BY CHRISTINE WOLFF
The Cincinnati Enquirer
August Platt, 11, explained the lines he'd drawn on graph paper as a circular staircase leading to an attic hiding place.
"I'll make the walls sound-proofed so the neighbors can't hear. Maybe I'll put a secret door in the fireplace," he said.
He's drawing a place to hide a Jewish family being hunted during World War II -- a project in his fifth-grade language arts class at Madeira's W.M. Sellman School. Next, he'll develop an essay explaining how he would keep the family safe.
Across the hall, an art class mixed dough to make contour maps showing countries involved in World War II, part of a gradewide curriculum focusing on the war years.
MADEIRA -- W.M. Sellman School officials have something other educators probably envy: a way to keep students from longing for the end of the school year.
Sellman began heading off summer yearning a few years ago by creating its 30-Day Program, which takes the last month of school and turns it into hands-on experiences in science, math, reading, music and art. Teachers design the classes, and students pick a few favorites.
Students launch handmade rockets. They put out a newspaper. They turn geometry into artwork.
The 30-day Program exemplifies why Sellman snagged a 1997 National Blue Ribbon award. This is Sellman's second Blue Ribbon. It won in 1985, too, when the school housed grades 5-8.
Sellman now is home to fourth- through sixth-graders -- students who put Sellman in the spotlight for consistently scoring in the top 10 percent on proficiency tests of schools statewide.
Blue Ribbon judges are "looking for the package," said Principal David Stouffer, explaining why he thought Sellman earned the award. "The judges were impressed by the esprit de corps, the community support here," said Mr. Stouffer, in his ninth year as principal. "When you walk in, you feel it's an exciting place to be."
Sellman, in a mostly upper-middle-class neighborhood, relies on its parents for everything from volunteering for classroom work, to landscaping, painting murals on the gym walls, running a teen canteen, publishing a yearbook and sponsoring monthly parent-principal breakfasts.
Mr. Stouffer gives his teachers authority, letting them control the school's block-scheduling format -- used in many high schools but innovative for an elementary school. For example, sixth-graders have a three-period block for science, but a science teacher can trade for more time from a social-studies block so youngsters can complete a long experiment.
"That the way I like to manage. I want to use that brain power," Mr. Stouffer said. "If people are happy and feel empowered in work, they will do a better job."
School officials try to address children's needs with a long list of special-education and special-interest classes, including "Divorce Group," for students learning to deal with changes at home.
A candy jar on Mr. Stouffer's desk is for youngsters earning Gold Cards for outstanding effort, so "the principal's office isn't a dreaded place," he said.
