Centralization almost put an end to the Bellis School,
and the area's declining enrollment hasn't put an end to the chance of
it someday closing, but before anyone even suggests locking its' doors
forever in an effort to be efficient without looking at what they've got
there would be a crime.
It was after school and the rooms were empty when I
recently toured the place. The students work was on the walls, not the
all too usual scribbles and works of the graffiti artist, but pictures,
crafts and works of student art, all displayed, not behind glass for
protection from mutilation, but on pieces of craft paper, neatly
arranged in the bulletin board like main hall.
In the big city school where I grew up they wouldn't
have lasted an hour. In Bellis the 60 odd students have learned to
respect their fellow student efforts.
Plants are the other striking thing about Bellis school.
From the two fake rubber trees in the main hall to the scores of green
hanging things in Mrs. Rosalind Bodnar's home room, outdoor science and
craft rooms, the place teems with plants, all healthy, all well-watered
and all taken care of. None are from taxpayers money, but are brought in
by the staff.
To compare again to my Toronto almamater, there wasn't a
plant alive in the whole huge school, save the old cactus in the science
one that wouldn't die, no matter how much neglect it suffered or the
small rubber tree safely tucked away in the principal's office.
Its starting to see the difference. To see displays of
stones, birds and bugs, not locked away for fear of theft, but part of a
room full of displays.
No - big is not beautiful - but the kind of things being
done in Bellis School is.