Prince Street School

This pierce by Laura Chapin broadcast last week on CBC Prince Edward Island’s Island Morning is a touching portrait of Eileen Higginbotham’s Prince Street Puppy Project. It’s a sad story – you will get tears in your eyes listening to it – but it also drives home why this project is a valuable and important one.  KaBoom was the resident dog in Oliver’s class this year, and several of the students you hear are his classmates.

Terry MacIsaac has been the Principal at Prince Street Elementary School for Oliver’s entire 6 year stint there, and over that period I’ve come to know him as a smart, engaged, caring educator. Not only has he served us well personally with Oliver, but he’s served the school community well by being open to new ideas, welcoming of newcomers, and passionate about literacy, numeracy and the arts.

Which is why I was so happy to find out today that Terry has been named one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals.

I know that Terry will use this opportunity to shine light on the excellent work being done by the teachers and staff on his team, and as parents we’ll do our best to accentuate this next week during national Teacher-Staff Appreciation Week.

Eileen Higginbotham, Resource Teacher at Prince Street Elementary, has been doing very interesting work at the school with dogs and children, and she’s started to write about this “Prince Street Puppy Project” on a new blog. Eileen’s dogs are very much a part of Oliver’s school day, and have been for several years; it’s fascinating to watch how these animals have become an important part of the school. Here’s a sample:

A few weeks back, I was with a couple of the older girls who train and I wanted KaBoom to do the leg weaving that Kannon does.  It was easy to figure out how to get her to run through the legs but having her come around to start back through the legs was just not something I could get.  The girls watched me try and watched me fail a couple of times.  Then I stopped and asked them for ideas.  We knew what we wanted the behavior to look like but we just weren’t being clear enough for KaBoom to get it.  One of the girls stepped forward, saying she had an idea.  We watched her work and, just by changing some body movements, she got the weave!!  JACKPOT!!  Then, she taught the moves to us. Soon after that, we all had a reliable weave.  Now, we have to start stringing them together!!

Every year the Prince Street Home and School holds a Christmas raffle to raise money. And every year for the past 5 years I’ve volunteered to produce the tickets; for the last three years it’s been a good opportunity to take the letterpress out for a ride. This year, partly because I was running out of time, and partly because of design inclination, I decided to go very simple:

If I had to do it all over again, I would have realized that when I flipped the “Phone:” and “Name:” around to face the other way (to let me slip a piece of steel under the perforation) their order was reversed. The perforation really is a perforation, and this was the first time I’d set up a job to print and perforate at the same time.

The type is the 24 point Bodini Bold I purchased from Atelier Domino in the spring. My favourite part of the job was the opportunity to use the ffl ligature — a ligature is a special piece of type that combines several letters that would otherwise run together unpleasantly, and most often involves the letter f — in the word Raffle (apologies for the obviously-not-cleaned-enough type!):

The tickets didn’t technically require numbers, but, well, I like using my numbering machine, if only because it’s just a lovely piece of technology: on every impression the number automatically increments, and the “No” is the trigger for this:

When you put it all together it looked like this:

It took me about an hour to run 300 tickets; it would have gone faster but I stopped the press every 30 tickets to carry a bunch of tickets across the room to set out to dry. I’m rather pleased with the result.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, December 8, 2012 at the Charlottetown Farmer’s Market (next to Lori and John’s perogi stand); you can also buy them at the Prince Street School Christmas concerts on December 10 and 12, and then again at the Market on December 15; the draw is at 2:00 p.m. on December 15 at the Market. Tickets are $2 each or three for $5.

From The Guardian, December 9, 1916, and generous appreciation of the janitor at Prince Street School:

Last evening on behalf of the parents, pupils, and ratepayers connected with Prince Street School, Mr. C. W. P. Seale, of this City, waited upon Mr. Augustus Mitchell, janitor of the school and surprised him with the presentation of a purse of gold and the following address. Mr. Mitchell expressed his surprise and only consented to accept on being assured that it was a farewell offering on the part of practically everybody connected with the school and in appreciation of the splendid service he had given continuously since he became connected with the school, a service which included, in addition to the ordinary work of a janitor, a kindly and gentlemanly oversight of the children in attendance:

Mr. Augustus Mitchell,
Upper Prince Street School.
Dear Mr. Mitchell:

We, the friends of Upper Prince Street School, desire to express our appreciation of the manner in which you have performed your arduous work as Janitor. We are aware that when you first took charge of our school, you found matters not too pleasant on account of a lack of proper care of the school both inside and out. After years of hard work on your part, both, school and grounds have become a credit to the city and a joy and pleasure to the school children. Its freedom from disease germs, on account of the cleanliness of the rooms, enables parents to send their children with confidence that, so far as the school building is concerned all is well. We doubt that in the whole of Canada there is a neater kept school grounds than those of Upper Prince, for which we tender you our sincerest thanks.

We ask, therefore, as as small token of our appreciation of your labor, not only in connection with the school grounds, but in your watchful over the tender youths in attendance here, that you will accept this gift with the humble hope that you may long be spared to continue your good work with us.

– On behalf of the Parents and Pupils of Prince Street School.

The Guardian heartily commends the above sentiments express in the address. Prince Street School has for some years been a recognized beauty spot in the city and the credit for this is entirely due to Mr. Mitchell’s tireless efforts and continuous care. The sentiment and the gift will be appreciated by the teachers and the pupils, all of whom hold Mr. Mitchell in the highest esteem. The city is fortunate in having in such an important and responsible position a man who is so thoroughly reliable and competent to perform the duties entrusted to him.