Pupils at the high school and South Elementary School will be introduced this year to character education, a program that aims to develop positive attributes. The program has been expanded from Kennedy Elementary School to the entire district.

Each month, a theme, such as respect or thankfulness, will be chosen. Students at all the schools will learn about that theme and develop their own character through classroom activities and assignments.

“Including the South School and high school this year will show some continuity through the district,” said Gallagher, who is leading the program with Kennedy guidance counselor Donna MacDermott. “We’ll align the curriculum.”

The expanded program will help students improve their character through the years, Gallagher said.

“It gives them knowledge to help them make responsible choices and decisions,” she said.

The program will not be new to Kennedy Elementary School, but pupils there will see a new dismissal policy.

Pupils who usually take the bus home but are getting picked up on a particular day must now bring a note from home indicating the change in plans. Their teachers will dismiss those pupils to the gym at the end of the day.

Parents will head to the gym at 2:50 p.m., sign their name on a sheet and leave with their children through the gym door.

“This way, parents assume more responsibility for their own child, and it allows us to control who’s actually taking the child out of school,” said Kennedy Principal Barbara McLaughlin.

In the past, parents filed into the office and signed out their children. Eunice Kim may be reached at ekim@ledger.com.