Ivo Ilic-2/24/10-Getting Tools to City Schools

On this visit we met Dennis in the school a little time before the end of the school day.  Me and Jason came down a little late from art class.  We knew today that we would be visiting P.S. 335 in the South Bronx.  I don’t think any of us besides Dennis had a complete idea of what to expect.  I don’t go to the Bronx very often and I have never knowingly seen the inside of a Public School where most of the the children are below the poverty line.  Miral and I both brought notebooks and pencil, Jason had also brought his flip camera which was extremely useful.  Thank you Jason.  Some members of our group were chosen during one of our shorter meeting to record our questions for the people we would be interviewing at the school.  Unfortunately since those questions were lost we needed to rethink them again on the train there.  Here are some of the questions: What kinds of families are these children coming from (Who raises them?)?  What are the demographics of your school?  Are the supplies lasting?  How did the children (or you) feel when they (or you) got the supplies?  Do the teachers ever purchase supplies using money from their own pockets?  Were the parents thankful for the supplies?  How did you hear about Getting Tools to City Schools?  Final we arrived at out stop.  After walking down the many stairs of the raised subway platform we headed toward the school.  When we arrived at the school to me it looked like an other public school and when we got inside it was the same.  It looked exactly like any other public school.  The interior decorating done by the city may have not been amazing but the entire school was cover wall to wall in the artwork and projects of students.  It looked like a very happy welcoming place.  While we were there we conducted four interviews, one with a art teacher who could not answer some questions about the materials but was helpful, a student who received materials last year who seemed happy, the parent coordinator who gave us an inside look at these childrens’ lives, and the assistant principle who gave us a lot of information about the school.  Here is a brief summery of the information we got: The students in the school are manly of Latin American dissent. The children in the school come from all different families raised by different relatives and some by foster parents or in shelters. Happily the supplies are lasting and the children are very thankful for them.  The teachers do spend money out of their pockets as apparently according to the art teacher all teacher do.  The school hear of the organization when the vice principle got a weekly letter sent to all public schools about programs and events.  The parents of the student were very grateful many calling in disbelief. Unfortunately some parents are afraid to come into the school or call for such reasons as illegal immigration. Click on the following link for a little video of the school.  PS 335 Video