[piano intro] [gentle music] [students chattering] - All right, Kimmy.

Here at P.W.

Moore, we love our children.

We're trying to make a difference in these children's lives.

- We're located right in the heart of Elizabeth City.

I say the heart of town, because this is where my heart is.

[students chattering] - When I got here, I said, "This is where I need to be."

This is a school where everyone works hard.

- A lot of our families, they're doing the best they can to support us and support their students.

- They care about their children.

They want their children to learn.

They want them to succeed and be positive citizens.

- I'm a product of this neighborhood.

I came from five houses down from P.W.

Moore.

And I believe that any child, if they are given the right tool, can come out of this environment of this neighborhoods around that feed into P.W.

Moore, they can come out being successful people.

- This school is one of the oldest schools here in Elizabeth City.

We just hit 100 years.

This is the only school here that has been a high school, a middle school, and then an elementary school.

- When you say P.W.

Moore, to a lot of people, it means something.

P.W.

Moore being an educator, born into slavery himself, strong advocate for education, and public education especially, become the first chancellor out at Elizabeth City State University, so a lot of tie-in between the name of P.W.

Moore here at the school, and then those alumni that are still around in Elizabeth City that loves this school and the name P.W.

Moore.

- I actually went to school here.

Some of the same teachers that taught me are still here, so, it's really home.

- I came to this school when it was a middle school, and then my first job was here.

- I was a student of P.W.

Moore.

I worked here for 10 years.

- I was a seventh grade student here at P.W.

Moore.

I retired from here in 2019.

- I was actually a student here.

I'm from Elizabeth City, born and raised.

When I requested to come back to P.W.

Moore, they were like, "Oh, she won't be able to change the tide there.

They're an F school.

They've been an F school.

They're not gonna do anything different."

They said we couldn't do it, but we did it.

[group chattering] [upbeat music] - We're meeting here this morning in the courtyard of the historic P.W.

Moore Elementary School.

This school, having been, three years ago, determined it was an F school, we're now sitting in a school that has exceeded growth, met growth, and is now a C school.

[group applauding] [upbeat music] - As Toby Keith says, "How do you like me now?"

- So, today, we just concluded a press conference to announce some really significant gains in student achievement across the district.

And this school in particular has grown two letter grades in just two years, and I'm so proud of them.

- We're saying good morning.

We're giving them these papers so they can see how much our growth is.

- The teachers were working hard for that.

- The amount of growth, to say it's exciting is an understatement.

[group clapping] - That makes me feel really proud, because guess what?

I'm a part of that growth.

I helped to make P.W.

Moore Elementary what it is right now.

- I am just so proud that I'm here, still teaching, to enjoy the major accomplishment.

- Our school went down from an F all the way to a C.

- [Teacher] Yes.

- That was some good growth we made.

[teacher chuckling] - When you do your test scores, you have your proficiency.

How many students are proficient?

How many of students are on grade level or above?

So, 80% of that score is what you keep.

Then, your growth, we get 20% of that.

So that 20% with the 80% added together gives you what your grade is.

As far as how we did it, we needed the community involvement to come in to help us.

We couldn't do it by ourself.

[upbeat music] [group chattering] [group cheering] [upbeat music continues] - Boys and girls, I have an affirmation for us to say, and we're gonna start this today and continue each and every day for this school year.

"I am smarter than I think, I am braver than I seem, I am stronger than I feel, and I can do hard things."

I hope you all have a wonderful first day of school for the '24-'25 school year.

Have a great day in the Lion's Den!

[sighs] Oh, God!

[laughs] I'm just a sweaty mess.

[upbeat music] - I'm excited because I got a great class.

I'm looking forward to this last year, and my goal is to grow every single one of them.

Yeah, that's my goal.

- My personal goal is to continue imparting knowledge in an impactful and meaningful way.

Every child can learn and every child must learn.

- Get me on YouTube.

- [Cameraperson] It's possible.

[Shauna laughs] [students yelling] [students chattering] [whistle blows] [students chattering] - You need help?

Okay.

- [Teacher] Here you go.

- Made it through the first day of school!

Hooray, yes!

So this is the hardest part, making sure they get where they need to go and on the right bus, or someone's picking 'em up that needs to pick 'em up.

Yes.

[whimsical music] Have a good day.

We're not matching today, but that's okay, right?

How are you doing, Mr.

Cooper?

Good.

Have a good day, bud.

Day two.

We became a community school.

Last year was our first year.

[mouse clicks] - The community school model is an approach to engage the community in what belongs to them, which is their school.

- The biggest part of this whole thing is about resources, connecting people together, and relationships.

You have a coordinator that can work those lines outside of the school, where a normal school employee can't do that because they can't leave the building.

- My goal as a community school coordinator is finding ways to get parents back into the school, getting them to volunteer, to come out, do special events.

They are the backbones into making our students' education a success.

- I think that the community school, that whole initiative has really helped as far as the community coming together to support the school.

To me, it seems like things have changed and gotten a lot better.

[upbeat music] - For the next five years, that's a federal grant by the US Department of Education out of Washington, D.C.

So, that's major.

East Carolina was selected that they would manage the eastern part of this work.

Funding comes out of East Carolina for staffing.

All the employees that will be hired in the community school coordinators positions, they are ECU employees.

They just work in partnership with ECPPS.

P.W.

Moore was selected to be that project school to see just if this model will work.

How we went into building this model was we did two listening and learn sessions.

The first one was at a local church in one of our communities, where about 30 parents came, talked to us about... We'd ask 'em, "What is it that you need from us this year for your child to be successful?"

Another one was a ice cream truck.

All the kids and parents get one free ice cream off the truck.

And we did the same thing, we listened and learned, we had some of the staff there, Dr.

Parker and the board vice chair was there serving ice cream, just to listen.

This is a model we feel now we're asking you, "What is it that you need from us?"

That's a national model with four pillars.

[upbeat music] - We have funding to support needs that may be barriers that are outside of school, but they affect school.

Like when we have to do physicals and shots and things like that, we provided a space through community schools where they can come in and they can get physicals before school so they don't have to miss any school.

- They come every month and give a free screening for vision.

And then if the students don't have the resources to get glasses, they will provide those resources for us.

- Those doctors that came, and nurses, and the health department that helped with physical, it weren't for a certain class of people.

It was for all students.

We don't get into picking and choosing.

See, part of the whole community school thing is you want to bring as much as you can to the school, because the school is a place that they're familiar with.

That's a place that a lot of your parent base and community is gonna come to if you make it where it's inviting and you make it where it's exciting that they want to come, they're gonna come to the school.

So you therefore try to put as many of those resources and things in front of them at the school.

If you come and say, "My rent, I can't make it this month," the Resource Center person will have applications for you to fill out, make phone calls, so that they can take that bill down to city offices, get your bill paid.

- As you can see, I've kind of built my closet up for a long time.

Community schools can help me a little bit more now that if I do run out of a size, I can reach out and get that support.

Of course, we try to keep everything confidential, so I actually bring 'em in here and give them the ownership of picking out something that they like, you know, whatever they feel comfortable in, try it on.

And once they say yes, we'll cut off the tag.

It's yours.

[upbeat music] - If you are stressed, you can't learn, so I try to use some strategies to help them unwind.

- We take on B. F. Skinner's approach and we reinforce positive behavior on a daily basis.

- We want to make sure that they're able to communicate effectively their wants and their needs, any type of concerns they have.

- Working with five-year-olds or six-year-olds, they've only been in the world for five years anyway.

You just have to listen to them, show empathy to the children.

- We know them by names.

We know their parents.

We know different parts of their lives so that we can take into consideration, well, we know there was a situation, we might need to offer tender care a little bit more.

- I have a peace corner.

If they believe they need to, you know, just sit down and unwind, they can, or if it gets too hectic during the day, that they just need a few minutes, then, you know, I'm willing to do it.

We do breathing.

We use calming bottles.

They use the bottle, and as the glitter falls down, it helps to relax, you know, what's going on in your mind and just help you calm down.

We would do 'em in my classroom and then the students kept wanting them.

I said, "Well, we'll make some for home."

And so that's when we started making 'em for home.

[upbeat music] - The community school, I must say, created opportunities where we could offer extended learning for students.

Some students, it's hard for them to learn in the large setting.

We were able to do after school, and this was as a result of what support we got from community school.

- The afterschool grant that we got, community schools helped us to go after that grant, to do the afterschool tutoring and pay our teachers, and have 120 students come in.

After school, they'll have a full meal and then a snack before going home.

It'll be 45 minutes of enrichment and another 45 minutes of tutoring to help them.

- I really love the 21 Century afterschool program.

He's excelling.

He's got straight A's.

So it's really helped.

- The parents were just sharing with me how excited they were, the children were learning, how they could tell there was a big difference this year in their academics.

And the children want to be here.

They want to stay.

- He's more willing to come.

Like, he's enjoying being here, especially in the afterschool program.

- The afterschool program was a big factor in our results, because we were targeting those students who needed that extra, you know, push.

- The month of July, we're gonna provide three weeks of instruction, because we found that our students have the summer slide, and we want to prevent that summer slide so they don't go so far down when they come back at the beginning of the year, when they take their beginning of year assessments.

We want those students to continue to rise above.

- Fifth grade last year, we went on field trips, and we were able to do that only because of community school.

[camera shutter snapping] A lot of our kids, some of them have never left this little town, Elizabeth City.

We are able to take them outside of this town, outside of the state.

Many students would love to go on, like, field trips, but their parents cannot afford.

So I would like to see that being extended.

[upbeat music] - I'm seeing the parents happier this year.

- Woo, woo!

[speaking indistinctly] - [laughs] All right, babe.

- All right, y'all have a lovely one!

They seem to feel more of a belonging.

Last year was the first year, we were kicking it off, we were getting our feet in the door, and this year is the year that they feel like they're welcome to come in, they're welcome to see things.

- They have a lot of events that a lot of schools don't offer.

They're always doing something where parent involvement is involved at this school.

- We come all the time.

Every time they have an event, we're here.

- It's just awesome.

I love it.

I love coming to the school to see how the school is run.

And then you know it firsthand, you don't have to go by what anybody else say.

You actually see what the teachers are doing.

You see how the teachers are reacting to the students.

- Parents come into the classroom as visitors.

They assist us, they become a part of our instruction and they see what we're doing so they can reinforce learning at home with students.

[upbeat music] - Today we had Donuts with Grown-Ups.

- It's been a good day so far.

We had about 60 people that come in.

- So parents are coming!

So we have some assorted donuts, and then we have some glazed donuts.

Here you go.

- Thank you very much.

- Thank you very much.

- You're welcome.

I hope you enjoy your time.

- Me, I got a two-in-one.

I got breakfast this morning and I got to spend time with my daughter in class and see how she interact in the public atmosphere, and that meant the most to me, you know?

- Also, I came out here to actually see what they're working on during the week.

- [Shauna] When the students recognize that their parents are a part of their success, they are motivated to even do better.

- Oh, how are you?

- We have Title I night.

We turned those into family dinner nights, where we also provide meals for the families, so they bring everybody out.

- Every month, we'd have the family dinners, and the parents would look forward to that.

And they would pour in, they would pour in on those Tuesday nights.

[upbeat music] - We will provide a meal and we will provide a program of some sort for our families.

- So, tonight is our Family Dinner Night.

Tonight's theme is mental health awareness, teaching the students and the parents different techniques when they're feeling overwhelmed or feeling a little anxious.

- Life is so complicated and we're all juggling so many things that, like, we're either wired all the time and we can't find a way to get back here, or we're just, like, tired all the time.

Whenever we're here, our body is in fight or flight mode.

- [Group] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

- We can release stress and prepare ourself.

- There was actually a pretty robust discussion.

Just had a wonderful meal with some hamburger, rice, and green beans.

- Here, you got to get the good stuff.

- [Ryan] Appreciate you.

Thank you so much.

- You're welcome.

- I really am.

I enjoyed this.

I try to come every time they have it.

- We do sometimes encounter families that may not have enough food to feed all of their family, their children and things, so this is another way to help support them in that.

- The community collaborative would come in and they would help us with the meals.

They would help us get people to come in and talk with the family.

- This is also a time for teachers to listen to the parents so we can think of different strategies for the upcoming school year so that we can help improve our schools.

- Talking to the parents, we always had meetings and discussions about what we needed to do to get these kids' grades up, and I think that played a big part in us making that grade.

- Family dinner we go to.

- Yeah, because it's really fun.

- You have food, you get to, like- - Educational games.

- So you're talking about 300 strong every month for a dinner.

Nowhere are you hearing where 300 people come into a family dinner in public schools.

You can probably look around the state, that's not something that you hear a lot of.

[upbeat music] - We have done so well because we are a true team.

- Our staff is all in.

We take an all hands on deck approach.

Everybody does whatever's needed to support students.

Our staff really do wear a lot of hats.

They are a teacher, they are a nurse, they are confidant.

They are just a little bit of everything.

- Even though I'm a school counselor, I've done tutoring with students, because that's what we needed.

- We just kind of rallied together, and for one common goal.

- Everyone takes part in that student to make them be the best version of themselves.

- I am safe.

I am here to learn.

- My principal is extremely supportive.

She's on board.

She's flexible.

She's quite the innovative type.

And she listens a lot to her staff, and she's willing to take suggestions, take it to the drawing board, and come back to her staff with even greater ideas.

- We have to brainstorm together to do what's right for our children, and it makes a huge difference.

- We have a lot more people that are supporting our students outside of what a normal academic day would look like.

We have volunteers that can come in, and they can work with the students.

The fire department came out.

- I invite men from the community.

They could be in law enforcement, could be the mayor, it could be the city manager, but I'll invite them into the classroom to talk to these kids about the importance of education and about their jobs.

I realized the difference that it was making with them and what they did in the classroom.

- College students now are starting to be a part of this model, where they might come into the school and be mentors, tutors.

- I'm a student at Elizabeth City State University.

- You have ECSU students that come out.

So it could be basketball player, cheerleaders, it could be student government leaders, and it can be fraternities and sororities.

- The biggest thing is to make sure that you're always welcoming to all of the people that come.

- They know it's a safe haven that they can go and take advantage of resources.

Just like if somebody showed up for the elementary physical and their kids don't even go to this school, they could have had a physical.

They come to the Black History programs and don't even have kids here.

[upbeat music] - So the Black History Program started... Well, this is my fifth year at P.W.

Moore, and every year since we were able to come back off COVID, they have amped it up a little bit more and a little bit more.

So it's not a program, it's a production.

- I started the Black History Program.

That's probably my biggest accomplishment here.

They're right, left, right, right.

Being that I was doing that, I saw so many parents get involved with wanting their kids to be a part of that play.

And it wasn't really just about Black history, it was just about just seeing their kids doing something that they don't typically do.

A lot of kids had said they had never been on a stage before, so it really was another way of bringing all of us together.

[upbeat music] - The students are able to come out.

The parents bring them out on Saturday mornings, and they have about two and a half hours that they practice.

- This, this, okay?

- This year, unfortunately, Ms.

Todd will retire after this year.

She said, "This is gonna be the biggest year ever."

- It's gonna be amazing.

This will probably be one of the best ones.

- She hasn't let me go in to see what's going on.

She tells me about it, but I can't see it until the day of the event.

- We're looking for 4 or 500 people.

[audience cheering and applauding] [upbeat music] [audience clapping] [performers clapping] ♪ Across the river ♪ ♪ Can you hear freedom calling ♪ ♪ Calling ♪ - I play Harriet Tubman.

I had a speech.

I did a poem.

[upbeat music] [audience applauding and cheering] - I came here for the Black History Program.

I think they did good.

They were professional.

- I just thought they did a fabulous job.

- I did stand up and I did the African dance.

- [Anna] You want to tell them your mommy's from Africa?

- I definitely enjoyed the program on this afternoon.

I used to work here, so I know about all the programs they've had, and I say this has been the best one that I've seen of all of them.

I know Ms.

Todd has done it for several years, this is her finale, but it has been one of the greatest.

- And Ms.

Todd is my niece.

- And my cousin.

[both laughing] We're not being biased, we're just telling the truth.

[upbeat music] [student chuckles] - If you give a student the proper nurturing, any kid can succeed.

And I've seen that here at P.W.

Moore over the last, going on my sixth year now.

- We're seeing that progress, and we're seeing more community people wanting to come in and talk with us.

So, yes, it is very exciting.

They're just, "Ambrose, your school just seems so happy," and it is happy, it's a happy place, but we feel like the happiness also comes from the support that we're getting with the community school involvement.

[gentle music] [students chattering] - Bye, bye!

- Well, keep in touch with us.

I'll see you next year, baby girl.

- Get everything cleaned up.

Once a lion... - [Students] Always a lion!

[Stephanie clapping] - I'm going to miss my friends, my teacher.

- Bye-bye!

Have a nice summer!

- [Teacher] Have a good summer!

[teachers chattering indistinctly] [mouse clicks] - At P.W.

Moore this year, we have successes to celebrate, but we have areas to improve.

And one of the areas that we're focused on improvement in is the letter grade for our school dropped from a C to a D. And that has given us a moment of deep reflection to understand the reasons why that happened, and also to help us chart the strategy for the future.

The road to the mountaintop is a winding road.

It curves.

It's not a straight line.

We believe that the kids in this school can perform at the same high levels of any kid in the state and country.

- P.W.

Moore has made great strides in the last three years.

We getting phone calls.

We're getting Zoom meetings.

We're getting people wanting to come and speak about community school because they're hearing ECPPS, something is going on.

We believe if we can continue the model of community school and getting people to buy-in and come in, we haven't seen yet the peak of where P.W.

Moore can be and will be.

[gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues]