MILTON — Bagdad Elementary School Principal Daniel Baxley and Assistant Principal Tiphanie Sapp hope implementing a new initiative will raise academic performance while benefiting students and the community.
This school year, students joined one of these so-called houses with the following attributes.
- House of Credo (Red): Bold, brave, believers
- House of Gloria (Blue): Ambitious, authentic, aspiring
- House of Radium (Yellow): Reflective, respectful, remarkable
- House of Bonitas (Green): Kind, keen, knowledge
Each student can earn points for their group through community service, good attendance, showing a positive attitude, helping a fellow classmate and improving test scores.
Sapp said parents and family members can help their children earn points. At the beginning of the year, each house was randomly selected to sponsor a school event such as a Grandparents Day celebration.
“They set up everything, they borrowed tables and chairs from the church across the street,” Sapp said. “They sent out a permission slip to the grandparents … coordinated with the cafeteria (staff) to make sure they had enough food. Every child who got their grandparent to come got a point.”
During the recent election, each house voted for a representative, similar to how schools vote for Student Government Association representatives.
What's the goal?
“It’s a transformation with a mindset that we are building leaders,” Baxley said. “We want to build people that are productive.”
Older students can mentor younger house members by assisting with classroom assignments and homework.
Both administrators want each house to be proactive in the community through projects like enhancing Bagdad Mill Site Park or placing small American flags on each military veteran’s grave site at the cemetery on Veterans Day.
The initiative aims to improve a child’s self-esteem, hopefully leading to improved academic performance. The Title I school currently has a ‘C’ rating.
“You always want an ‘A’ (school rating), because I feel this community deserves an ‘A.’” Baxley said. “So we got to do something different because right now we are struggling.
"But at the end of the day, it is not about the test scores; it's about what we are giving to the community (as far as the development of each child).”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: 'Right now we are struggling'