WHY CHOOSE GROVELAND FOR YOUR SCHOOL? Why We Chose Groveland For Our Child Testimonials From Current Grovlend Parents #1 The McCoy family LOVES Groveland Park Elementary School. A Happy Place with Happy Faces Groveland was the last school we visited on our school choice journey. Upon our first visit we knew we had found the perfect school for our two young boys. The teachers, the staff, and Mrs. Cox encouraged our family to become a part of the Groveland Community. They made it easy to join in by making Groveland a welcoming place. From the Peace Pole and pandas on the front lawn to the clay faces in the front entry way to the RIGHT Stuff award winners' photos mixed in with student art work in the halls, Groveland is a happy place. High Expectations and Cool Stuff to Learn Students are expected and encouraged to succeed. They are also allowed to play and just enjoy being kids. The teachers are consummate professionals staying at the top of their craft. The school uses modern curricula which are creative and challenging. We weren’t learning as much when we were so young! Diversity, Arts and Culture The school values diversity and encourages students to explore the topic every day through learning and more in depth through the culture fair. The arts and culture have a high priority at Groveland. Students have many opportunities to explore. Language clubs and school band are offered to students. Partnerships developed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Northern Clay Center give students the chance to meet professional artists. A True Community Students attending Groveland begin to develop life-long friendships (and the parents make new friends too). The Groveland Community doesn’t stop with the school day. You will always see parents lingering after school to talk with one another while children of all ages play on the playground. Parents, teachers, and staff talk, laugh and smile with students who are getting on or off the bus. Many students participate in Groveland Recreation Center activities, scouting or after-school enrichment activities (Mad Science and Destination Imagination are two examples) furthering their relationships. The ice rinks in the winter are always crammed with families. Kids walk home together. The sense of community and responsibility is fostered in students at Groveland who visit with elderly neighbors, who interact with parent volunteers in the classroom or who benefit from the relationships developed with after-school volunteer tutors. Our Choice Moving from South Carolina to Saint Paul with two small children was a challenge enough without the daunting task of choosing a school. Where we used to live you moved to a school district (if you could) that was full of good schools or you paid a great deal of money if your children were accepted to the one decent private school. We explored the private and public options in Saint Paul. Diversity was important to us so we focused on public schools. We asked neighbors about different schools. From elementary to senior high, we sought many opinions. We asked kids in the neighborhood who attended different schools what they liked and didn't like. We talked to parents about their children's schools. We met with the placement office of the Saint Paul Public Schools and narrowed our options. Admittedly, the opportunity to actually choose a school is as exciting as it is overwhelming. We visited several magnet schools based on the seeming fit with our oldest child’s interests and learning styles. Groveland was on our list because we had heard it was a pretty good, traditional school and it was nearby. After our first visit to Groveland we were pretty excited. After our first year, we were thrilled. Groveland has continued to exceed our expectations. With two sons now attending Groveland we have increased our involvement in the Groveland Community. We expect we will remain active parents and that our children will continue to be enthusiastic about going to school and will continue to come home excited about what they are learning. #2 From Jeff Benjamin and Ann Hobbie As a teacher myself, I knew what I was looking for when choosing a school for my kindergartner. After visiting seven St. Paul Public schools, some of them more than once, my husband and I chose Groveland Park. There were good things about each of the schools we visited, but Groveland stood out for several reasons. First, it is a relatively small school and one gets an immediate sense of community that has only grown stronger as the year progresses. Teachers, the principal, and other parents are very accessible and the school has a strong sense of identity and spirit as a result. Second, from what we have seen so far, the teachers at Groveland are top notch. They welcome us into their classrooms. They work together in creative ways. They are articulate, experienced leaders in the school and on the site council, and they are dedicated to the welfare of the students. Third, we were impressed by the rapport between the school and the parent community. The principal took so much time on several occasions to answer our questions while we were making our choice, while at many of the other schools we visited we never met the principal, even after second and third visits. Weekly classroom newsletters, a monthly school newsletter, and a school web site enrich this communication. Parents are actively involved in the classrooms, on working committees, and on the Site Council. Lastly, we chose Groveland Park because of the many opportunities it offers to enrich the school experience: foreign language clubs, sports clubs, book clubs, and much more. We are so pleased with our school choice. Our child is happy and proud to be a Groveland student. Ann and Jeff