Phoenix kids care, too.
EarlyAct decides to donate $1,000 to help the Salem Public Schools.

On Friday 26 students in grades PK-7th at The Phoenix School in Salem met to discuss the financial problems in the Salem Public Schools. Finding it hard to imagine losing a teacher or changing teachers in the middle of the year, they empathized with their peers. The message was clear. We need to help, too.
These students are members of the Phoenix School’s EarlyAct Club. EarlyAct is an elementary school community service club sponsored by the Salem Rotary. As a club they perform community service and raise money to give away to others. For two years they have been saving money to help a school in Costa Rica. It is this money that they decided to share with the Salem Public Schools to help save teachers’ jobs.

As Jeffrey Childs of Byfield said, “Why should we save all this money for a school so far away when our schools are in trouble here?” Others in the club agreed, and they voted to share their money.
“How much should we give?” From the youngest to the oldest, everyone had a say. They discussed 3 possibilities: $750, $1000, or $1200, finally deciding to give $1000. Leo Santoro of Salem summed it up well, “I think $1000 is a good amount, not too much, not too little. It will still leave us with some money for the school in Costa Rica.” Daniel Tremblay of Peabody agreed, but added, “I just wish there was more we could do.”
“Service to the community is an integral part of the mission and philosophy of The Phoenix School, said Head Barbara McFall. “Yet the decisions the students make as part of the EarlyAct Club are theirs alone to make. I was impressed by their concern and the thoughtfulness of their deliberations as they made their decision to help.”
As parent Kim Underhill said, “I am tremendously proud of the decision that the EarlyAct Club made today.”
Parent April Crane agreed, “This was such a wonderful action and I am glad my daughter had this experience. I’m so proud of these kids.”

Here is a copy of the letter that Daniel Tremblay of Peabody sent to Mayor Driscoll along with the EarlyAct check for $1000. You can see from what he wrote, what an important decision this was for the EarlyAct Club members and how much they cared.

Daniel’s Letter

Dear Mayor Driscoll,

We are the EarlyAct Club of The Phoenix School. We help the community and the world as best we can. We heard about the money problem that the city is having right now and our Steering Committee wanted to help. The Steering Committee discussed what our EarlyAct Club is doing to help the community. A couple of years back we decided to help a school in Costa Rica and we have been saving money for three years. We now have $2,733.66 to spend on community service. Since we wanted to help, we debated whether we should give some of this money to the Salem schools and if we do, how much should we give. We figured why should we donate to a school so far away when our schools are in trouble here and decided to make a recommendation to our Club that we use some of our EarlyAct money that we had been saving for the project in Costa Rica to make a donation to the schools of Salem.

We are afraid that if there is lost money and teachers have to be fired, that a number of bad things will happen. Classes will grow bigger and that is bad for the kids who will get less attention, thus not get as good an education, and the teachers will have more kids to handle. There will also be teachers dumped without jobs in the middle of the year who will have to get new jobs on a moment’s notice. My dad is getting a new job himself except he had some time to find a new one so it is not as bad as it will be for the teachers.

The whole school of 26 kids PK-8th grade, teachers, and our school dog got together today and had a big discussion. We went from person to person and we each had a say about what we thought. Everyone thought we should help the Salem schools. Some people thought we should donate $750 because the school in Costa Rica still deserved a lot. Some people said we should go with $1200 because the schools here are really important. Everyone including the really little ones all seemed to understand and have their own opinion. In the end we voted to give $1000 to help the schools of Salem. I just wish there was more we could do.

Sincerely,
Daniel Tremblay, grade 5
Assistant Treasurer, EarlyAct Club