Kids show other kids the ropes at Crocker Farm Elementary School
By NICK GRABBE
Thursday, August 26, 2010
AMHERST - Grace Bertrand gave new students at Crocker Farm Elementary School tours of the building Wednesday, showing them the classrooms, the cafeteria, the gym and the location of the bathrooms.
"It's important that they know their school before they go here," she said.
Grace is not a teacher or a parent. She's a sixth-grader at the school, one of seven children giving the tours. About 30 new students went on the tours during the first hour they were available.
"It's more important for them to hear from their peers than from adults," said Principal Mike Morris. "The best person to give kids a tour is other kids."
Because of redistricting, 110 of Crocker Farm's 300 students will be new to the school this fall. With Amherst schools due to open next week, Morris looked for a way to reduce the anxiety of children - and parents - who could feel uncomfortable in a different setting.
He got the idea last spring from a group of sixth-graders. They had gone on a tour of the Regional Middle School, which they'll enter next week, and said they felt excited about the transition in part because middle schoolers had shown them around, Morris said.
Chard Huon went on Grace Bertrand's tour with his daughters, Allison and Mardi, who went to Wildwood School last year. Noting how many times Grace referred to a particular teacher as "the best," he said, "Every teacher is the best teacher. So we hit the jackpot."
Grace explained the small size of the cafeteria by pointing out that students eat lunch in shifts. At the entrance to one room, she said, "That's the teachers' lounge. You're not allowed in."
Huon said the tour was helpful. "We're going to like this school, I think," he said.
For Steve Newcombe, who went on the tour with his fifth-grade daughter Alicia, it was "a trip down Memory Lane," because he attended Crocker Farm in the mid-1960s.
"Being on the tour reduces the stress and anxiety," he said. "I think parents have more anxiety than kids."
John Lambert went to Crocker Farm from 1969 to 1975, and on Wednesday he returned with his fourth-grade son Oscar, who went to Wildwood last year. Oscar, who went on the tour with a friend from Wildwood, is a resilient boy and will be fine in the new school, his dad said.
"You went to Crocker Farm and you turned out OK," Oscar told him.
In addition to Morris, Becky Demling of the Parent Guardian Organization greeted the parents, passing out leaflets about the group's activities. She told parents that Crocker Farm will seek to incorporate traditions from the schools students came from.
Derek Shea, the new assistant principal, said he appreciated the opportunity meet students and parents.
"It's beautiful for kids to develop an affinity for the school" by going on tours led by other children, he said. "If anyone knows a school, it's the students."
