A new lab for learning in SE Raleigh
If you’re driving east on Rock Quarry Road from downtown Raleigh, you will pass a new development on the right, immediately before you cross over the I-440 beltway. The development is an interesting combination of a new YMCA building and Wake Public School System’s Southeast Raleigh Elementary School.
This is not an ordinary school and it represents an excellent opportunity for the school system to test some long-held ideas about education. So many studies that have examined why some schools fail and others succeed point to the surroundings of the students.
The schools in economically poor neighbors often lack resources. The buildings are inadequate. The students’ families are overwhelmed by poverty. Children don’t get enough food. The neighborhoods are unsafe and short on healthy activities. Discipline is often cited as a big issue.
Southeast Raleigh Elementary cannot answer for all of these problems, but it offers a kitchen full of ingredients that lessen if not abolishes some of them. Children, for example, are served breakfast and lunch free and packed meal for supper for all who qualify which is a majority of the students. Plus, some will be able to grow their own vegetables.
The school is located on a 32-acre piece of property, and a community of affordable houses is being built on the same land by DHIC (formerly Downtown Housing Improvement Corporation), an experienced and successful developer and manager of such housing. The apartments are located about two blocks away and children can safely walk to school. No need for cars.
There are four preschool classes for younger children to get a head start on their education. A recent essay on this page noted the importance of early education and argued that current research shows that 90 percent of the human brain develops in the first five years of life. Other modern countries recognize this and in Japan, for example, public schools begin at age 3 for children.
Between the public school system and the YMCA, there are numerous programs to support parents and their children. The YMCA, for instance, has a diabetes prevention program and there are a multitude of classes sponsored by other organizations on health and parenting. There is also the harder to measure impact of YMCA personnel, especially younger employees. Anyone in Raleigh who has been around these young people knows they are a good influence on their charges. (The YMCA is the biggest summer employer in Wake County of such youth.)
Most exciting for the school and the community is the YMCA outdoor swimming pool and the “Y’s” plans to teach pupils how to swim. It’s a life-saving lesson for a mostly African American population that suffers drownings between the ages of 5-19 at five times the rate of whites in swimming pools.
The 35,000-sq. ft. YMCA offers subsidized membership rates for adults and children and the response from the neighborhood to date (over 1,200) has been far above expectations (700). It has a full basketball court and the school has a smaller court as well. There is an elevated, indoor running track around the pool, and a baseball field also is on the grounds and a multi-sport field for other sports such as soccer.
The population of the school is about 500, near the optimum enrollment of 400 recommended by the Gates Foundation for elementary schools. Class sizes are about average for most of the Wake County public elementary schools, between 25-28.
The YMCA committed to raise $24.6 million for the Southeast Raleigh project. The facilities are new. Food is not in short supply. School and class size are optimal. Discipline will be reduced by YMCA activities. Parents will have extra support systems. There’s a community vision growing. Keep an eye on what happens at this space.