West Huntsville Elementary School (WHES) Partners

I attended a luncheon meeting at Faith last Friday (9/12/2008). The purpose of the meeting was for a number of folks from Faith to get to know Barbara Johnson, the Principal at WHES, and also a chance for her to get to know some of us. It was a time to coordinate some details of an exciting opportunity coming up in our life at Faith. But first, here is some of what I learned.

We’ve been sending a small group of folks over to WHES to read with the kids for 5 years now; time flies! At one point some of the women at Faith went to WHES to hold a tea party. WHES has a program in place to teach kids manners, and social skills and the tea party was a great way to reinforce those skills through practice. I learned that back in May of 2008 Faith made a decision to move our work with WHES in a “missional” direction. Since then you may remember the summer book drive we held that was very successful. And even more recently we have been collecting health clinic supplies.

Ms. Johnson is a pretty amazing woman! She’s been in the Huntsville City School system for 30 some years. She has taught a number of years at WHES, moved on as assistant principal at another school and returned to WHES as principal a few years back. She said she would not want to be anywhere else at this point in her career. Ms. Johnson is openly Christian, full of love for the kids and full of energy. She is a powerful advocate!

WHES has some tough and encouraging statistics. The neighborhood is very transitory. WHES starts out each year with about 260 students and ends with about 260 students; they are not the same students. They have a staff of seasoned as well as young teachers. Less than 5% of their students have a traditional family background, although that number is growing with an increase in the Hispanic population. WHES operates an “Even Start” preschool program for 3, 4, and 5 year olds. The WHES parents send the kids to school with “the very best that they have” but they often need a bit of help. And each Kindergarten class holds graduation in the Butler High auditorium as a tangible sign of the goal desired for each child! WHES has a number of strong community partners that provide support in many ways. Check out WHES and its newsletter at their webpage: http://www.hsv.k12.al.us/schools/elementary/westhes/index.html .
And don’t miss Keenan providing an excellent introduction in the school video at http://www.hsv.k12.al.us/schools/elementary/westhes/West_Huntsville.wmv .

On October 25th, as part of Faith’s 50th Anniversary weekend we will be spending Saturday morning at WHES. It will start out at a breakfast at 8:30. There will be a short time of celebration for both our 50th anniversaries. And then we’ll have the opportunity to work alongside WHES on a number of tasks that will help the school grounds and a “Parent Portable” that serves as a center and meeting area for parent involvement. Watch for more details and check out Faith’s website, http://presby.org/pages.php?page=08/08/09/1958726 , for anniversary details and contacts. This is a great opportunity to jump into a budding missional relationship with the WHES community. I’m going to give it a try, how about you?