Learning: ESP on the Team
'Mr. Bob' Makes a Dream Come True

A ho-hum school takes on anew life, thanks to school custodian Bob Waterman.

What a difference custodian Bob Waterman made at his 100-year-old school, where landscaping and new playground equipment are now in place.

For the 10 years that custodian Bob Waterman has been working at Sacred Heart Public School in Lebanon, New Hampshire, he's dreamed of making his school more kid-friendly.

"It looked like a prison," he says, about this 100-year-old building that once housed a Catholic school. "If you can imagine an old two-story brick building surrounded by an eight-foot high chainlink fence, where even the playground is paved with asphalt, then you are picturing Sacred Heart."

Over the years "Mr. Bob," as the K-12 students affectionately call him, used what he learned in a high school architecture class to doodle ideas on paper for making Sacred Heart more modern. He envisioned grass and curved walkways, flowers and trees.

Last year, Waterman's paper drawings became real.

"I was tired of seeing so many kids getting injured on the blacktop, enough was enough," he says. "So I took a drawing to the principal and asked him how to get the funds needed to turn our school into one we would all be proud of."

Six months later, after numerous brainstorming sessions with the school's teachers, staff, and parents, Waterman found himself presenting his ideas and drawings to the local Parent Teacher Organization for funding of new playground equipment. After a hefty donation for the cause, he took his ideas to the school board, which unanimously agreed to fund construction.

In the months that followed, Waterman took the lead in working with contractors and city officials on the school's behalf.

Last June, just one day after school closed for the summer, Waterman watched as construction crews ripped up pavement and started the makeover. In just three months, the school was transformed.

This fall, grass, flowers, and park benches replaced pavement at Sacred Heart. Curved paths lead to the school door; the play areas have new and safer equipment surrounded by bark mulch. A grass field where kids can actually play sits behind the school.

"So many people volunteered their time and energy to make this come together," he says. "There was a lot of sweat."

The payoff came as children returned in September.

"I'm not a sentimental guy, but what I witnessed on those children's faces the day they came back to school still chokes me up," he says.

"One little girl told her mom, 'Look at how beautiful my school is.'"

Adds Waterman: "I always thought school should be a place for the community, and now that's happening here. Before we did all this, I used to get to school Monday morning and find vandalism and empty beer cans. Parents didn't bring their kids to the school to play on Saturdays because there was no place to play. Now it seems families are here all the time, which is exactly what I had hoped would happen."

Next up? A reconstruction of the school library. Waterman will build a mini amphitheater so the children have a fun place to sit during story time.

"I'm always looking at how we can better utilize our space so the kids will benefit," he says. "While I don't think becoming a school architect is in my immediate future, I hope to volunteer my knowledge at other schools that need a little help. It's so important to me that kids have a good place to learn, and I'm going to use all of the resources in my power to make sure they do."

Team Player
A Passion for Poetry

Illinois custodian Dave Arnold writes poems about the value of ESP work.

Name: David Arnold

Job Title: Janitor at Brownstown Elementary School in south central Illinois for 18 years, and former president of the Brownstown ESP Association.

On the Side: I write poetry. I've written over 100 poems, but the ones I most like to write are for other ESP members, who seldom get thanked for doing the hard work they do. I've written at least 10 poems for all types of ESP jobs so far.. Some of the poems are on the NEA ESP Web site, which has prompted members from around the country to E-mail me and ask if I will create poems specifically for their positions, like a recess aid, bus mechanic, and a school bus aid. I even won fifth place in a national competition for my poem, "Just a Janitor." I feel so fortunate to be able to do this, to show ESP everywhere my appreciation for everything they do.

Special Concerns: Making sure children stay in school. I was local Association president when I read an article that kind of shocked me.

It said that at least 60 percent of prison inmates never finished high school. Shortly after I read that, the figures came out on the dropout rates in our own high school-- which were at 10 percent. In a district of 500 children, that's just heartbreaking.

So I created my own black-and-white poster to put up in the high school which read "Some Places Don't Require a Good Education," with a picture of an inmate behind bars.

The poster got a lot of people's attention, and the state Association distributed it around Illinois. I've been creating posters for American Education Week for five years now.

Biggest Passion: The Association. I've helped organize three ESP locals, including my own. I've also served on two state committees and on the ESP council.

I keep reminding people that with the Association we bargain, without it, we beg. It's also a great way to meet other support personnel and develop a network of friends.

Resources

Show You Care
Looking for a special way to acknowledge members in your NEA local affiliate? Do what the Edison (N. J.) Education Association recently did: Copy David Arnold's poems (see "Team Player" above) for fellow janitors, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and school secretaries onto parchment paper, frame them, and give them to your colleagues for any occasion. They work especially well as gifts for American Education Week. You can find the poems on the NEA Web site: /esp/jobs/poetry.htm.

Calling All Bus Drivers
Are you a bus driver looking to share your experiences and resources with other bus drivers around the country? Try the "School Bus Driver" Web site at http://user.mc.net/hyden.

Is This Real?
Have you ever gotten an E-mail, and wondered if it's real? For example, Bill Gates offering you money if you pass on his E-mail to others, or warnings about hypodermic needles being attached to the underside of gas pump handles?

Those claims, and many more like them, are totally false according to HoaxBusters, a public service of the CIAC Team and the U. S. Department of Energy. To check on a questionable offer or claim, go to http://computer-connection.net/~dkweb/Hobus/Hobus.htm.

The Web site lists hoaxes by category and you can search by topic.

Providing Safe Health Care
Do you work with medically fragile children? If yes, you may have questions about how best to help them. The NEA book, Providing Safe Health Care: The Role of Educational Support Personnel, can now be read for free on the NEA Web site. Check it out at /esp/resource/safecare.htm.

Check This Out
Looking for a source of online novels, newspapers, magazines, and tutorials for students? Then you may want to check out www.ipl.org. for a vast collection of online resources.

Going the Extra Mile

What's it like to serve 700 meals to children? Or tune a bus?

School board members, assistant superintendents, and a PTA president in Florida found out last November as they shadowed cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and school secretaries as part of the Escambia-NEA ESP's program, "Walk in Our Shoes."

The annual event, held in conjunction with Education Support Personnel Day during American Education Week, raises awareness about the importance of the "behind the scenes" jobs that allow teachers to teach and students to achieve, says UniServ director Ellen Lawrence.

"It started two years ago in response to a school board member who was pushing privatization for our transportation services," says Lawrence. "We knew if they walked in our shoes, even just for a day, they would realize how important our jobs are."

Escambia County PTA President Cathy Roche was humbled by the experience.

"I thought I knew what driving a bus would be like from driving my own van with five kids," she said. "But from this point forward, I'm going to start saluting bus operators everywhere."

The Escambia-NEA ESPs is comprised of three local NEA affiliates.

Santa came early for hundreds of children in Michigan last December, thanks to charitable efforts by the Lansing Educational Assistants (LEA). More than 1,000 hats, mittens, gloves, and socks were given to Lansing students in need of warm clothing for the winter, as part of the local's first "Warm Hands, Warm Feet" project.

"We've traditionally done fundraisers and charitable events with the teachers Association, but this year we wanted to do something on our own to show how much our group cares about the community," says LEA President David Hockaday, the leader of the 540-member paraprofessional local.