SCHOOL LOOKS TO SET UP COMER PROJECT AT WASHINGTON

Steps are being taken to set up a pilot program at Washington Elementary School that could lead to more parental involvement in the education of the students.

"It takes a whole village to raise a child," said Franklin School Principal Jim Watkins, quoting an African proverb that sums up the essence of the Comer school-development program.

A 10-member committee, headed by Watkins, met for the first time Monday to begin planning for the new program.

The goal is to implement the Comer program beginning next fall at Washington School, said Watkins.

If successful, the program could be expanded to other schools in the district in the future, he said.

Watkins said he hopes the committee will be able to report back to the Cooperative Alliance for Public Education (CAPE) in May. CAPE was formed last year by the Cape Girardeau School District and Southeast Missouri State University.

The alliance is focusing on long-term strategies for restructuring education.

The Comer program, developed by child psychiatrist James Comer of Yale University, encourages parents, teachers, administrators and counselors to work cooperatively in the education of children.

The idea is to involve all the "adult stakeholders" in the education process through development of a school management team, school officials said. The team would include the principal, parents, teachers and counselors.

"It sounded so fantastic," said Brenda Dohogne, president of the Washington School PTA and a supporter of the Comer concept.

She said that where such a program has been implemented, it's been shown that "as parents become more involved, the students become more serious about learning."

At Washington School, there's always a core of parents willing to help, but it's often difficult to involve parents of at-risk children, she said.

The school district is currently looking at implementing the program without any private or government grants. "At this point, we are not planning on any outside funding," said Watkins.

"It is a volunteer program," said Barbara Blanchard, principal at Washington School.

The Comer program began in two, predominantly black elementary schools in New Haven, Conn., in 1968 as a joint effort between the Yale University Child Study Center and the public school district.

But Watkins said the program is not just for minority students. It's currently being used by 165 schools nationwide.

A key component of the Comer program is the "no fault" concept when it comes to dealing with education issues.

Watkins said there's a tendency for teachers at times to blame parents and parents to blame teachers for problems with students in the classrooms.

But with the Comer program, the goal is to have cooperation and address problems, not assign blame. "You don't sit around and blame each other," said Watkins.

At Monday's meeting, Watkins' committee viewed a video tape in which Comer outlined the education plan.

Comer said that the program has resulted in major academic improvements for the mostly minority and low-income students at the New Haven schools.

The idea, the black educator said, was to make improvements and do so "without a great deal of pain, conflict and difficulty."

"First of all, it is not an add on," said Comer in the video-tape presentation.

The goal, he said, is to develop a strategy for addressing education in the school in "a systematic and coordinated kind of way."

As children improve socially the academically, the teaching staff becomes more motivated, Comer said. Parents also feel more involvement with the school, he said.