BY CHRISTINE WOLFF
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Jeremy Lucy, 9, and Megan Westrich, 8, third-graders at Crosby Elementary School, manipulated plastic blocks for a lesson on how to "analyze strategies," using objects to solve problems. Problem: "Keith waits in line to buy a snack. Eight people are ahead of him."
Crosby Elementary
Crosby Elementary School is one of six Tristate schools awarded a '97 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award, the highest recognition from the U.S. Department of Education.
Some facts about Crosby Elementary:
Principal: Daniel Lawler.
Enrollment: 335 in kindergarten through grade 6.
History: Built in 1951, with additions in 1960, 1985 and 1990.
Judge's comments: "The school has worked with a minimum of resources and created an environment which maximizes learning. . . . Interaction among students, teachers and administrators was informal and friendly. . . . The overall impression of Crosby School is one in which people take pride."
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Jeremy and Megan snapped eight plastic blocks together in a row.
"Two people leave the line." The youngsters' fingers quickly detached two blocks.
"Four people buy their food." Snap! Four blocks came off. "How many people are ahead of Keith now?" Counting the remaining blocks, the students wrote "2".
"They could probably answer these questions without the objects," teacher Stephanie Tillman said, "but I want them to learn to use them for the harder problems."
CROSBY TOWNSHIP -- Students troop into the office of Crosby Elementary School's principal to read aloud papers they have written.
The reward: Their names are broadcast throughout the school. "It doesn't cost a thing to put names on the loudspeaker, and their faces light up," Principal Daniel Lawler said. "We're proud that we do a nice job and good things without all the frills." Mr. Lawler credits the staff's "we can do it" attitude for earning the school's first national Blue Ribbon, after trying unsuccessfully nine years ago.
The school sits in a sprawling district of eight schools in an area mixed with suburban and rural neighborhoods, with 11 percent of Crosby's students from low-income families.
The school empowers its teachers to the maximum. They plan all curriculum, scheduling and budgeting, and make textbook selections. "It's part of the philosophy of the district because we've got no one else to do it," Mr. Lawler said. "The necessities are taken care of, but not a lot of extras."
Another cost-saving mechanism is that the district's schools shareteachers of art, music and physical education as well as counselors and aides.
"We'll compare our results and kids' behavior with anybody," Mr. Lawler said.
Putting together the Blue Ribbon application helped highlight things special at Crosby. "You do a lot of things that you think are insignificant," the principal said. "Then you start writing about it and you realize not everybody's doing it."
The school's teacher-mentor program now links 25 students one-on-one with teachers who volunteer as role models.
"It's a person to put their arm around a shoulder and say, "How can I help?' " Mr. Lawler said.
Students from Harrison High School help Crosby youngsters with reading and math. Senior citizens, paired with sixth-graders, read and discuss books together. A partnership with Fluor Daniel Fernald Inc. created an after-school science program.
Parents and teachers work as a team, a "recognition of how close our community is," said Martha Hanon, a second-grade teacher. "If I say a child is having trouble with something, they say, "What can I do?' and they do it," she said.
