1st grader trying to save french class

[pojo]

This is a very cute story!!!! Enjoy it!


First-grader hopes his allowance will help save his French class

Appleton school officials have received lots of mail in recent weeks after announcing possible budget cuts for 2004-05, but nothing as heart wringing as this:

“Dear School Board,

I’m Alex Long, I go to Foster School.

The French clas is varee important to me.

My best frend Noah speaks tow langues and I want to also.

I no my colors and numbrs! I wood’t no this with out mademoiselle.

Can you use the money I am sending to help pay for French.

Thank you, Alex Long, 1st grade”


Inside the envelope Alex included a plastic bag containing $5.65.

So how do you respond to that?

“I teared up when I saw it,” said Supt. Tom Scullen. “I thought, ‘What are we doing?’ I understand we have to make cuts, but if it was something for my child or grandkid, I guess I’d be angry.”

Six-year-old Alex says he has written birthday letters to friends and his grandma before, but this is his first letter to a school board.

“It was pretty difficult to do. At school we write, but I never wrote as long as that. It was kind of a new challenge for me. It took two days to write it, but not two full days. I took a break.”

As for the plastic bag of dollar bills and coins, “It’s from my allowance,” he explains.

Stephanie Long, who’s now known around town as “Alex’s mom,” says that aside from the few pointers she gave her son on the mechanics of writing the letter, and looking up the spelling of mademoiselle, it’s all Alex’s thoughts.

“My husband and I were discussing the budget cuts and he overheard us talking about how there might not be French next year because the board was trying to figure out how to balance the budget. He knew we were going to write a letter. So he did too.”

She notes that it did, indeed, take Alex two painstaking days to compose and print his letter “because his hand got so tired. He doesn’t have fine motor control yet. What surprised me was how much he wrote. He wrote more sentences than ever before. I thought he wouldn’t finish, but he woke up the next morning, finished it before school and said ‘make sure you drop it off for the people who make decisions.’”

Stephanie Long thinks it is good for school board members, who will get a report tonight describing the public’s views on suggested budget cuts, to know the impact teachers in several programs that could be affected make on children.

Alex, who seems mature beyond his 6 years, wants to make sure his allowance pays dividends, but not only for himself.

“I hope they use it to help keep different languages for all the schools,” he says. “I’d really be happy if they could have languages for all kids.”

Kathy Walsh Nufer writes a weekly education column. She can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 290, or by e-mail at knufer@postcrescent.com

[weatherlover427]

Awww that is so cute!! Very good story. Thanks for sharing it

[Colin]

Awesome article...Thanks for sharing it!