A thankless job gets a BIG ‘thank you’

In the hallway of Prescott Middle School hangs a framed quote by Frederick Douglass: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”

This school has seen more than its share of struggles, but less than its share of progress. If any faculty ever needed a show of affection and support from its community, it is Prescott’s.

So on a spring afternoon before Easter, the teachers are called to the cafeteria for a board meeting. They trickle in, weary.

A peppy Jeanne McCollister, special projects director for Advance Baton Rouge, speaks into a microphone and tells the teachers this is no meeting. In fact, there’s a little surprise in store: an “extreme makeover.”

While the faculty is on break, the teachers learn, a fast-working volunteer team will strip down their dreary, forsaken lounge and turn it into a fresh, comfortable and inspiring space.

The idea, McCollister says, came during a leadership conference when she went to retrieve something from the teachers’ lounge, a foreboding room of mismatched furniture and disrepair that only reinforced the school’s long-standing hopelessness.

“It was time to do something special for the teachers, and something that would send a message and have a long-term positive effect,” says McCollister, who is the daughter of Rolfe McCollister, chairman and chief executive officer of Louisiana Business Inc., which publishes 225 magazine.

Surely she could convince the community to help restore the teachers’ sense of hope and remind them that the community does care what goes within its public schools. She ran her idea by some folks at Holly Harrison Interiors, Olinde’s Furniture and Healing Place Church. All three signed on immediately, with plenty more local companies to follow.

The organizers offer the teachers one last preview of what will await them after Spring Break.

“It’s been a trying year,” Anton Witherspoon, manager of school support for Replicators Inc., tells the teachers before the break. “We’ve had our missteps, but we’ve had our successes. The people beside me are here today to show you we appreciate you, and your hard work has not gone on unnoticed.”

The teachers are shifting in their chairs and smiling, but unaware just what the makeover will entail.

“You haven’t quit. And you aren’t quitting now,” says Kristy Hebert, executive director of Advance Baton Rouge. “Thank you. We hope this change will make you more comfortable. You’re appreciated.”

Others from the donating companies also address the group. “Your efforts aren’t in vain,” says one. “I’ve been a teacher. I hope to make your home away from home a little more comfortable,” says another.

“You won’t even recognize it when you come back!” says McCollister with a bright, encouraging smile. The teachers laugh. “Take one last look at it before you leave. It will not be the same room.”

Gifts and donations by these groups and individuals made the makeover possible:

Healing Place Church

Donated $2,000 and provided a contractor, a painter and volunteers.

Michael Clayton’s Generation Next Foundation

$1,000 donation.

Holly Harrison Interiors

Donated more than $4,000 in accessories and services.

LaMoyne Design Associates

Donated more than $2,500 in commercial design services.

Olinde’s Furniture

Donated $6,000 worth of furniture.

Notoco Industries

Donated more than $1,000 in lighting.

Sexton Kitchen and Baths

Donated kitchen cabinets.

Capital Stone Inc.

Donated services and goods for the new floor.

Appliance Distributors of Louisiana

Donated $2,400 in kitchen appliances: two microwaves, a stove, an oven, a stainless-steel refrigerator and a dishwasher.

Dykes Electric

Donated the time of a full-time electrician who installed new outlets, rewired existing lighting and installed new lighting.

Computer Exchange USA

Donated two computers and a color printer.

Eye Wander Photography

Documented the entire project.

Nick Hager Painting

Painted ceiling and vents and offered a $20 discount on the bill.

Arkel Construction

Donated $2,500 worth of floor tiles.

Leonard Plumbing

Donated plumbing services.

1-800-GOT-JUNK

Donated $1,500 in services to haul away all trash.

INTOUCH Painting Co.

Donated the time of a professional to paint the room.

Sullivan Williams Homes

Donated the time of Eric Williams, a contractor who’s a member of Healing Place Church.

Baton Rouge Coca-Cola

Stocked the fridge.

Sincerely Sweet Co.

Donated breakfast and an array of homemade sweets.

LSU Friends of Libraries

Donated bestseller book collections.

Advance Baton Rouge

Donated all-new kitchen supplies and groceries.

Several companies donated lunch the week after the break:

Raising Cane’s, McDonald’s, Unique Cuisine Catering Co., Whole Foods Market, DeAngelo’s Casual Italian Restaurant, Chick-Fil-A, and Ruffino’s.

And so Prescott’s weary teachers file out for their Spring Break.

Taking her final glance at the lounge, 7th grade teacher Jamson Rochelle says, “We don’t even go in there. The only reason to go in there is to get a Coke. It’s not a relaxing place.” Working at Prescott, she says, can be daunting. “We have nowhere to go at the end of a hard day. We have nowhere just to exhale. I think we really need this.”

The teachers say goodbye and step out for Spring Break.

Inside the school, the demolishing begins.

Virtually every student at Prescott comes from an impoverished family. For years the school was at or near the bottom for performance among all Baton Rouge public schools.

Years of such poor performance prompted state education officials to label the school as “academically unacceptable” one last time. As a result, the state Department of Education took the school away from the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board in 2008 and turned it over to charter school operator Advance Baton Rouge.

Problems still dog the school. As recently as March, a 14-year-old boy was charged with rape in an empty classroom during school hours, with more arrests still possible from the incident.

Despite its years of problems, you still get a sense of something unexpected in a school that’s struggled so much: faith. Recently, that faith was rewarded.

No fewer than 18 local businesses and groups volunteered to supply materials, appliances, assistance and money to turn the dreary teachers’ lounge into an inspiring, comforting place for teachers to enjoy well-earned breaks.

Fresh floors. New, better lighting. New appliances. Comfortable furniture. Fast new computers—the works. Plus, a new, private conference room for parent-teacher consultations. Volunteers from the 18 companies worked for eight consecutive days to remodel the room that hadn’t received a second thought in 30 years.

The price tag for this little surprise? Free. Everything was donated (see list of sponsors on page 28).

Volunteers worked 12-hour shifts all eight days of the break. The time passed quickly, but the job got done.

McCollister has supplied the workers, volunteers and teachers with t-shirts that read, “Extreme Makeover: Prescott Middle School.” She invites them to wear the shirts for the “big reveal.” On the bottom of each shirt is printed, “We believe in our teachers.”

“To see it all done in just eight days was amazing and a testament to our volunteers and sponsors,” McCollister says.

At the start of the first day of school after the break, the teachers are called to the gymnasium before they get to see their big surprise.

“The people in this room are the key to turning things around. It’s humbling to be here,” says Chas Roemer, a member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. “On behalf of the state and every politician who runs his mouth, thank you.”

A large ribbon spans the lounge doorway, and sponsors and volunteers are huddled outside the lounge windows so they can all see the teachers’ reactions to their new space.

The teachers enter and barely recognize the room. They’re greeted by brand-new computers, new chairs, donated books, kitchen appliances, and an entirely restyled room.

“No way!” one calls out. “This is too much—too much!”

Jamson Rochelle is smiling widely as she examines the new lounge, which finally deserves its name. Does she like it? “It’s amazing, unbelievable. It’s going to be hard to teach this week!” she says.

The room echoes with thank-yous, and the smiling group melts into a mass of handshakes and hugs. The volunteers look happy the work is done, and the teachers keep shaking their heads in surprise and disbelief.

It’s not a new school; it’s not the end of hard times. But it’s a start.

“It’s an example of what can happen when people who care come together for a common purpose, and there are so many people in this community who want to help,” McCollister says. “I hope this project sends the message to many out there to get involved with local schools in need of support.”