Kirby's Fremont

B.F. Day Now, or The State Of The School

By Kirby Lindsay

Alexander Hill, Dominique Taverniti-Walton and Ann Coronata show their wares at the B.F. Day Village.

When I reported to the principal's office at B.F. Day Elementary School, Susan McCloskey was distressed. "I will not tolerate food fights," she fumed. I'd arrived after a rare outbreak. While Susan calmed down she mused that she should have known. The Seattle school district security circulated a memorandum early in April asking everyone to be on alert on the 19th and 20th. These days seem to erupt in violence and are the anniversaries of Adolf Hitler's Birthday, the Ruby Ridge shoot-out, the Waco fire, the Oklahoma bombing and the Columbine shootings. On this year's April 19th, a full moon, there had already been a rock fight at the normally peaceful B.F. Day.

It is a peace patterned by the adults. Susan spoke with great pride of the teachers and office workers, "it is a good staff and they work well together." Opinions differ and disagreements do come up but still everyone respects each other.

And at the lead is a very qualified principal. When Susan came to B.F. Day, the Fremont neighborhood meticulously examined her credentials. We are very possessive about our school. She had been a principal at Whitworth in Columbia City (Southeast Seattle), and at schools in Oak Harbor and on Lopez Island. Before that she taught elementary school for six years at St. Matthew's, spent two years in Norway and seven years at St. Anne's on Queen Anne.

Funny thing is, if the School District had told us that she was local, the assimilation process might have shortened dramatically. Susan grew up in Wallingford and attended St. Benedict's School there. Then she went to Blanchet and Seattle University before going into teaching. During her teaching assignments in varied locales, she kept her condominium, located on Nickerson Street, which was in South Fremont--before neighborhood planners redrew boundaries and called it Queen Anne. "Getting the job here was like being sent home," Susan explained smiling.

And sometimes you can go home, successfully. When she arrived in Fremont, Susan was amazed to find "such parental support at B.F. Day." Also, "I've never experienced this amount of help from the businesses. They think up ways to help," Susan pointed out. The Fremont Chamber of Commerce Annual Auction, run by the PTSA, benefits the B.F. Day School Foundation. Fremont businesses and artists donate generously and this year's event raised $43,000 after expenses. The money will go towards an art teacher, a volunteer coordinator and a matching grant to increase the City Year volunteers they receive.

Although, if enrollment doesn't increase, the money may be spent on classroom teachers and school supplies. The school receives money based on the number of children attending. The 312 students that crowd the wide hallways and clatter across old hardwood floors fit in the building nicely. Next year, with the end of bussing and the opening of the International School, the school district predicts only 284 students, and a decrease of nearly $100,000 in the school's budget. Susan hopes local parents, attracted by the expanded art and music programs, will choose to send their children here. The incredible diversity of the B.F. Day student body might attract some enlightened parents–and scare off others.

Several innovative programs attract a multi-cultural mix of children to Fremont from all over Seattle. Seventy children, from 50 families, attend B.F. Day as part of the Homeless Program - children from families that have no permanent home. These children don't know they are "homeless" because they do live in hotels, shelters or foster care, although not always the same place from month to month. The program guarantees these children, some of whom have parents serving jail time, have one permanent feature in their life. Susan knows of brothers who have been placed in separate foster homes but keep track of each other daily at school. B.F. Day is also one of the bilingual centers of the school district. A sixth of the student body know English as their second language. They are enrolled for schoolwork assistance in Laotian, Vietnamese, Somalian and Cambodian. Next year the school will offer Spanish.

If you would like to see one of the most impressive programs, a wonderful opportunity is available on May 19th. Each classroom, from kindergarten to 6th grade, has selected a business to study, visit, and build. For one day, from 1 - 3 p.m., each classroom will open for business. The dream of Fremont Arts Council member Denise Fogleman, the Village Project is the perfect bonding between Fremont businesses and their school. The neighborhood is invited to come in and shop with the children. If you want to see B.F. Day, meet the children and the teachers, and support all that they do, you'll want to be there. And you might pick up some fascinating crafts made by hand, with heart.

Kirby Lindsay did not attend B.F. Day School but she couldn't see what Springbrook Elementary School, in Kent, would have to do with Fremont. If you have questions, you may write to her c/o The Seattle Press or e-mail to fremont@oz.net.

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