Learning Goes Beyond School Hours at Mimosa Elementary

Bill Sanders:

"I didn't have any of my own children at the time when I started doing this," Guy said. "The program started through our church and I thought investing time instead of just writing a check would be a great way to give back."

At many schools, Guy would stand out as a hero for his volunteerism.

Here, he's a star, but stars don't stand out. There's just too many of them.

Mimosa Elementary, a public kindergarten through fifth-grade Fulton County elementary school, bills itself as The Little School That Could.

The school is a throwback of sorts — or maybe it's a look ahead. Despite its 808 students, it is a place where everyone knows your name. It is the community-gathering place, catering to children and adults, where people look after each other. That's mostly by design, said Principal Cheryl Williams, who has worked 17 years at the school, the past three as principal. As the community around Mimosa changed, so did the needs of the students and the parents.

The more Mimosa got involved in the community, the more at ease parents became. And with time, the easier it got for Mimosa to apply for, and receive, grant money to offset the costs of some of the before-school and after-school programs.

"Mimosa's success is because of how the staff here and the teachers support the kids," Williams said. "There are nights when I have to make teachers leave the building at 8:30 or 9 at because they were still here doing some kind of volunteer work."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 8, 2007 12:00 AM
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