If Project Learn Walls Could Talk

By Jamie Polson  

Early PLS before the two buildings
merged.

In 1970 the ribbon was cut on Project Learn School, 43 and a half years ago.  What you might not know is that Project Learn originally had a different location in a church nearby. But what was the 6525 Germantown Ave building before it was a school?  PLS’ building used to be a pill factory, with apartments on the third floor.  This is according to Donna Allender, one of founders of Project Learn School, and a teacher of the Journalism class at PLS.  Karyn Johnson, the early care teacher at PLS, remembers, “You could smell the pills from the school.  The pills were made and then taken to the drugstore, next door.”   

   When the building was for sale, the community put together money to pay for the building. It ended up being more than they collected so they needed to get a mortgage.  Ten of the original families guarantied the mortgage by putting their homes up for collateral.    

    The first rule at PLS was created when the first kids entered the building. They were the kids of the founding teachers who came to clean the building. The first thing those kids did was to slide down the banister on the third floor to the first floor -- when the banister was still weak, creating the rule if you slide down any banister you are automatically sent home.  

    In the early years PLS students would go to the drugstore (which was next door) to get candy during lunch or after school.  The candy was pretty cheap. Dr. and Mrs Riebstein owned the drugstore, which is now the Community Room.  The Riebstein’s lived on the second and third floor above the drugstore.  When Dr. Riebstein died, Mrs Riebstein sold the building to PLS. There were lots of renovations that had to be made, that’s how the bridge was built between the two buildings.  

    Richard Finch was the builder at the time, and was the son of Sue Finch, the school’s secretary.  Peter Fox, who had been a student at PLS, was the architect for building the bridge and connecting the two buildings, and the son of Fran Fox, one of the founding teachers.  

    PLS has had a long, interesting history and hopefully it will continue with a long future.      

At Closer Look at Some Fall Electives

By Cece Mulchay

Project  Learn  School  (PLS)  electives  are  classes  for  students  to  choose  and  take.  They  are  offered  in  the  fall  and spring and  kids  get  to  choose  two  each  semester.  They  are on  Monday/Thursday  and  Tuesday/Friday  from  11:15 to noon.  The  staff  thinks  electives  are    important  because  kids  can  choose  what  they  want  to  learn,  instead  of  teachers  deciding  for  them.

The  Mural  Arts  elective  is  on  Mondays  and  Thursdays.  It  is  taught  by  Joan  Fox  and  Roni  Anton.  Nadja  Anderson-Oberman  chose  Mural  Arts  because  she  really  wanted  an  elective  with  an  art  perspective.  Nadja  said  “The  elective  is  really  cool  so  far.  I’ve  never  done  a  clay  mural  before.”  Nadja  thinks  taking  electives  is  important  because  “School  is  mainly  about  learning  and  needs  a  bit  of  fun.”

Joan and Nasya working on the mural.

Joan  started  the  Mural  Arts  elective  because  “Most  people  commented  on  the  mural  in  the  office, and asked 'Can we do something like that?'" This elective is designing a mural for the local Fire Department. It will be displayed in the special space that the Fire Department is making so everyone can see the mural.

Sean Leber, a new teacher at PLS, teaches the Indoor/Outdoor Games Elective on Tuesdays and Fridays. Sean chose to teach this elective because, "I really like board games, and I wanted to get people to learn about each other through games." Sean said that he wants the elective to go outside one week, then inside the next to learn some fun games. They have had ping-pong and Egyptian Rat, a matching card game, tournaments. Sean said, "I think the electives are important, because it give students and teachers a chance to interact with each other in a not social, not academic environment. It's a little bit of both."

A completed knitting project.

One  of the  other  the electives  taught  on  Tuesday/Friday  is  the  Knitting  elective and is  co-taught  by  Aisha  Anderson-Oberman  and  Lisa  Pack.   Lisa  said,  “The  eight  students  are  knitting up a storm.  I  love  knitting,  so  I  like  sharing  that  with  the  kids  at  PLS.  The  elective  is  going  wonderfully. It  seems  like  no  one  is  having  any  problems.  We  hope  to  offer  it  throughout  the  school  year.”

One of the many other electives is Journalism, co-taught by Lisa Pack and Donna Allender. Lisa says “The elective has been challenging for some, and a new writing experience for all. We are making a blog, and it will have a hard copy of the paper.”
These are just some of the electives offered at school. There are several more that are just as interesting.

Building Improvements Occur Over the Summer

By Evan Spann  

Have you seen the new look on the front door at Project Learn School (PLS) - or the Community Room? All of this  work was done over the summer and early fall of 2013.

    Roni Anton, Project Learn School Community Coordinator, organized getting the work done in the building over the summer and early fall. Some of the work was done by parents and some was hired out. For instance, Judd Friedman, a landscaper, was hired to clean the backyard and  take out the weeds and brush. Lauren and Tony Halloway, new parents to PLS, also helped him.

    Other people came to the school to work on other projects. Joan Fox, Lisa Pack and Roni Anton plus the parents John Holbrook, Lisa Kelly, Chris and Kate Garrity, and John and Susannah Grubb all helped prep and paint the Community Room. David Wootton refinished the front the door all by himself. Donna Allender, one of the founding teacher/parents, was thrilled when she saw the door. She said, “It is so beautiful and such a fine way to welcome people to our school." 

 There were two work days to help get PLS ready: one on September 7 and the other on September 15. Lots of families came to help get school ready before the first day of school. Thank you to everyone who helped make PLS ready for staff and students.

PLS front door refinished by David Wootton, a new parent in Jane's Group.

PLS Hires 3 New Staff

By Sophie Gala

  Did you know that Project Learn School (PLS) hired three new staff members for the 2013-2014 school year? They're names are Sean Leber, Rebecca Zeldin and Dorian Dean. All were hired over the summer, which is a challenging time to hire teachers.

    The process for hiring  a teacher at PLS has many steps, each of the three new staff members at PLS had to go through them. First, the PLS Personnel Committee met and wrote an ad for the position and then put the ad for the position in many different places, one of which was the Chestnut Hill Local. As the resumes came in, they were looked at by the committee and some were eliminated. After a second look through, phone interviews were conducted with some of the candidates. Of those who were interviewed on the phone, a few were chosen to come to school to teach a sample class, which was followed by an interview with the whole committee. The Personnel Committee had to come to consensus on who would be the best fit. The job was offered to that applicant.

Jordan Shapiro, PLS Lead Parent, said the hardest part of doing this was finding someone who would fit in with the culture of PLS. The other challenge was coming to consensus on the decision. Jordan went on to say, "There were several reasons PLS needed three new teachers this year. Liz Ben-Yaacov retired over the summer, and it was important to replace her with a new math teacher. Also, Liam Galagher taught English to the Jr. High last year, and the staff felt it was important for him to have time to teach science to the younger groups. Plus, the staff wanted to get a teacher who would teach English and Spanish to the Jr. High. Jane's Group this year was so large, it was important for her to have an assistant."

    

Sean Leber on the third floor.

Sean Leber, the new math teacher, was born in Boston, Massachusetts and went to the University of Massachusetts, at Amherst. He did not  graduate from college to be a teacher. However, after he joined 'Teach for America,’ a program committed to helping kids from all backgrounds, he discovered how much he loved to teach. He taught at Olney Charter School for two years. A couple years ago he did sample classes with Liz's math class and really enjoyed his experience.Then  he traveled across the world and taught African refugees in Israel for  two more years. He came back to the USA and began his search for a job. Sean’s hobbies are music and technology. He collects head phones, and has one cat named Jeffery. He thinks the hardest and best part of teaching at PLS is enjoying the chaos.

   

Dorian Dean with some of her students.

Dorian Dean was born in Baltimore, Maryland and went to college at Tyler School of Arts at Temple University. Dorian has always been interested in teaching and  taught ceramics at multiple schools prior to this year, plus she ran an after school program. She was wondering what it would be like to teach full time when Debbie Pollack who used to teach art at PLS told her about  the assistant teaching position. Dorian's hobbies are cooking and art. She collects stones and has one cat named, Fifty. She thinks the hardest thing about teaching at Project Learn School is teaching kids to “make choices through freedom. “ The thing she likes the most is the sense of community and the passion of the other teachers.  

Rebecca Zeldin outside her room.

Rebecca Zelden was born in Washington D.C and went to Haverford College. She has always been interested in novels, and she has wanted to teach since she was ten years old. Rebecca knew she wanted to work in a cooperative environment  and Project Learn School is certainly that. Rebecca said she likes the people at PLS. She thinks the most difficult thing about PLS is how well other people think she does her job. Her hobby is hiking and she has one cat. Rebecca doesn’t collect anything, but she used to collect snow globes; she said she used to have over two hundred of them. All three teachers are fitting nicely into the school culture. Make sure to say hi when you see them.

    

New Face in After School

By Zack Waxler  

Donna Waxler, After School Coordinator

After-School at Project Learn School (PLS) has a new face! Donna Waxler has recently been hired as the new After-School coordinator for PLS. She is excited to be working at PLS and looks forward to each day.

    Donna says she applied for the job because she likes working with kids, and she has many ideas. She prepared a lot for the job over the summer as she collected a bunch of stuff for the After-School room. She even went to yard sales to find new toys and games in order to save money for the school.

    Donna has many exciting plans for each day. She plans to do themed days in After-School, such as Harry Potter day, or spy school day, etc. Donna is cooking each week with the kids, making a variety of good food choices for them. They have made baked potatoes, hot chocolate, pasta and lots of other delicious snacky foods. “The worst part of After-School is having to unstop the toilet,” she said recently. Her favorite part of being After-School coordinator is getting to know the kids and helping them negotiate their relationships. One of her other responsibilities in this job is to make sure the Community Room, kitchen and bathroom are cleaned up everyday before she leaves. She has also gotten good feedback for doing this.

 Lisa Pack, one of the members of the hiring committee, says that the reason Donna stood out from the other applicants was because she really impressed the hiring committee with all of the creative ideas she had. Lisa also said, “Donna has a clear understanding of what Project Learn School is all about.” Lisa added that Donna is doing a great job at having a variety of entertaining activities for the kids.