The "More" Child

In a recent post I told you how some future magnet parents at Eastern Middle School were rallying votes for Eastern Middle school’s field in the Kellogg’s Plant-a-Seed contest.

Well, I’m sad to report that despite a Herculean effort, Eastern didn’t win.  The school finished 9th.

Here’s an excerpt from the e-mail that was circulated by parent cheerleader-in-chief, Ben Yeatts-Lonske:

Anyway, what a great finish. To think we only had 161 votes on May 11! The noon finish caught many fields off-guard, but not Eastern – we cast >1000 votes Sunday morning, resulting in are move from 11th to 9th. For those who are interested, Campbell University ended-up in 6th position, and Triumphant Life in 13th. The field from western Maryland ended 29th – hopefully they will make it.

Sorry for all the emails. I was afraid once we passed 30 that we would lose momentum and fall back and them everyone would be disappointed. It happened
to some fields – Rock Field from TX was 8th going into Memorial Day but ended 30th. Interesting fact: although I’m grateful to the Gazette and Post for printing about us, I don’t figure their articles got us more than 500 votes total, out of 23,000!

The costs for this “campaign” was $100 for the school banners and for clicks from the Google Ad (you *did* spot the Google Ad, right?). If anyone would like to help defray these costs, please email me.

Regardless of if we win or not, we should feel great about how it turned out. Everyone in any of these groups helped make it happen:

- Eastern Parents
- Eastern Students
- Eastern Staff
- Eastern Teachers
- Eastern Alumni
- Everyone who posted to neighborhood, school, and county listservs
- Everyone who posted one of the 352 comments on the Kelloggs site
- People from the neighborhoods around Eastern Middle School
- Humanities Families who help spread the word around the County
- People who sent out voting reminders
- Relatives who voted from around the US
- Creators of Eastern Field’s three Facebook groups
- Takoma Soccer and its members
- People who helped with press contacts
- Coaches and athletes who use the field, for their invaluable commentary
- People with no stake in Eastern MS who voted for us anyway
- All the devoted voters who stuck with it to give us such a stable
voting base!

He goes on to list many, many others by name who tapped school and neighborhood listservs far a wide, reached out to alumni via Facebook, mobilized local media, connected with the community users of the field.  To get a sense of the enthusiasm of the organizers, check out the blog they started.  (Another example, DangerouslyIrrelevant!)

Which has left some wondering, what makes the difference between an average school  community and a vibrant one?  What would it take to keep this level of energy and sense of investment in the school going? I’ll expand it to ask, what would it take in any school?

I’ll tell you (and again, I’m speaking in general, not this school in particular).  Leadership.  Charismatic leadership.  Not smarmy, blow-dried, buzzword/educationalese-laden, headquarters-kissing, workshop attending, mission writing, office-bunkered “leadership.”  But leadership.  Real.  Leadership.  And investment.  I want a principal who is invested in his or her school.  Who lives, eats and breathes that school.  Who is walking the halls.  Who knows the kids and is willing to put them first, to be creative, to go outside the box in the interest of a child.  Who listens.  Who welcomes parents and is transparent.  Who isn’t going to tell you five ways till Sunday why it can’t be done.

That, in my humble opinion, is what it takes.