Thursday, February 26, 2009

Barkstall Elementary School

This morning I arrived 10 minutes late to a tour of Barkstall Elementary school. Currently tucked between two cornfields and at the end of a long driveway off of Curtis Road, Barkstall is a relatively new school building (11 years old in 2009). 

It's the closest elementary school to my house in Savoy, and the closest one to where X-man's pre-school is, so I knew I could get there quickly.

A short run-down of information I gathered on this tour.

Barkstall elementary school serves kindergarten through fifth grade. It is the only school in the district to require uniforms (uniforms being khaki or navy blue pants/skirts/shorts and red or blue polo-shirts or Barkstall t-shirts). Kids relay info back to the teachers that they like uniforms because it helps them all look the same (which as an adult isn't usually a plus in my book, but as a fat 4th grader, as I was, probably would have been comforting, plus it makes laundry easy for parents). 

It runs on a balanced year school calendar, which means the kids attend for 9 or 10 weeks and then get a two-week break. Summer breaks are six weeks long, so that the kids will allegedly have an easier time adjusting back to being students. And, yes, they do have air-conditioning for starting back to school at the end of July instead of the middle of August.

The building was large, really large. It was very clean and very neutral colored. In order to liven it up children's artwork was hung everywhere. The school of choice theme for this school, per the flyer they handed out is "Academics through the Arts" but not once was the school theme mentioned in the tour. 

They have an amazing gym that they share with the Champaign Park District for indoor playtime and a separate, smaller cafeteria.

The kindergarten rooms are near the office. They are large, well lit and well organized. They have carpet space and table space and individual bathrooms in each classroom.

According to the tour guide, this school site (similar to the other schools) has an enrichment room with a special teacher in case your child qualifies for a gifted program, but you decide not to send them there. They also have reading recovery for students who might need a little extra help to keep up with "standards." I noticed on the walls outside the second grade area that the kids wrote letters to President Obama. There was a definite spectrum of writing and spelling skills represented in the work, which I liked. 

There are computers in each of the "pod" areas of school, as well as in some of the classrooms. They appeared to all be PCs.

In addition, like some other elementary schools, they have a band teacher that travels to their school to teach instruments (mostly stringed). The instruction is free to students who want to participate, but parents will need to cover the rental or purchase price of an instrument for them to use. 

There are three extra large fish tanks that greet you when you walk through the main doors, and there are currently anti-bullying posters on the door to every classroom in the building, which made me wonder if they had bullying issues or this was part of an anti-bullying grant. I also noticed that the PTA is in the middle of trying to raise $10k for the school according to a large poster near the head office.

I want to go back and get a better look at the library, which wasn't presented during the tour -- just pointed out. So, when I take MacTroll along to look at the final three (two years from now), we'll have some details to review.

I was excited that the tour guide, who had been teaching at Barkstall since 1998 did know kids who approached her by name. A few of them came up and hugged her. 

The school hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., which means not super early for parents like me who think the clock should at least say 7 a.m. before anyone gets out of bed. The doors of the school were not locked down when I got there (no buzzing for permission to enter the school was needed).

Overall, my feeling about Barkstall is that it's the kind of school you'd find in the suburbs up north. Over 400 students, new and placed in an upper-middle to upper class neighborhood... and a cornfield. 

When I left, I felt encouraged. I felt comfortable that if X-man was chosen to attend there I'd be comfortable sending him there.


2 comments:

~rachel~ said...

Do they not lock the doors?

SunnyD said...

South Side's doors were locked when I arrived for my tour, but Barkstall's weren't. I don't know if it was just for the tours or if that's a normal thing.