Volunteers, PTO give school makeover
Posted on Wednesday, November 5, 2008
When volunteers looking for a project met up with Yvette Williams, principal of Northside Elementary School, it was a good match. Williams had plenty of projects for a large group of volunteers.
For the next two weekends about 200 volunteers from Fellowship Bible Church will be working with Northside’s PTO members. They’ll be painting, landscaping, moving a chain link fence and moving a pavilion.
School services, Williams explained, does a good job with maintenance around the building, but the volunteers will be going above and beyond routine maintenance.
“ This is a school that’s 50-something years old, ” she said. The volunteers are helping the entire district because they’re freeing up school services for projects at the other 20 schools.
The PTO is providing money for some of the plants that the volunteers will put in, and the school budget will cover the paint. Last summer, many of the hallways were painted light blue. Volunteers will complete that project by painting the metal trim a darker shade of blue.
The PTO also commissioned a mural of an underwater scene for the entry hall. Other murals will be added by the volunteers.
One of the biggest jobs assigned to volunteers is to clean out the storage area under the school stage. It will be, Williams said, like an archeological dig as volunteers go through layers of PTO projects and years worth of school supplies.
Outside, school services is supplying top soil that volunteers will spread to correct a drainage problem on the playground.
Last spring’s storms
A large trash bin will be on the grounds for debris from the shed, as well as from the understage storage. Eventually, Williams hopes the PTO will pay for a new shed.
In the gym, the climbing wall will be cleaned and the lines on the floor repainted.
Around the playground, picnic tables will be waterproofed, hedges will be trimmed and new benches will be installed. The building will be power washed. Even the driveway will get new lines.
“ It really is like a makeover, ” Williams said.
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