A Rainbow's Arc
By Jessica Rae Patton, Associate Editor

Principal Marilyn Liberatore describes a benefit of the Bank Street Approach: "Teaching can be such an isolating job. Working cooperatively is so much more fun - and it's so much more fun to teach this way than out of a textbook!"

The phone at Columbus Magnet School in Norwalk, CT, had been ringing nonstop all morning. Parent Coordinator Terry Lakin barely had time to look up and wave a greeting in our direction before returning to the stream of anxious callers. One can imagine the anticipation on the other end of the line; parents were calling to find out whether or not their child had been selected, via a lottery, for one of the precious few open spots for the upcoming school year. "She is sixth on the kindergarten waiting list," Terry told one caller as she rifled through the sheaf of paper in front of her.

Considering the number of applications - 180 – and the number of available spaces - 20 for kindergarten and about 20 total for first through fifth grades - sixth in line wasn't so bad. School Principal Marilyn Liberatore explained that priority is given to children entering kindergarten who have a sibling at Columbus; the only other requirement is that the child be a resident of Norwalk - and that they fit the demographic needed to maintain a racial balance that reflects that of the town - 58% Black, Hispanic and Asian and 42% Caucasian.

A local gem. At Teaching K-8, we'd long heard about this gem in our proverbial backyard (our editorial offices are also in Norwalk). As it's our practice to visit and tell you about schools around the United States, we seldom profile a school in such close proximity. But we were thrilled to finally spend a day at Columbus Magnet School - a school that made us all the more proud to call Norwalk, CT, our home.

Keeping the doors open. In 1979, Columbus School was an inner-city neighborhood school with an 87% minority population. In order to comply with federal desegregation guidelines, the school was compelled to either integrate the student body to reflect that of the larger community or close its doors. It was the idea of the superintendent at the time, Richard Briggs, to recreate Columbus as a magnet school. This would enable the town to apply for federal funds to help restructure the school, and would also allow for the promotion of voluntary integration.

Banking on Bank Street. Founding principal of Columbus, Arthur Perschino, knew the school would need a theme that would be attractive enough to draw students from all over the city and was also well-suited to the neighborhood. He chose the Bank Street model of education (see box, page 47) because of the rich resources for social studies in the area where the school was located - a lot of industry as well as a commercial waterfront area. Another appealing Bank Street feature was that it calls for a full-time assistant in each classroom. That help would be necessary to carry out Bank Street's in-depth units of study, with their great emphasis on field trips.

Fourth-grade teacher Katie Coyne Restrepo's students are seen here shading in the regions of Connecticut.

Unveiling a rainbow. Columbus opened in its new incarnation for the 1980-1981 school year with 183 students, 60% Caucasian and 40% minority, chosen by a random lottery system. Some of the school's former 300 students remained; the rest were districted to other schools. Marilyn Liberatore, who worked at Columbus as a classroom teacher from 1980-1997 and has served as the school's principal since 1998, admitted that the transition wasn't easy for all. "Some people in the neighborhood resented it, as you can imagine,"she said. "Children who lived next door could no longer go to their neighborhood school. Major community outreach was and has continued to be very important."

A motto was chosen to reflect the school's commitment to its newly diverse population - as well as to celebrating, rather than downplaying, the cultural differences therein: "Our School's a Rainbow." A student wrote a school song of the same name, which is still sung today at the All-School Meeting, the weekly assembly held to showcase students' work and achievements.

All-around arts. When Marilyn came on board as principal, there had been a decline in the school's lottery applications. The other elementary schools in town had responded to Columbus' success and implemented similar programs. For example, Columbus was the first school in Norwalk to have an all-day kindergarten; all others have since followed suit. "We had to look around and say, ‘What can bring us to new heights?' That's when we brought in the H.O.T. Schools program." Marilyn said.

An initiative of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, the state's 24 H.O.T. (Higher Order Thinking) Schools feature comprehensive arts integration programs across the curriculum and vigorously support a democratic environment for both teachers and students (see box, page 49). When asked how the H.O.T. Schools and Bank Street approaches have come together, Marilyn replied, "Very well! Our Bank Street philosophy and our social studies units are the core of our curriculum. And all of the other disciplines, including the arts, are integrated within the core. What H.O.T. has done is help us use the arts to teach."

From theory to practice. Indeed, in visiting the classrooms and traversing the colorful corridors of Columbus, the visual, musical and theatrical arts are evident everywhere one looks – as is the way they bring the social studies-based curriculum to life.

Marilyn Liberatore and TK8's Jessica Rae Patton, left, and Patricia Broderick, right, admire a painting created with a H.O.T. Schools visiting artist.

Fifth-grade teacher Elba Llantin-Cruz gave us the background on a hallway display of journals handbound in leather. She explained that the students had to choose a colony to study. They were given a list of different types of colonies - Spanish, English, Dutch and French. "We even found one African-American colony that stemmed from St. Augustine, FL, which was a hard colony to research because there isn't a lot of information," she said. Students made up names for themselves and wrote fictional first-person accounts of their lives in the colonies based on their research. "I told them that Old English was used in some colonies, so they incorporated Old English in their journals. They drew maps of their colonies. They composed music based on the actual colony or a person," she said. "My assistant is an artist, so she helped them make journals out of real cow hides. They also made a tool they might have used in their profession and a pocket or bag for it."

The students then had the opportunity to present what they'd learned. "They asked if they could wear costumes; they spoke with accents. They incorporated a lot of what they learned into their presentations and just gave 100%," Elba said.

Another of many examples of the great pairing of the Bank Street approach with a strong arts emphasis is how the Columbus second graders study their local community. This is a standard part of all second-grade social studies curriculum, but how it's done differently here is the kids actually visit various components of a community – a furniture store, grocery store, bank, the fire and police departments, the mayor's office – then recreate the town within their classrooms. They learn about local politics and the real estate market; they have "jobs," receive "paychecks" and have to calculate their taxes and expenses. They furnish their homes; they visit the doctor and the beauty parlor. They vote – in a hand-constructed and -painted voting booth in Julie Chironna and Jean Zeranski's classroom - on a town issue, then follow up by sending a letter with the results to the mayor.

First-grade teacher Jennifer Imhoff leads an engaging geography lesson.

Forming "Tribes." About six years ago, Marilyn was noticing, and hearing from teachers, that incidents of kids exhibiting disrespect to teachers and each other seemed to be increasing. She consulted with Bonnie Koba, the codirector of the H.O.T. Schools program, who said, "It sounds like you need Tribes." (See box, page 47.) Marilyn went to a one-day workshop and, as she told us, "I knew this was good stuff." Tribes is a process of learning attentive listening and mutual respect through small, self-governed groups. "It's similar to Character Counts programs, but this is so integrated, it becomes a part of everything we do," said Marilyn. "It's cooperative learning and kids know now that they have to listen to one another. They hold one another accountable. I can't say enough about how it has transformed the classroom." Norwalk's superintendent of schools, Dr. Sal Corda, has been very supportive of the Tribes initiative, and all of the elementary schools in town now have Tribes trainers among the staff.

Parent participation. Students' families play a crucial role in the success of Columbus. They volunteer in the classrooms, lead ECHOES activities (see H.O.T. Schools box, page 49) and, through the PTO, have raised funds for everything from field trips to a new sound system. Parents also run a program called "Adventures in Art." Four times a year, they choose an artist they want the kids to learn about, then plan an art piece in that artist's style. This is often integrated into a larger project; for instance, after visiting a community produce market as part of their study of farm crops, first graders made renderings in the style of Georgia O'Keeffe of the fruit they'd seen.

During our visit, family volunteers could be seen in many capacities throughout the school. Parents were running the register and helping students make selections at the Book Fair; at the All-School Meeting, family members showed their support both by leading the kids in song and performance and by serving as enthusiastic audience members; after school, we met a mom who is involved with the Young Astronauts program (see box, lower right).

So strong are families' dedication to, and appreciation for, this school and its role in their children's lives, that we even met a parent who pinch-hits working in the office - and her children graduated from Columbus years ago. "My kids are confident. They know who they are and aren't afraid to express it," She told us. "They handle themselves so well with their middle school peers. I credit Columbus with all of that. I cannot say enough good things about this school." Nor can we.