WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Teachers go door-to-door in Gardere

Teachers go door-to-door in Gardere

By Tyana Williams - bio | email

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - While most schools are holding open houses before the first day of school, teachers at one Baton Rouge elementary school say many parents don't usually attend such an event, so they take their open house door-to-door.

"I call shotgun," one Highland Elementary teacher yelled out as she boarded one of two vans headed to the Gardere area. As soon as they step off the vans, kids are already running toward them. "Highland students wake up. Highland teachers have arrived," shouted Chandra Jackson, a counselor at the school. "They look forward to this every year."

Walking the streets through Gardere has become a yearly assignment for the teachers. "Do you want to know who your teacher is?" another teacher asks a student, after a quick hug. Every year, the staff from Highland Elementary goes door-to-door to remind parents and kids the first day of school is right around the corner. "Highland Elementary teachers in the neighborhood, is anyone there?" Chandra Jackson asks, knocking on another door.

At another house, the students are all playing in the front yard. The teachers recognize a new face, a little boy, who is wearing football pads. "That's the gear he's going to need for kindergarten. That's the kindergarten uniform," she joked.

For at least nine years, this is how Jackson has met students attending Highland Elementary. Jackson says the school has at least 320 students and 97% of them come from the Gardere area. "You can sit in a classroom or in a faculty meeting and you can give them or talk about the demographics, where our children come from, but those words do not compare to actually walking the streets and viewing the complexes," Jackson said.

They are noticing more apartments with boarded up windows and doors, wondering where those students have gone. "No kids here? Alright, let's keep going," Jackson told the group of about 15 teachers. But then they find familiar faces, students they have taught before. "This is one of our 4th graders who is going to 6th grade this year. Mary Lynn, how are you?" And then, it's back to going down the street, looking for new kids to connect with.

Jackson says visiting homes shows kids that teachers care and shows teachers the environments the students live in.

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